Baked Banana, Chocolate Doughnuts

YES! I've finally gotten hold of a doughnut pan! It was on sale at $9 the other day which was lucky for me because I was going to get one anyway after seeing tons and tons of recipes for baked doughnuts. No, I've never even thought about deep frying doughnuts at home- one: because I'm a totally inexperienced deep fryer and two: it looks too much of a hassle! So these doughnut pans were a great find! I can't wait to try all sorts of doughnuts now- cinnamon, caramel glazed ah, the possibilites!

Baked Banana, Chocolate Doughnuts With Dried Banana Streusel and Honey Roasted Walnuts

Recently, I've also been quite obsessed in collecting various kitchen items... It's a little scary to think that nowadays, rather than shopping for clothes, homeware stores attract me more any day! Some new things I got are: round springform and tart pans, long rectangular tart pans which I will definitely put to great use and you will see them in upcoming posts! I also bought some really cute muffin/cupcake liners and finally found paper straws after months and months of seeing them EVERYWHERE on fellow foodbloggers' posts that didn't cost a fortune like the ones from Wheel and Barrow at $8/pack of 25. I got mine at a dollar store for $2.50, sure they didn't have much colour options- only red and white stripes actually, heck, I couldn't care less and took the last one and knowing I've bought it with such a bargain price... it made my day, I tell you! Unfortunately, only a couple of days before, I was just so determined to get some that I bought some online from etsy. Sure, they were cheap by themselves, and if I lived in the US, those things barely cost anything! But alas, I live down under and shipping costs... Anyhow, I still can't wait till they arrive because I got some real nice colours!

My lovely, lovely paper straws....

 Also, after seeing an poster up at my local Wheel & Barrow (An Australian homewares store- my favourite store after Coles) which says they are now hiring casual workers, I've made up my mind about what kind of life I'd want next year upon finishing high school. At uni, I will study nutrition, I'd go to Newton and eat my way through the suburb for my lunch breaks with friends, after uni, I will work at Wheel & Barrow and get awesome discounts and meet food loving colleagues and when I get home, I will bake and call it a finish to my day. It sounds like an amazing plan, no? Just hoping that they'd still have positions free next year! 

Blast from the past- 100's and 1000s!

Sorry for boring you with all my unnecessary blab when I know all you want is get to the damn recipe! It was my first time attempting baked doughnuts and sure, the texture was completely different to their fried counterparts and resembled more in my opinion, a banana cake, it was still fun and cute to look at in their doughnut forms. They were also so easy to whip up- like muffins but I feel they have a more impressive flair to them and they're fairly healthy too!

Baked Banana, Chocolate Doughnuts

Recipe Adapted from here

Makes 12 Doughnuts 

For the Doughnut Batter:

6 tbsp sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup mashed ripe banana (from one large banana)
3 tbsp vegetable oil 
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp yoghurt
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup + 2 tbsp whole wheat flour (I never have whole wheat in my pantry so used normal white)

1. Preheat your oven to 180 C and grease a doughnut pan with cooking spray
2. Whisk together the egg and sugar until light and pale, about 10 minutes. Stir in the banana, oil, vanilla and yoghurt.
3. Sift in the salt, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, flour and wheat germ (if using). Then stir together until combined. 
4. Pipe the batter into the greased mini doughnut pan and bake for 10-12 minutes.
5. Remove the doughnuts from the pan and let them cool. Once cool, dip them into the chocolate ganache and place on a lined cookie tray. Sprinkle with funfettis or chopped nuts on top of the doughnuts now if desired (I used chocolate funfettis, 100s and 1000s and dried banana streusel from herewith honey roasted walnuts). Let the ganache set at room temperature, then store the doughnuts in an airtight container. 

Mmmmmm.... yes, dip them in that chocolate goodness!

For the Chocolate Glaze:

80g semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped

1/3 cup thickened cream

1. Place the chocolate into a small heatproof bowl. Heat the cream gently in a small saucepan until it starts to steam. 
2. Pour 3/4 of it into the bowl with the chocolate and let it sit for 2 minutes to melt the chocolate. Stir the mixture together. If the mixture is too thick, add the rest of the cream. If it is still too thick, add a little milk until you get the right consistency for dipping the doughnuts. 

The aftermath- A beautiful, yummy mess

Hope everyone's having a great weekend!