I wanted to make heart-shaped, healthy, strawberry flavored, baked doughnuts, so I started off playing off of this old recipe I’ve done before, which is pretty tasty and slightly healthy. I was experimenting to infuse a strawberry flavor with some fresh pureed strawberry, and also using more whole wheat to make it healthier, and it just didn’t come out right. It came out downright nasty, to me anyway. It definitely wasn’t what a doughnut should taste like.
The recipe I made used 5 cups of flour, so you can imagine how much dough I had (yup, not sure what I was thinking)! I only baked a batch of 4 and well, that was enough to give me a taste and tell it just wasn’t right. They weren’t going to make good doughnuts, though it definitely tasted like it would make good pizza dough. Thus, I separated my dough into separate balls because while you could clearly see the strawberry pieces in it, it seems like pizza dough is what it was meant to be.
That was my total doughnut fail. I wanted to play with the recipe some more to come up with something yummy for my girls and to share here, but you know what, 4 kids need me more than doughnuts, so I just scrapped the whole experimenting again idea for the week. Maybe another time (when there’s more of it), but for now, I will stick to following someone else’s recipe. Anyone know of a good one?
Oh! And what did I do with the 4 doughnuts I did bake? I still stuck some glaze on it, topped it with sprinkles (took a picture), and gave it to my girls. My sweet little daughters-of-a-dietitian don’t know any better and all said they really liked it! Brave said, “Mommy, this tastes really healthy! It’s kind of like a bagel.” HA! A doughnut that tastes really healthy, almost bagel-like, is most definitely not a good sign.
If you sift the flour you have better results also adding too much whole wheat loses the fluffiness of the doughnut.
hahah, gotta love kids’ honesty! and at least the donuts are pretty 🙂
xxoo,
nikki
http://www.dreaminneon.blogspot.com
I love that you post your “Fails”. I’ve been reading your blog since it was just Brave and True and have loved every minute of your honesty (and your great taste!).
Have a great Valentines day!
HAHAHAAHA brave! Soul on Sunday said “my grammy and grumpy like low nu foods. like cake and candy! I like hi nu foods” True over hears and screams, “NO! You are the queen of low nu!” puhahahaha.
first, love your blog – content (darling daughters, beautiful home, crafts, plants …), photos, inclusion of “fails” and most especially your public profession of faith. thank you for all of that.
second, check out “lemonade makin mama” today. she has links to gluten-free donuts. i’ve not tried them, but maybe they will work for you.
thanks again for what you share … and best wishes on more donuts and everything else.
kathy
Thank you! Your encouragement means so much!
if you’re gonna try the recipe again, instead of using fresh strawberries, try using ground up freeze dried strawberries from trader joes. you have to mix in the ground up stuff (just toss into a food processor for a few pulses) right away into the batter cuz the moisture in the air will turn it into a crust inside your processor… but that might work better than the puree. it has too much moisture, hence the pizza dough. 🙂 also, whole wheat flour has a greater tendency to form gluten when mixed so you need to be gentle in mixing. sift before adding in too. lmk if it works out!
ooohhh!! That’s a good idea! I will try that. Thank you so much!
Awww your girls are so precious for saying that it tastes good! Haha. Good try! I was planning to make this type of donut for Valentine’s Day but now it looks like quite a feat..
Haha, sweet girls. I think my daughter would eat anything with sprinkles on it though. I’ve tried making lots of recipes more healthy before. I had a waffle fail this morning, in fact.
A tip I got once when wanting strawberry flavoring was to use freeze dried strawberries. Pulse them in a food processor for a couple seconds and voila! Obviously, fresh would be ideal, but strawberries are full of so much moisture. At least your donuts still look pretty!
I giggled when I read, “Mommy, this tastes really healthy!” Spoken like a true daughter of a dietitian, and so sweet. Thanks for sharing about a fail – I see the ways you keep it real on your blog and so appreciate it!