Baked Chai Spiced Doughnuts

 

My sister has been on a doughnut baking kick lately.  My mother sent her a doughnut pan and she's been baking doughnuts since, or at least talking about it, looking up recipes, etc. and sharing her thoughts with me.



I was so inspired by her talk that I went out and got myself a doughnut baking tin and decided to bake us some doughnuts too.  Baked doughnuts have to be much, much better for you than fried ones . . .

 

Of course, if you were looking for doughnuts which have the texture of yeast doughnuts . . . you would be disappointed.   These are not them.  They are not fried, nor are they yeasty. If you baked a yeast doughnut you would probably end up with something like a Bagel . . . except sweeter and not as chewy, but I seriously doubt at the end of the day that  it would be like a real yeast doughnut.



These are kind of like a cake doughnut . . . except without the frying.  In other words, very similar to a muffin . . . but with a hole in the middle of it.   And therefore, like a muffin you wouldn't want to over mix the dough . . . or you would end up with a tough doughnut/muffin.  Not quite the same as a fried doughnut . . . but a somewhat healthy substitute.



I was looking through a doughnut book and saw a recipe for some yeasted  and fried ones that were spiced with a chai mixture of spices.  I was intrigued.  I quite like the flavour of chai spice . . .

 

And so I took the recipe which I found for vanilla baked doughnuts here  which looked rather good.  I spiced them up with chair spices and created a chai glaze to spoon over top.



They were actually rather scrummy . . . and I felt good about them because they weren't deep fat fried.  No, they are not quite like a real doughnut . . . but when you're watching the calories, they are a fair substitute!



*Baked Chai Spiced Doughnuts*
Makes 6
Printable Recipe

Spiced just right and much lower in fat than traditional fried donuts!  Moreishly delish.

140g of plain flour (1 cup)
6 TBS golden caster sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
pinch ground cloves
6 TBS buttermilk
1 large free range egg
1/2 tsp pure vanilla essence
1 TBS melted butter

For the glaze:
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 to 2 TBS milk
70g of sifted icing sugar
1 tsp powdered Chai Spice Tea mix
Sprinkles to decorate (optional)

Preheat the oven to 160*C/325*F/ gas mark 3.  Spray a 6 cup sized non-stick doughnut baking tin with some low fat cooking spray.  Set aside.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and all of the spices.  Whisk together the egg, buttermilk, vanilla and melted butter.  Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just mixed and no dry areas remain.  Pipe or spoon the batter into the prepared doughnut baking tray, filling the indentations 2/3 full.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the tops spring back when lightly touched and a toothpick inserted in the centre of one comes out clean.  Allow to cool in the pan for several minutes before carefully turning them out onto a wire rack.

Whisk the glaze ingredients together until smooth.  Spoon this glaze over the doughnuts while they are still warm, sprinkling with sprinkles as desired.  Store in an air-tight container.