One of the lovely ladies I work with was having a birthday and so I planned to make treats. This woman had an amazing year – she’s lost a lot of weight, and eats healthfully. I wanted to make something that would be good, but still fit her lifestyle. I found a recipe for pumpkin donuts on Prevention RD and decided that, at about 150 calories per donut, these would be perfect.
Of course, I tweaked the recipe a bit – but this time it was because the birthday girl didn’t like butterscotch, which was the original frosting in the recipe. I decided to do a chocolate frosting instead, after reading about what a great pairing it is with pumpkin.
I also had to acquire a donut pan – I went to Target and they had one for around $15. I’m an Amazon Prime member and there was a donut pan there for $9 so I ordered it and had it the day before I needed to make these. Perfect!
Donut Ingredients:
1 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour or white wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 cup sunflower oil
1/2 cup lowfat buttermilk
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp vanilla
Frosting Ingredients:
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tbsp butter
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 F and spray donut pan with cooking spray. NOTE: I did this after each batch to prevent any sticking.
In a medium bowl, combine the oil, buttermilk, brown sugar, egg, pumpkin puree, and vanilla; whisk until smooth.
Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredient mixture, starting with the pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt. Add the flour and combine – being careful not to over mix.
Fill the donut pan with the batter, filling about 2/3rds full.
Bake for about 10-12 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. My oven is on steroids, so mine only baked for about 8 minutes.
Take the pan out of the oven, wait for a minute or two and then flip the pan over a wire rack or cutting board to remove the donuts and let them cool.
In a small, microwave-safe bowl, microwave the chocolate chips for about 2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds. Once hot and smooth, stir in butter.
Once donuts are cooled, ice each donut by hand and allow to set on a cooling rack.
Yield: 17 donuts (~3 inch diameter)
Nutrition Information (per donut): 134 calories; 6.5 g. fat; 11 mg. cholesterol; 119 mg. sodium; 17.4 g. carbohydrate; 1.7 g. fiber; 0.8 g. protein
These donuts were AMAZING! They were still soft the next day, and the frosting had firmed up so the texture was great. The donuts themselves are not very sweet, but the frosting adds just the right amount of extra sugar – so don’t skip it!
These would also be fantastic for a snack, treat or even as a light breakfast during the busy holiday season since they are really easy on the calories and not overly sweet. Try these out and let me know if you like them as much we all did!
- 1 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour or white wheat flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1/4 cup sunflower oil
- 1/2 cup lowfat buttermilk
- 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 tbsp butter
- Preheat oven to 350 F and spray donut pan with cooking spray. NOTE: I did this after each batch to prevent any sticking.
- In a medium bowl, combine the oil, buttermilk, brown sugar, egg, pumpkin puree, and vanilla; whisk until smooth.
- Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredient mixture, starting with the pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt. Add the flour and combine - being careful not to over mix.
- Fill the donut pan with the batter, filling about 2/3rds full.
- Bake for about 10-12 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Take the pan out of the oven, wait for a minute or two and then flip the pan over a wire rack or cutting board to remove the donuts and let them cool.
- In a small, microwave-safe bowl, microwave the chocolate chips for about 2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds. Once hot and smooth, stir in butter.
- Once donuts are cooled, ice each donut by hand and allow to set on a cooling rack.
So sweet of you to make these for someone leading a healthy lifestyle 🙂 Love it and I’m so glad you enjoyed them 🙂
Thank you for the comment and thanks for posting such a great recipe. I’ve pinned several other of your recipes- can’t wait to try more. 🙂