Baked Doughnut Holes

Many people love doughnuts. But my boys adore doughnuts. They talk about them constantly. They ask if we can get them for breakfast more often than I'd care to admit. So, I've previously made Doughnut Muffins, which we all thoroughly enjoyed. But my friend Tori sent me a recipe for baked doughnuts that I thought I'd try. That recipe is for a spiced pumpkin doughnut, something Andy and I would enjoy, but probably not my boys. So, I rounded up a recipe for a more basic doughnut and gave them a whirl. These were fast and easy, and they are delicious. My boys have devoured their allotted two (one of each kind) for the evening already and told me that I should market them at Safeway. Silly boys. These aren't good for you...what doughnut is? But they are better than fried doughnuts and are about 101 calories a piece. I'm thinking this recipe is a keeper. It is inspired by a recipe I found on The Faux Martha blog.

Baked Doughnut Holes
Ingredients:
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp. lemon juice
3 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp. aluminum-free baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. nutmeg, fresh
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp. honey
1 large egg
1 tbs. vanilla extract
Topping
5 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
1/4 c. pure cane sugar
1 tbs. cinnamon
1/4 c. powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. In a small bowl, mix together milk and lemon juice. Let sit for 5 minutes to curdle. Melt butter in a small bowl and set aside to cool.

3. Meanwhile, whisk together the flour, baking powder, sea salt, and nutmeg in a large bowl. Set aside.
Into the cooled butter, whisk in sugar, honey, egg, and vanilla until combined. Add in milk/lemon juice combo.

4. Whisk together wet and dry ingredients until just combined. Over-mixing will create a dense doughnut.
Spray mini muffin tin pan. Evenly distribute batter. (This makes 20 doughnuts.)

5. Bake for 9 minutes. Allow to cool at least 1 minute before removing from tin and placing on a cooling rack to cool completely.

6. Meanwhile, make topping. Melt butter. In a small bowl, mix together cinnamon and sugar. In a separate bowl, add in powdered sugar.

7. Dip each doughnut hole in butter before either coating in the cinnamon/sugar mixture or powdered sugar mixture (10 of each). Place back on cooling rack until dried.