Healthy doughnuts stuffed with sweet sesame tofu and raspberry

  • medium
  • Makes 12
  • 4 hours
Not yet rated

This healthy baked doughnut recipe, stuffed with sweet sesame tofu and tangy raspberry sauce, uses a variety of nutritious ingredients – coconut fat, coconut sugar and wholegrain flours – for an alternative to this usually deep-fried treat.

First published in 2016

This recipe centres on Houmoto sesame tofu, a Nagasaki delicacy made with a combination of roasted sesame seed paste and soya beans. Lightly sweet, with the nutty umami of sesame, this dessert tofu can be eaten as it comes with a drizzle of brown sugar syrup and a sprinkling of kinako flour (roasted, powdered soya beans), or as I have used it here, blended into a smooth cream.

In this recipe I have matched the nutty sweetness of the creamy tofu with a tangy raspberry sauce and dark chocolate – all used to fill and decorate these healthy baked, yeasted doughnuts.

These doughnuts use wholegrain spelt and oats to add fibre and minerals, while heart-healthy coconut fat has been substituted for the butter that traditionally features in doughnut recipes. I also used coconut sugar – a sweetener made from the sap of coconut flower buds – which is more nutritious that other sugars and is much lower on the glycemic index.

Baked instead of fried, these doughnuts avoid all the excess fat of deep-frying, although the texture is somewhat different. To maximise the amount of luscious filling, I split these doughnuts down the middle and piled in plenty of sweet sesame tofu cream and tart raspberry sauce. They also benefit from serving any leftover filling on the side for spooning and dipping. Best served warm!

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Baked spelt and oat doughnuts

  • 200g of whole milk
  • 30g of coconut oil
  • 1 vanilla pod
  • 1 tsp fast-action dried yeast
  • 200g of plain flour
  • 130g of spelt flour, wholegrain
  • 50g of oats
  • 15g of milk powder, skimmed
  • 5g of flaky sea salt
  • 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1 egg
  • 25g of coconut sugar

Doughnut fillings

To serve

Method

1
To make the doughnuts, split the vanilla pod and scrape the seeds into a small saucepan. Add half the milk and the coconut fat and heat over medium heat until the fat melts. Set aside to infuse while you prepare the rest of the ingredients
2
Blend the oats to powder in a high powdered food processor or coffee grinder. Set aside
3
Add the other half of the milk to the saucepan and heat to just lukewarm – any hotter and it will kill the yeast. Remove from the heat and add the yeast, stirring to melt. Add to a stand mixer, Thermomix or other blender with kneading capability. Add the oat flour.
4
Sieve about 130g spelt flour to remove the biggest pieces of bran (you can add these back to the packet) and weigh out 100g sieved spelt flour. Add this to the mixer with the plain flour, skimmed milk powder, flaky sea salt, baking powder and egg. Squeeze all the milk out of the vanilla pod and add this flavoured milk to the mixer
5
Knead for a minute, then add 25g coconut sugar and continue to knead for about 6 minutes (it will depend on your machine), until the dough is shiny and supple – it will be quite sticky
6
Scrape the dough into a greased bowl and leave in a warm place to rise, 1–2 hours depending on the room temperature
7
When the dough has doubled in size, punch down
8
Roll out about 2cm thick. Use a biscuit cutter (about 6cm wide) to cut circles out of the dough – try not to twist the cutter when you press down as this can interfere with the rise
9
Arrange the doughnuts on a baking sheet lined with greaseproof paper and cover with a clean tea towel. Allow to rise again until roughly doubled in size, about 45–60 minutes
10
While the doughnuts are rising, prepare the fillings. To make the raspberry sauce, heat the frozen raspberries in a medium saucepan with the coconut sugar and a small dash of lemon juice until reduced and thickened, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a serving bowl to cool
11
Blend the sweet sesame tofu in a food processor and add to another serving bowl
12
Preheat the oven to 190°C/gas mark 5
13
Once the doughnuts have risen, bake the for about 8 minutes until risen and just set. Over-baking will result in dry, tough doughnuts so keep an eye on them as they bake and err on the side of under-baking
14
While the doughnuts are baking, melt the chocolate – I find this easiest in a microwave, checking frequently to ensure the chocolate doesn’t burn
15
When they are ready, split each doughnut in half and pile the tofu sesame cream and raspberry sauce on top of the bottom halves. Working quickly, dip the top halves in the melted chocolate and reattach
16
Serve immediately, while still warm, with any leftover fillings on the side
First published in 2016

Specialising in vegetarian food, Nancy has cooked her way around Europe and now writes full time for publications and her blog, Delicious from Scratch.

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