Doughnuts are one thing I never thought you’d find me making at home. First of all, I’m not a huge doughnut lover. If Krispy Kreme doughnuts show up at a breakfast meeting I may have one, but I can kind of take ’em or leave ’em. Second of all, they always seemed like the kind of thing that might be difficult to make. But last week I found myself totally craving a doughnut.
Despite how it may look on my Instagram, I am trying to eat healthy so I wanted the impossible – doughnuts without a ton of fat. The other catch? I didn’t have any yeast!
So that’s how I landed on this recipe which doesn’t require any yeast and comes in at just 5 g of fat per doughnut thanks to the use of low-fat sour cream. Compare that to Krispy Kreme doughnuts which have two to three times as much fat per doughnut!
Tools
To make this recipe you’ll need a doughnut cutter and a candy thermometer. I got a candy/meat thermometer for Christmas last year and I use it several times a week. It’s important to have when frying things so that you can be sure that the oil you’re using is hot enough.
But there’s a third very important tool that I also used in this recipe. My secret weapon in the kitchen. Brown sugar bears. Brown sugar bears are small clay bears that keep your brown sugar from hardening. All you have to do is wet one and then slip it into your container of brown sugar and you’ll have soft brown sugar for months and months. Before I had this I felt like I had to buy a new bag of brown sugar every time I wanted to make a recipe that used brown sugar. Now there’s no more hassle thanks to my friend the brown sugar bear.
Low-Fat Yeast Free Doughnuts
Ingredients
- 3 T. unsalted butter softened
- ¼ c. granulated sugar
- ¼ c. dark brown sugar
- 2 egg yolks
- ½ tsp. vanilla extract
- ⅔ c. low-fat sour cream
- 2 c. + 2 T. all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1 T. cornstarch
- ½ tsp. salt
- dash of nutmeg
- canola or vegetable oil
Topping
- ½ c. granulated sugar
- 3 tsp. cinnamon
Instructions
- Using an electric mixer, mix softened (not melted!) butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar together in a medium sized bowl.
- Mix egg yolks into butter and sugar mixture until combined.
- Mix in low-fat sour cream and vanilla extract.
- Sift together flour, baking powder, cornstarch, salt, and nutmeg in a larger bowl.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, mixing with a spatula or with your hands until combined.
- Cover bowl and refrigerate dough overnight.
The Next Day
- Fill a saucepan with 2" of canola or vegetable oil and warm the oil over a medium-low heat until it reaches 350°F. Use a candy thermometer to test the temperature.
- Remove dough from the refrigerator and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Using your hands or a lightly floured rolling pin, roll or pat the dough to ½" thickness. Use a doughnut cutter to cut out donuts. Role the doughnut hole scraps into smooth balls. Continue re-rolling and cutting to get as many doughnuts as possible from your dough.
- Place doughnut shapes and doughnut holes onto a lined baking sheet and place in the freezer for a few minutes until your oil is fully heated.
- Once oil has reached 350°F, remove baking sheet from the freezer and carefully drop doughnuts and doughnut holes into the oil, making sure not to crowd the pan.
- While your first batch of doughnuts is frying, stir together sugar and cinnamon in a shallow disk.
- Fry for 1 ½-2 minutes per side, using tongs to flip them in the oil, then remove from the pan and immediately coat them in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Then place on a paper towel lined plate to briefly drain.
- Between batches, wait a few minutes so that the oil temeprature comes back up to 350°F.
- Serve warm!
Adapted from this recipe by Sugar Spun Run.
A word of warning – I learned the hard way that these don’t really save well. If you aren’t prepared to eat 11 doughnuts in one day, it’d be best to decrease the recipe so that you only make as many as you want to eat that day.
Other than that, I really think these are perfect and they totally satisfied my doughnut craving without making me feel too, too unhealthy. Oh, and it turns out my favorite part of the recipe wasn’t even the doughnuts themselves – it was the doughnut holes!
I hope you enjoy these delicious doughnuts! And pop on over here to find all my recipes from soups to snack mix and more.
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