My brother gave me this fabulous little doughnut hole maker for Christmas.  He said he thought it would go well in my “little red 50s style kitchen”.  He hadn’t seen it since I have taken it back a decade and painted most of the walls Coke bottle green, but still, it fits perfectly.

Doughnut holes, one of my favorite splurges, do not fit as well into my lifestyle.  I would say preferred lifestyle, but in my ideal, dream world lifestyle I’d eat them every day.  In fact, on my way to the family get together the morning we exchanged gifts and I opened his present we made one of our once or twice a year Dunkin Donuts stops for a mixed box of Munchkins.  I love them, especially with Vanilla Chai.

The morning after my brother spent a night at our house, I though the polite and fun thing to do would be to try out the little appliance he gave us.  We made chocolate and vanilla cake batter doughnut holes with the recipe that came with the baker and I made a simple confectioner’s sugar glaze to coat them.  Dare I say they were better than Dunkin Donuts?  They really were.  And the pastries are baked rather than fried which cuts way down on the fat content.

I knew after making the second batch a week later, all chocolate on this occasion, that I would need to come up with some healthy recipes for things to make in the little cooker or I would be in serious trouble.   Basically as doomed as if a Dunkin Donuts opened up next door.

So thinking along the lines of pastries in the doughnut family last night when we were all wanting a sweet finish to our dinner, I instantly thought of beignets, the only “donuts” I have ever made from scratch.  But without melted chocolate to dip them in or powdered sugar dusted on, I didn’t know if we would want to eat the plain pastry baked in the doughnut hole maker.   I remembered seeing, years ago, some food network star make banana beignets in the traditional manner so I decided to give the idea a try using whole wheat flour.

They were pretty good.  No one even noticed or cared when I made the announcement that they were made from whole wheat flour.   More like little muffin balls, but tasty, sweet, and healthy with a crunchy outer shell, I’d serve them for breakfast anytime.  Much better for us than Chocolate Moose Tracks ice cream, my family’s favorite weekend dessert treat of late, and with the added benefit of whole grain fiber from the wheat and potassium from the bananas.

My little guy asked, as he usually does when I make something rich, fatty, and goo-filled, “Can you make these every week?!”  to which I usually respond, “Not every week, but I’ll put it in the blog so we know how to make it again every once in a while.”  This time I was able to answer him with a resounding “Yes!”

Ingredients:

1 c. whole wheat flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 c. turbinado sugar

1 egg

1/2 c. milk

2 medium bananas broken into small pieces

1 tsp. vanilla

Oil or nonstick spray

Method:

Turn on doughnut hole maker to allow it to warm up.

Sift together dry ingredients.

Beat the egg.  Blend in the milk and vanilla.  Stir in banana pieces.

Add the entire contents of the liquid mixture to the solid.

Fold gently to combine.  Do not stir to prevent the gases forming from the baking powder from escaping too quickly so that the beignets will have lift as they bake.

Drop by teaspoons full into the holes of the doughnut maker.

Latch closed and bake for five minutes.

Makes 3 dozen

This batter would also probably work well baked in greased mini muffin tins if you don’t have a doughnut hole maker.

The little iPhone and I have finally stopped fighting each other and are getting along better these days.  We’ll see.  There may be a relationship in our picture taking future after all, at least until something better comes along.