Chocolate Frosted Doughnuts

Doughnuts are usually one of those ‘calorie bombs’ that people trying to lose weight are encouraged to choose sparingly, if at all. Not surprising, I suppose, since they’re basically deep fried cake coated in frosting. Buying a doughnut pan last year totally changed my perspective on incorporating doughnuts into my diet. Baked doughnuts are delicious! So far I’ve made Peanut Butter & Jelly doughnuts, Lemon Poppyseed doughnuts, Strawberry doughnuts and Spice doughnuts, but I realized recently I’ve been totally neglecting chocolate doughnuts! I decided that situation needed to be remedied STAT, so here you go: a chocolate doughnut dipped in chocolate and finished off with a fun dose of sprinkles. These baked doughnuts are lighter and fluffier than their deep fried counterparts, but they are a great way to satisfy a chocolate craving. The doughnut part is good, but the melted chocolate chip frosting is what makes these great, at least for me. Now you can have your doughnuts and eat them too!

Chocolate Frosted Doughnuts

Source: adapted from Prevention RD

Doughnut Ingredients:
½ cup white whole wheat flour
2 T unsweetened cocoa powder
2 T granulated sugar
1 ½ t baking powder
1/8 t salt
1 egg
¼ cup skim milk
½ t vanilla
1 ½ t canola oil
2 T unsweetened applesauce

Frosting Ingredients:
¼ cup chocolate chips
½ t canola oil
1 ½ t agave nectar or corn syrup
1/8 t vanilla extract
1 T rainbow sprinkles

Directions:
1.    Preheat the oven to 450. Lightly mist a doughnut pan with cooking spray.
2.    In a large bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder and salt until combined. Add the egg, milk, vanilla, oil and applesauce and stir until thoroughly mixed.
3.    Using a spoon or piping bag, evenly distribute the batter mixture into the spaces in the doughnut pan. Bake for 7-8 minutes or until a toothpick stuck in comes out clean. Cool completely.
4.    Place chocolate chips in a bowl and drizzle the oil and agave nectar over the top. Microwave in 20 second intervals until chocolate is just melted (do not overcook). Add vanilla and stir until smooth. Quickly (before the chocolate sets) dip the top side of each doughnut into the melted chocolate and use a spoon to spread if necessary. Before the chocolate sets on the doughnuts, top each one with a half teaspoon of rainbow sprinkles.

Yields 6 doughnuts. Weight Watchers P+: 4 per serving (P+ calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com).
Nutrition per serving from myfitnesspal.com: 150 calories, 23 g carbs, 6 g fat, 4 g protein, 3 g fiber