1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease two mini doughnut pans or two regular sized doughnut pans with Earth Balance (or other butter substitute).

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the vinegar, milk, pumpkin, sugar, applesauce, brown sugar (sift if clumpy), and melted Earth Balance (or other butter sub).

3. Add in the dry ingredients (baking powder, baking soda, spices, salt, and flours). Mix until just combined.

4. Using a ‘zip-lock’ baggie or pastry bag, spoon the batter into the bag and then secure it with the zip lock or rubber band. Twist the bag slightly and then cut off a hole at the corner to ‘pipe’ out the batter. Pipe the dough around the circle and gently flatten down with slightly wet fingers to smooth. Repeat.

5. Bake  for 10-12 minutes at 350F or until they gently spring back when touched. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before carefully using a butter knife to remove. Place on cooling rack for another 10-15 minutes.

6. Cinnamon Sugar: Melt Earth Balance in a small bowl and dip the cooled doughnuts into butter one at a time. Transfer the dipped doughnut into a bag with the cinnamon sugar and shake until coated thoroughly. Doughnuts keep for 2-3 days. (I used both a plastic bag and a brown paper and I found the brown paper helped absorb some of that extra butter…or it could just be wishful thinking)

I absolutely LOVED this recipe and there wouldn’t be anything that I would tweak about it. I made the first batch without pastry flour and it came out great. The second patch was with pastry flour and it was much more fluffly. Both were delicious so don’t worry if you don’t have pastry flour.

Mini Apple Cider Doughnuts

from Peas and Thank you

• 1 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup apple cider
• 1/4 cup organic sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp molasses
• 2 Tbsp unsweetened applesauce
• 2Tbsp vegan margarine (ie Earth Balance)
• 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
• cinnamon and sugar for dusting (I used the exact same method as I used for the pumpkin doughnuts)

Happy fall everyone and enjoy your doughnuts!!

PS. Clearly, with all the doughnuts being dunked in butter around here this isn’t a ‘health’ blog. I will hopefully have a good balance of healthy and comfort food. So don’t be scared of all the cinnamon and butter!! (As for the picture- though I love them, this isn’t a product placement for Flour bakery. I mooched extra brown bags off them for this recipe. This is just to show you the nice butter absorption. yum!)