Oh.
My.
Goodness.
These donuts. I just don't even have the words.
Let me try and find them: LEMON. PISTACHIO. PROTEIN. DONUTS.
Even though I made them myself, it is hard to believe how amazing these taste when they are made with protein powder. I mean, let's not fool ourselves - baking with protein powder is GREAT, but its never quite the real deal. But I swear to you, if you didn't know how these were made you would think I picked them up from a near by donut shop.
I will admit that I had my doubts I could ever get this recipe exactly spot on like I wanted it. The first attempt the batter had too much liquid and they baked flat and rubbery. The second attempt I almost had but it they were a little dry, however, still definitely edible, I just wasn't sold on the glaze. This third attempt I was determined to nail it and boy did I.
I will say I tried so hard to make a "healthy" glaze for these donuts by using minimal sugar and even some whey protein powder in the mix, but it just wasn't the consistency I wanted. So I compromised and made a traditional glaze with powdered sugar and milk...but used it oh-so-sparingly. I try my hardest to steer clear of refined sugars but you know what, sometimes you gotta give a little.
Aside from the glaze these are incredibly healthy donuts! The lemon zest and lemon juice make these the ideal summertime donut as their flavor is bright and bursting with with citrus. Each donut packs 8 grams of protein and less than 5 grams of fat. It is hard to believe something that taste THIS good is actually healthy. Don't believe me? You'll just have to see for yourself!
Lemon Pistachio Protein Donuts
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Bake Time: 8 minutes
Servings: 6 donuts
Ingredients:
Donuts
- 1/4 cup vanilla whey protein powder (I use Whey Protein Isolate from True Nutrition)
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour (I use Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose)
- 2 tbsp coconut palm sugar
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp butter, melted
- 1/4 cup nonfat Greek yogurt
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- Zest of 1 lemon (approx. 2 tbsp)
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
Glaze
- 3 tbsp powdered sugar, loosely measured not hard packed
- 2 tsp milk (or nondairy milk of your choice, I used cashew)
Additional Toppings
- 2 tbsp pistachios, toasted
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease donut pan with coocnut oil (just so the donut don't stick to pan) and set aside.
- Mix all dry ingredients (protein powder, flour, coconut palm sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt) together in a large mixing bowl. In a smaller bowl, combine wet ingredients (butter, lemon juice, lemon zest, yogurt, egg and vanilla) and whisk together. Add wet ingredients to the dry and whisk together until well incorporated.
- Transfer batter to a large Ziploc bag - we will use this as a piping bag. Snip a very small hole in one of the bottom corners of the bag and evenly pipe batter into donut pan. I like to tab the pan on my counter top to level out the batter and ensure there are no air bubbles.
- Transfer donuts to oven to bake for 8 minutes or until a toothpick in inserted into the donut and comes out clean. Make sure not to over bake since we are using whey protein and over baking and make your donuts dry and rubbery!
- After the donuts have finished baking, remove pan from oven and remove donuts from pan for cooling.
- While donuts are cooling, prepare the glaze. In a small bowl add 1 tsp of milk at a time to the powdered sugar, stirring after each tsp of milk. If you haven't already toasted your pistachios, now would be the time to toast them. Once cooled, chop the pistachios finely.
- With a spoon, drizzle equal amounts of glaze over the tops of the cooled donuts. Sprinkle chopped pistachios over each right after the glaze.
- Serve immediately or store in an airtight container, placed in the refrigerator.
Nutritional Information (1 donut)
145 calories - 8 g Protein, 17.5 g Carbohydrates, 4.7 g Fat