The final recipe for the season

Christmas is over and it's a new year, but the flavours of the season are still fresh in the air - most houses still have their Christmas tree up and there are still fairy lights flashing along most suburban streets (tree and lights are still up at my place). So, to hold onto the last threads of Christmas, I made some Maple Cinnamon doughnuts. My main reason for making doughnuts was because I found a baked doughnut tray on special in one of the department stores just before Christmas. I have always turned my nose up at these trays, thinking that if you're going to bother making doughnuts, do it properly and fry the hell out of them. Then I saw the discounted price on the tray and my excitement for a bargain won over my snobbery. And to my delight, the baked doughnuts were delicious. Light and fluffy, but still with a distinct doughnut texture and flavour. My first attempt was great (I followed the below recipe), but my second attempt was with chocolate (obviously I strayed from the recipe). They looked great but were too dense and dry... so I haven't posted the chocolate recipe, will work on it a bit more first.

So, here's to the final days of the season. Happy New Year everyone!

Maple Cinnamon-Sugar Baked Doughnuts
From Melissa Bakes
1 cup plain flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 (6 oz) container of non-fat vanilla yogurt
1 tbs canola oil
2 tsp lemon juice
2 1/2 tbs real maple syrup
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbs butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C. Mix the cinnamon and sugar together in a shallow dish and set aside. In a large bowl whisk together all the dry ingredients. In another bowl stir together oil, lemon juice, maple syrup, egg and yogurt.

Gently fold the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients until combined. The batter will be thick.

Scoop batter into a piping bag and squeeze out the batter evenly into a doughnut pan. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for a few minutes and then flip over onto a cooling rack while still warm.

Use a pastry brush, brush the melted butter over your donuts and then dip each doughnut in the cinnamon sugar mixture to coat. Serve immediately after coating with cinnamon sugar mixture for best texture.