Orange Glazed Blueberry Donuts

For months and months now I’ve seen baked donuts pop up on blog after blog and I’d been bookmarking all of them in the hopes that someday I would procure my own donut pan and finally be able to make them all. When I finally got my hands on a donut pan, these orange glazed blueberry donuts from Prevention RD’s blog were first in line – blueberries + orange + glaze – how could you possibly go wrong?

These definitely didn’t disappoint one bit – in fact, I almost had to hide these to keep Jon away from them. He loved them so much he ate 2 of them before dinner  and then 1 1/2 more afterwards! If that’s not a testament of just how amazing these are, then I don’t know what else to tell ya! My pan yielded only 15 donuts rather than 21 donuts which ended up making each of them approximately 137 calories each – a far cry from the 250 or more calories in a regular fried donut. And at 137 calories a piece, I reckon you could indulge in say, 1 or possibly 2 or 3 donuts without any very much guilt.

These orange glazed blueberry donuts are light and fluffy. The orange flavour shines through the glaze but not to the point that borders on too much orange. Jon is a hater of all things orange in baked goods and he didn’t give me his usual why-did-you-have-to-ruin-this-by-adding-orange-peel speech.

Recipe type: Breakfast, DessertServes: 15Ingredients

• 2 cups cake flour (or 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour + 1/4 cup cornstarch)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp orange zest
• 3/4 cup low-fat buttermilk, at room temperature
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten, at room temperature
• 2 Tbsp unsweetened applesauce
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup blueberries, halved
• Orange Glaze:
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1-2 Tbsp whole milk
• 1 Tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice + more to thin out, if desired
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Sift the cake flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Mix. Add in the orange zest and mix it in.
2. Pour in the buttermilk and add in the eggs, applesauce and vanilla extract. Gently stir the ingredients together until just combined. Be careful not to over-mix the batter or the donuts will not be fluffy. Carefully fold in the halved blueberries.
3. Lightly grease a donut pan with non-stick cooking spray. Carefully spoon the batter into the doughnut pan. Fill each one no more than half way. Bake the doughnuts at 425 F for 8-9 minutes.
4. While the donuts are baking, make the glaze.
5. Put the powdered sugar in a large bowl. Add in the orange juice, milk and vanilla extract. Whisk to combine. If the glaze is too thick, add additional orange juice or milk, 1/2 teaspoon at a time until desired consistency is reached. I needed almost 2 tablespoons of milk to get the glaze to the right consistency – start small and work up to more, if need be.
6. Once the donuts are done baking, let them cool in the donut pan for 4 minutes. Then remove them from the pan.
7. Dip one side of each donut in the glaze. Set the donuts on top of a cooling rack with a baking sheet underneath. Allow the glaze on the doughnuts to dry and serve immediately.

Notes

Remember to spray your pan again if you have to reuse the donut pan to make a second batch. I didn’t realize this and had quite the time prying my donuts out of their little spots.