Zucchini Donuts

Yep.... you read that right. Zucchini.....donuts...

If you've got a garden at home, then you know what it's like to have a million zucchini around this time of year and not know what to do with them all. I'm always got an eye out for new recipes using the green veggie. And that's how I came across these gems.

I found them via a Google search. I saw some other recipes for donuts on Pinterest and thought "Hmmm.... I wonder if anyone's ever been crazy enough to make a zucchini donut". Ashley at Simply Designing was just that crazy!

Both Little Ladies liked them a lot, as did I! Farmer Bob will be home in a while, so I'll get his verdict then.

I've got a Sunbeam Donut Maker and I really love it. I got it on clearance at Target a while back. I've made donuts in it twice, and needed no extra fat (butter, spray, etc) to get the donuts out. They really just come right out, nice and easy. If you don't have a donut maker, you could probably make these in a donut pan in the oven. You'll just need to follow the instructions that come with the pan, and play with your time until you find what works for you.

Ingredients

• 3/4 c whole wheat flour
• 1/2 c white flour
• 1/4 c flaxseed (ground)
• 1/3 c brown sugar (packed)
• 1 t orange zest
• 3/4 t ground cinnamon
• 1/2 t salt
• 2 t baking powder
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1 1/3 c zucchini and/or yellow squash, grated (this is approximately 1 1/2 average sized zucchinis)
• 1/2 c plain, vanilla or greek yogurt
• 2 eggs
• 2 T honey

Ingredients for Glaze:

• 1/2 T milk
• 4 T powdered sugar

Directions

1. Mix all dry ingredients together
2. Puree the zucchini
3. In a separate bowl, combine all wet ingredients including the zucchini and mix until fully incorporated
4. Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and combine until moist
5. Place a large ziploc bag into a tall glass, fill with batter, cut off tip and fill the preheated Donut Maker donut crevices with batter
6. Bake 3-5 minutes or until golden browned and fully cooked
7. Let fully cook on a rack
8. Mix glaze and dip tops of cooled donuts into glaze if desired

Baked Pumpkin Donuts

Another recipe found on Pinterest. Seriously... that site is crazy addictive!!!

Original recipe is found at the King Arthur site.

The Little Ladies got me a donut pan for my birthday in June (with the help of their dad), and I finally decided to christen it. Little Lady #2 is down for a nap (which means it's quiet!!), so Little Lady #1 and I went to work!

It was a pretty easy recipe to make. We didn't have pumpkin pie spice, so we used the make-your-own method that's listed. I found that 12-13 minutes was a way better time than the 15-18 that's listed in the recipe. Speaking of... the recipe on Kind Arthur's site doesn't mention an oven temp (at least not that I saw), so I went with the 425 that's listed on the pan. I might try 400 next time though.

Little Lady #1

Place the following in a mixing bowl:

1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups pumpkin purée (canned pumpkin)
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice, or 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon plus a heaping 1/4 teaspoon each ground nutmeg and ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

Beat everything together until smooth.

Add 1 3/4 cups + 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour, stirring just until smooth.

Lightly grease two standard donut pans. (I only had one pan, so I just kept re-using it)

If you don’t have doughnut pans, you can bake these in a couple of standard muffin tins; they just won’t be doughnuts.

Fill the wells of the doughnut pans about 3/4 full, using a scant 1/4 cup of batter in each well; a tablespoon cookie scoop helps with this task. I found 4 scoops per donut well worked well.

If you’re making muffins, fill each well about 3/4 full; the recipe makes about 15, so you’ll need to bake in two batches (unless you have two muffin pans).

Bake the doughnuts for 15 to 18 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of one comes out clean. If you’re using self-rising flour, bake for the longer amount of time.

If you’re making muffins, they’ll need to bake for 23 to 25 minutes.

Remove the doughnuts from the oven, and after about 5 minutes, loosen their edges, and transfer them to a rack to cool.

While the doughnuts are still warm (but no longer fragile), gently shake them in a bag with cinnamon-sugar. Or better yet, pumpkin-spice sugar, made by combining the aforementioned pumpkin pie spice (or substitute) with granulated sugar.

If you’ve made muffins, sprinkle their tops heavily with the spiced sugar of your choice.