Baked Apple Cider Donuts

This has been one of my favorite baked donut recipes so far, and wouldn't you know it - the battery was dead on my camera.  So, all I have are cell phone pics which are not going to convey the yumminess that are these donuts!  And they are mini donuts....so you can eat a bunch without feeling guilty!!  (Great logic don't you think?)

Guess where I first saw them?  Did you guess Pinterest?  If so, you get a gold star for today.  I have over a thousand pins, a majority of them food - it's getting ridiculous.  Yet, I can't stop.  Anyway, before you organize an intervention, let's get to the recipe!

Baked Mini Apple Cider Doughnuts 
slightly adapted from Healthy Food for Living

1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp apple pie spice **I used pumpkin pie spice b/c that's what I had on hand
"flax egg" (1 T. milled flax seed mixed w/3 T. warm water - let sit for 10 mins) *or one egg
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup apple butter (can also use applesauce)
2 T. maple syrup
3 T. apple cider (I used Gerber Apple Juice :D. It's what I had!)
3 T. nonfat plain yogurt
1 1/2 T. olive oil


Directions
*Preheat oven to 350 F.
*Lightly coat donut pan with cooking spray.
*In medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, spice; set aside.
*In large bowl, whisk together flax egg, brown sugar, apple butter, maple syrup, apple juice, yogurt and oil.
*Add dry ingredients to wet, stir just until moistened.  Fill pan 1/2-3/4 full.
*Bake until the tops spring back when touched lightly, abt 5-7 mins.  Remove donuts from pan and let cool on wire rack. *This is also a good time to dip them in a little cinnamon sugar if desired! It sticks nicely to warm donuts, so no butter is needed (unless you want it).


I've read that some people have a hard time getting the batter into the mini donut pan and try to pipe it in, etc. My advice - just dump it in there.  Dump some batter in your sprayed pan, uncover the piece in the middle that will make the donut hole, and stick it in the oven.

You're gonna flip them over anyway, and the other side will be a perfect donut!  (Just don't overfill the pan so that it rises above the middle piece and therefore covering up your hole.) Yeah, I just typed 'covering up your hole.'  That just seems....weird.

If you don't have a cute little donut pan, I'm sure these could be made as very delicious mini-muffins as well.  And you should totally add it to your Christmas list.  Along with this.

By the way - not only did I think these were delicious, the kids LOVED them.  The first batch was gone before the second ever came out of the oven!  Definitely a keeper!

I'm linking this up with It's a Keeper, Feeding Four, Miz Helen's Country Cottage, Life as Mom, A Little Nosh, Eat at Home