Greetings from our third week in pandemic quarantine. It's a strange time in the world, but a great time to be a baker who loves a challenge. I am inspired by the random ingredients in my cupboard, by things I have way too much of, and by the idea of bringing extra nutrition into every meal and snack my family consumes.
I've had a giant tub of pea protein powder hanging out in the pantry for a year, and for some reason I had never figured out what to do with it. Being stuck at home and looking for new ways to use old ingredients has been the push I needed to incorporate this protein into my baking!
I've already added it to muffins, but today I wanted to create a recipe that was
1- a bit more fun than a muffin
2- also used up the random can of pumpkin I had leftover from the holidays, and
3- used up a failed cream cheese frosting experiment I had in the fridge.
**The great news is- a failed cream cheese frosting is an excellent cream cheese glaze!**
If you're trapped at home, you may not have some of these ingredients, and I'm not going to encourage you to go out and purchase them. Now is the time to dig into your own pantry, see what has been hiding in there, and get creative! But I hope this recipe inspires you to do just that, and if you happen to have most or all of these ingredients laying around, and you give the recipe a try, I hope you love it as much as we did! (Our family of 7 is currently on our second dozen in 24 hours.)
Apple Cider Pumpkin Protein Donuts
Dry Ingredients
1.5 Cups King Arthur Gluten Free Flour Blend
0.5 Cups Pea Protein (I used Trader Joe's brand)
0.75 Cups Sucanat (or sugar, or coconut sugar)
1 Tablespoon Coconut Flour
1 teaspoon psyllium husk
2 teaspoons baking powder
0.5 teaspoons baking soda
0.5 teaspoons salt (I used "Real Salt")
1 Tablespoon Pumpkin Pie Spice
Wet Ingredients
0.5 Cups Canned Pumpkin
0.5 Cups oil (I used Chosen Foods Avocado Oil)
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
0.5 Cups Water
0.5 Cups Apple Cider
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Make sure they are fully and evenly combined.
In a smaller bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients. Dump them into the dry ingredients, and whisk everything together. It is a very thick batter, and that's a good thing. Just move slowly and make sure to check for pockets of dry ingredients. If you absolutely have to, you can add a Tablespoon of water, but try to get everything mixed together first, because the batter actually looks really nice, even though at first it seems too dry.
Grease two donut pans, preferably with spray oil (for a total of 12 donuts). Scoop the batter into the donut pans and spread them out evenly. The batter should come to just about the top edge of the donut shape. The easiest way to do this is to use a cookie scoop, scoop one scoop onto each side of the donuts shape, and then smooth them together with a frosting spatula. But, as always, use what you have. A spoon will work.
Place them in the center of you oven for 20 minutes. Check to make sure they spring back at you, and bake them for a couple minutes longer if they seem to need it.
Cool for 20+ minutes before removing from the pan so they're not too fragile. Let them cool fully before drizzling with cream cheese glaze.
Cream Cheese Glaze
1 Package VioLife Vegan Cream Cheese
1lb Bag Organic Powdered Sugar
1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
1 Tablespoon Dairy Free Milk
0.5 Cups Organic Palm Shortening
0.5 teaspoon salt
Combine the cream cheese, shortening, vanilla, and your dairy free milk of choice in a bowl (or the bowl of your stand mixer). Beat them all together using either a hand mixer or a stand mixer. Add the powdered sugar (preferably sifting it as you add it), and beat it all together. It should come together as a thin, delicious frosting/glaze.
Putting Together the Final Product
Put the glaze into a piping bag, or a ziplock bag. Snip a little hole in the tip. Drizzle the glaze over the cooled donuts. They'll be beautiful, and super duper delicious.
Enjoy!
<3
Marian
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