Ingredients

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 3 large eggs
• 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 cups applesauce, mashed bananas, puréed strawberries, or puréed fruit of your choice
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, optional; good with apple or banana flavored doughnuts
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 3/4 cups + 2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
• granulated sugar or cinnamon-sugar, for coating

 Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Lightly grease two standard doughnut pans. Note: If you don’t have doughnut pans, you can bake these in a standard muffin tin.
2. Beat together oil, eggs, sugar, puréed fruit, vanilla, cinnamon (if using), salt, and baking powder until smooth.
3. Add the flour, stirring just until smooth.
4. Fill the wells of the doughnut pans nearly to the rim; use about 1/4 cup of batter in each well. If using muffin pans, fill each well about 3/4 full; the recipe makes about 15, so you’ll need to bake in two batches (unless you have two muffin pans).
5. Bake the doughnuts for 15 to 18 minutes, or until a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the center of one comes out clean. If you’re making muffins, they’ll need to bake for 20 to 23 minutes.
6. Remove the doughnuts from the oven, and loosen their edges. After about 5 minutes, transfer them to a rack.
7. While the doughnuts are still warm (but no longer fragile), gently shake them, 1 or 2 at a time, in a clean paper bag or baggie with the sugar. If you’ve made muffins, sprinkle their tops with sugar.
8. Cool completely, and wrap airtight; store at room temperature for several days. Freeze for longer storage.
9. To make fancy doughnuts: Fill the hole in each doughnut with your choice of ice cream, pudding, mousse, sliced fruit, etc. Top with sauce; add whipped cream if desired.

Notes:

I like to freeze these; since they are not fried in grease, they store well in the freezer. When it’s time to serve, I pop them in the microwave for a minute or so, then depending on what I have on hand, plate them and fill with ice cream, fruit, pie filling etc., for an over-the-top looking treat in just a few minutes!