Week 16 Dish 1: Vegan baked mini apple donuts

Happy Hanukkah!! I have never really thought about Hannukah as I don't know anyone who observes it, but on my ENT placement last week one of the doctors was Jewish. So I thought, why not bake something to celebrate this festival? During Hannukah, there is a custom of eating food fried in oil to commemorate the miracle of a small bottle of oil keeping the flame in the temple alight for eight days. In the modern day, donuts have become of the foods that are eaten during Hannukah. I couldn't quite bring myself to make deep fried donuts so instead I ordered a mini donut tray and found a baked recipe. The original recipe was for large donuts but I adapted it slightly for mini donuts.

Just to warn you, I have an exam tomorrow (the SJT) that counts for 50% of the points in my application for a junior doctor position - so it's safe to say that that though these are baked and not fried, they are by no means healthy. Indulge with me! ;)

Makes 40 mini donuts
Ingredients
For the donuts
1 cup plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp mixed spice
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup maple syrup/ agave/ honey
1/4 cup apple juice/ cider (this was apple cider in the original recipe but my mum isn't a big fan of alcohol in general so I substituted it with juice - but of course you can use either!)
1/4 cup apple sauce
1 tbsp canola/ rapeseed oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
For the apple cider glaze
1 cup icing sugar
2 tbsp apple juice/ cider
For the cinnamon sugar topping
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Brush a mini donut tray with oil (I have a 20-donut tray, so I did it in two batches).
2. In a bowl combine the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, spices and salt. 
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the maple syrup, apple juice/ cider, apple sauce, canola oil and vanilla extract. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients and combine.
4. Spoon or pipe batter into the donut tray. Don't fill more than 3/4 full - this is quite tedious but persevere, it's worth it!
5. Bake for 6-8 minutes and allow to cool in the tray for a few minutes. Then, carefully remove from the tray and allow to cool completely on a cooling rack.
6. In the mean time make the glaze and sugar. In a shallow bowl whisk together the icing sugar and apple juice/ cider. In another bowl mix the ingredients for the cinnamon sugar topping.
7. Once the donuts are cool, dip them into the glaze and immediately sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar. Let the glaze harden and enjoy (or do what I did and eat 7. Talk about comfort eating)

Original recipe: Baked apple cider donuts

Very mini