Guilt-free baked mini chocolate doughnuts

I have nothing against the occasional sweet treat, though doughnuts for me, quite often tips over the too-sweet scale for me. This version however, makes a nice compromise – though I’d admit it’s more “cakey” than “doughy”.

I tend to avoid doughnuts as they are generally very sweet, but I was inspired to look around for a healthier alternative after hearing so much about the gourmet Doughboys Doughnuts that’s got Melbourne in a bit of a frenzy. I came across this lovely double chocolate pistachio doughnut recipe, which I’ve adapted to incorporate wholemeal flour instead of plain, and brown sugar instead of refined white sugar. The original recipe also calls for a doughnut pan which makes six sizeable doughnuts, or, you can do what I did, which was to use a 12-hole mini-bundt tin and fill the batter barely halfway up the top to produce some fashionably petite bites.

Ingredients

Doughnut batter

3/4 cup wholemeal flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup applesauce
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp soy or almond milk
3 tbsp rice bran oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Chocolate ganache

1/4 cup almond milk
120g chocolate chips

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Lightly grease a 12-hole mini bundt tin and set aside.

In a medium bowl combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl whisk together applesauce, almond milk, oil and vanilla.

Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.

Pipe batter into the bundt tin (there should be enough batter to barely reach halfway up the top for each of the 12) and bake for 12-15 minutes until donuts spring back when pressed. Remove from oven and let cool slightly before transferring onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

To make the chocolate ganache, heat almond milk in a small pot on the stove until it just begins to simmer.  Turn off the heat and add the chocolate chips to the pot. Stir together until chocolate has completely melted and ganache is well combined.

Dip the top of each donut into the chocolate ganache and set aside, allowing the ganache to firm up before serving.

Makes 12 mini doughnuts.