Applesauce Donut Bites
Who loves moist, sweet, delicious donuts? This girl! These Applesauce Donut Bites go great with coffee on those mornings when you just want to indulge. Better yet, they’re soy and dairy free!
I normally like to offer you guys a selection of healthy recipes using natural sweeteners like honey or agave. This recipe for Applesauce Donut Bites is not one of those recipes. (But it can easily be made vegan!)
I want to keep it real and deliver amazing recipes that are a reflection of the way my family eats. I am super conscious about processed food, particularly sugar. But just because I limit it, doesn’t mean we never eat it.
The whole point about learning how to eat healthy is so you know when you’re indulging. So many recipes and prepackaged foods claim to be healthy when they’re actually loaded with junk.
Knowing how to eat healthy doesn’t mean you always do. It just means you know when and how to make changes to your lifestyle.
That being said, these Applesauce Donut Bites are sweet, cakey, perfectly spiced and oh so amazing with a hot cup of coffee.
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Things you’ll need:
- mini muffin pan
- pancake pen or piping bag
- cooling rack
Ingredients
Flour – just regular all purpose flour.
Granulated White Sugar – Regular white sugar. No healthy subs this time!
Light Brown Sugar – You can also use golden but dark might change the flavor a bit.
Baking Powder – helps the donuts rise.
Cinnamon and Nutmeg – What can I say? Two of my favorite spices.
Salt – the interesting thing about salt is it actually makes sweet baked goods taste better. The combination of sweet with a hint of salty really brings out the flavor. This is why I also prefer to use butter instead of oil whenever I can.
Applesauce – I just used one individual serving container of applesauce with no sugar added.
Vegan Butter – My favorite is Earth Balance in the red container – that’s the soy free one.
Egg – helps hold everything together. To make this recipe vegan, you can use Just Egg or just eliminate it. I’ve made them without egg before and they were softer, but didn’t fall apart.
Almond Milk – I used this and the ACV to mimic buttermilk.
Apple Cider Vinegar – Mixing this with any milk of your choice mimics buttermilk, which makes the donuts nice and rich.
Vanilla – use real vanilla extract, not the artificially flavored stuff.
Optional
Cinnamon and Sugar – Mix together 1/3 cup of granulated white sugar with 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. You can dip the donuts in melted vegan butter and then in the cinnamon and sugar mixture once they’re cool. It gives them a nice crunchy coating and also makes them pretty!
How to Make Applesauce Donut Bites
Step 1: Preheat oven to 400° F. Spray a mini muffin pan with cooking spray and set aside.
Step 2: In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
Step 3: In a smaller bowl, mix together applesauce, melted butter, dairy free half and half, apple cider vinegar and vanilla.
Step 4: Pour wet mixture into dry mixture and mix until just combined. Don’t over mix. It’s okay if it’s slightly lumpy. You just want to make sure there’s no streaks of flour left.
Step 5: Pour batter into a piping back or ziplock bag and snip off the corner. You can also use a pancake pen like I’m using in the photo below.
Step 6: Fill each space of the mini muffin pan about 3/4 full.
Step 7: Bake on the center rack of the oven for about 8-11 minutes. When they are finished baking, remove them from the tin and place them directly onto a cooling rack.
Step 8: Once they’re cool, dip in a little melted butter, let the excess drip off and then dip them in the cinnamon and sugar mixture. When you’ve finished coating them all, you can dip them a second time for a nicer coating. Enjoy!
What to Serve with Applesauce Donut Bites
Applesauce Donut Bites
Equipment
- mini muffin pan
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- ½ cup sugar
- ⅓ cup light brown sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp nutmeg
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup applesauce
- 1 egg
- ¾ cup vegan butter - melted
- ¾ cup almond milk
- ½ tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
Optional
- ⅓ cup granulated white sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400° F.
- Spray a mini muffin pan with cooking spray and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
- In a smaller mixing bowl, combine applesauce, melted butter, dairy free half and half, apple cide vinegar and vanilla.
- Pour wet mixture into dry mixture and stir until just combined. Batter may be slightly lumpy but shouldn't have streaks of flour.
- Pour batter into piping bag or ziplock bag and snip off the corner. Or use a pancake pen instead (my favorite).
- Fill each space of the mini muffin pan 3/4 full.
- Place on center rack in oven and bake for 8-11 minutes. Immediately remove the donut bites directly onto a cooling rack. Start your next batch of donuts while the first batch cools.
Optional
- Mix together optional cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl. Once the donuts are cool enough to handle, dip in a little melted butter, let the excess drip off and then dip in cinnamon and sugar mixture. Dip all of them once and then start again to dip them a second time. This gives them a nicer coating. Enjoy!
- Store in an air tight container for up to 36 hours at room temperature. Best when fresh.
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