Baked Blueberry Donuts with Lemon Glaze (low fat!)

It's officially spring! And, for me at least, that means an insatiable craving for the fresh tastes of nature's sweet (and sour!) fruits. These lovely blueberry donuts offer the light flavors of long past childhood summers paired with the sweet tang of citrusy lemon. While I prefer these with the glaze, they're still delicious without and make for a nice breakfast treat or a sweet mid-day snack with a pleasant tea.

I've found that these donuts last a bit longer than others that I make, though this recipe is still designed to only yield 6. Store these in an airtight container at room temperature away from the sun. Popping them in the fridge helps them last a little longer, though it does mess with the texture a bit. I recommend finishing these within 2 - 3 days.

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Ingredients for the donuts

• 1 cup all-purpose flour (also works with spelt or gluten-free, but the texture will change)

• 0.25 tsp salt

• 1 tsp baking powder

• pinch of ground cinnamon or cardamom (optional but great)

• 0.25 cup milk of choice (I like soy for a little extra protein)

• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar

• 0.25 tsp vanilla extract

• 0.3 cup agave or maple syrup

• .25 cup apple sauce (or 3.5 tbsp oil if you don't want to reduce fat/don't like that texture)

• 0.5 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)

NOTE: You are going to need a donut pan for this recipe! I have this one (I do not get revenue for clicks - don't worry), and chose it strictly because it was cheap.

Ingredients for the glaze

• 6 Tbsp powdered or confectioners sugar

• Pinch of salt

• 1 Tbsp milk of choice

• 1-2 tsp lemon zest (or zest of 1 lemon)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F (about 177° C) and spray your donut pan with non-stick spray. As I mentioned in my other donut recipe, you might be able to get away without this, but I've found it works much better with the tools I currently have in my kitchen.

2. Sift the flour into a medium-sized bowl. Again, as I mentioned in previous recipes, you don't need anything fancy here, just place a mesh strainer over the bowl, dump the flour in, and gently tap it until it all falls through the mesh. Don't have this? No worries, you can just drop the flour in and your donuts will still be amazing.

3. Add in the salt, baking powder, and optional cinnamon or cardamom and give it a quick mix to make sure everything is evenly distributed.

4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry mixture, and stir together with a wooden spoon. It's possible to overmix here, but don't be too worried about that.

5. When the oven is pre-heated, fold the blueberries into the batter mix. If you're worried about them breaking and changing the color of the batter, you can opt, instead, to press them into the pan after you've filled the wells. I kinda like the fun purple hue that you sometimes, get, though.

6. Pour, spoon, or pipe the batter into your donut pan. Be careful not to overfill the pan, lest you risk losing the obligatory holes!

7. Bake the donuts for 10-12 minutes, or until they have risen and no longer look wet. Allow them to sit for around 5 minutes in the pan before removing them to a cooling rack.

8. If you want to glaze the donuts, continue below, otherwise give these bad boys a few minutes to cool before digging in!

9. Make the glaze, while the donuts cool. Mix all of the glaze ingredients together in a small bowl that is still large enough to fit the donuts into. I recommend starting with 1 Tbsp or less of milk and slowly adding more to get the consistency you want. Remember, though, if it's too liquidy it won't stick well to the donuts (and they won't keep as long), and if it's too stiff you won't be able to get the donuts covered!

10. When the donuts are cool enough to handle (10-15 minutes is usually ideal), dip them into the bowl of glaze one donut at a time. You can glaze just one side or both - that's entirely up to you!