How to Eat Better: Simple Science to Supercharge Your Nutrition - A Cookbook

Sweet Potato & Pecan Doughnuts

Makes 9 doughnuts

They look like doughnuts, taste like carrot cake and, shockingly, are made up of about 70% fruit, nuts and veg. In fact there’s so much good stuff in here that there’s almost no room left for added sugar or fat. One of my all-time favourite recipes, I went through 14 different versions before I finally got these spot on.

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9 cavities of a doughnut mold lightly with a little oil.

2. Stir the flour, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, salt, and stevia or sugar together in a large mixing bowl to combine.

3. Blend the vanilla extract, egg, banana, and sweet potatoes together in a food processor until smooth, then fold into the flour mixture with the pecans.

4. Spoon the batter into the prepared doughnut sections and bake for 30 minutes or until risen and golden. Let cool.

5. Decorate the doughnuts with melted chocolate, dried fruit, and chopped nuts. I added a couple of drops of natural pink food coloring to some white chocolate to give these doughnuts added prettiness, but dark or white chocolate works just as well.

Doughnuts that are out of this world!

Sweet potatoes are so high in key nutrients that they have been extensively tested at the Kennedy Space Center as part of the rations of NASA astronauts, according to a 1998 study. Reading through scientific reports on how they were turned into pancakes, waffles, tortillas, bread, pie, pound cake, pasta, doughnuts, and pretzels, I thought "I could do that!" So this is my NASA-inspired doughnut recipe with more than three times the sweet potato than even the space program could cram in.

Ingredients