Banana Bread Donuts

It’s been a long time since I even thought about making donuts. I love to eat them, but the baked variety made in my own kitchen don’t quite have the same appeal as the bakery variety that are warm and soft with grease and sugar. But when I saw the recipe on Melissa’s blog Melissa’s Cuisine – my assigned blog for the October edition of Secret Recipe Club – I felt inspired to make them.

My love for banana bread knows no bounds, but I’ve never made banana bread in donut form, so it seemed the perfect recipe for me and my neglected donut pan. I made these while visiting my parents, and they didn’t have any wheat flour, so for this recipe I used all white flour. I added ground ginger and some chopped crystalized ginger, just because I felt like it, and we all agreed that it added a nice bite to the donuts.

The donuts alone are very light and airy, and even though I only made a half batch of the original recipe, I still ended up with 10 decently sized donuts. Without frosting, I imagine I could have put away an alarming number of these, because they don’t feel too heavy, and they’re so light and fluffy they’re deceiving! The good news is they only have 2 tablespoons of butter, and not too much sugar – add back in the wheat flour, and these really aren’t so bad for you!

As Melissa did, I slathered these donuts with cream cheese frosting – I made a half recipe of this basic recipe from Simply Recipes (and still had plenty leftover!) On top of the cream cheese frosting, I drizzled a bit of salted caramel sauce that my mom had sitting in the fridge, which added a pretty little design, and some buttery sweetness to top it off. With the cream cheese frosting and caramel, these donuts were kicked up about 10 notches, from a basic banana bread base to a serious breakfast treat.

I also considered making a chocolate glaze for these in place of the cream cheese frosting, which I would definitely try if I make these again. For now, though, my interest in homemade donuts has returned, and hopefully my donut pan will start to get a bit more use! Thanks for the inspiration, Melissa!

Banana Bread Donuts
adapted from Melissa’s Cuisine

Makes 12 donuts

Ingredients
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 medium bananas)
2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
1 egg
2 tablespoons plain greek yogurt (fat free is fine)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon finely chopped candied ginger
cream cheese frosting

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease a donut pan with cooking spray and set aside.

1) In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground ginger and chopped crystalized ginger. Set aside.

2) In a large bowl, whisk together the mashed bananas, butter, eggs, yogurt and vanilla until completely incorporated. Gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet mixture until just combined.

3) Pour batter into greased donut pans, filling up just over halfway (the donuts will rise!). Bake at 325 for 15-17 minutes, until golden brown and donuts spring back after being touched lightly. A toothpick inserted into the donuts will also come out clean.

4) Cool donuts slightly before transferring to a wire rack and cooling completely. Frost with your favorite icing, or eat plain!