Try this Healthy Doughnut Muffins recipe.
- 1 egg
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 cup butter (or vegan margarine for dairy-free)
- 1/2 cup krisda stevia baking formula (or any stevia/sugar or 13-14 packets stevia)
- 1/3 up sucanat or coconut palm sugar (unprocessed brown s
- 2 egg whites (or 1/4 cup carton egg whites)
- 3 cups oat flour (grind up quick oats or old fashioned oa
- 1 cup milk (i used unsweetened almond milk)
- Carbohydrate 1.20204874900794 g
- Cholesterol 10.5760416658382 mg
- Fat 3.99765791648441 g
- Fiber 0.0951541664799054 g
- Protein 0.398108332647796 g
- Saturated Fat 2.53325916655317 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (21g)
- Sodium 38.1230833115867 mg
- Sugar 1.10689458252803 g
- Trans Fat 0.289577666657347 g
- Calories 42 calories
Step-by-step
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
- Spray a muffin tin with oil, or use paper cups, or silicone muffin cups
- In a medium sized bowl, mix together butter (or vegan margarine), applesauce, stevia, sucanat (I used an electric mixer/egg beater) and beat together until smooth.
- Add the egg and egg whites and beat some more until combined.
- Stir in the baking soda, baking powder, nutmeg, salt and vanilla with a spoon into the butter/sugar mixture.
- Stir in the oat flour, alternating with the milk, stirring well after each addition.
- Spoon the batter into the muffin tins and bake for 14-15 minutes, until they are a pale golden color and a toothpick comes out clean.
- Serve warm, or cool on a rack.
- Eat them plain, or add the Cinnamon/Sugar or Glaze them :)
- Store in an airtight container. They'll last a few days at room temp, longer in the fridge. They freeze well too.
Evolution of the Baked Doughnut Shape
Doughnut muffins bridge two distinct American baking traditions by merging the spiced, cake-like crumb of a traditional fried pastry with the convenient, upright architecture of a twentieth-century muffin tin. Historical tavern cakes and ancient fried dough spheres relied entirely on deep vats of rendered lard or boiling oil to set their exteriors before the inner starch fully gelatinized. Adapting this flavor profile into a cavity-pan format requires precise thermal radiation from the metal walls rather than conductive frying heat. Operating a standard 12-cup tin at 425 degrees Fahrenheit creates an initial burst of steam that forces the batter upward while simultaneously browning the exterior to a pale golden hue within fourteen to fifteen minutes.
Flour Grind and Starch Hydration
Oat flour behaves fundamentally differently from refined wheat flour because it lacks gluten-forming proteins entirely, relying instead on soluble fibers called beta-glucans to trap expanding gases. Processing rolled oats into a fine powder at home creates variable particle sizes that absorb moisture at uneven rates throughout the mixing phase. Alternating the dry oat flour with unsweetened almond milk prevents the batter from seizing and ensures that the leavening agents—baking soda and baking powder—dissolve uniformly into the wet emulsion. Incorporating unsweetened applesauce alongside butter maintains a tender crumb structure by introducing pectin, which inhibits excessive starch retrogradation during cooling.
Spice Distribution and Storage Control
Nutmeg contains volatile essential oils that degrade rapidly when exposed to ambient air, making freshly grated whole nutmeg vastly superior to pre-ground varieties for baked goods. Whisking the spice directly into the butter and sugar creaming stage distributes these aromatic compounds evenly through the lipid matrix before the structural flours enter the bowl. Storing the finished batch in an airtight container at room temperature preserves moisture for a few days, while prolonged refrigeration or freezing extends shelf life significantly without altering the cellular integrity of the oat crumb.
