It is National Doughnut Day people (or National Donut Day, if you prefer, which for the record, I do), and that can only mean one thing — it’s time to celebrate with some deep-fried, sweetened little pieces of heaven.

National Donut Day is celebrated in the U.S. on the first Friday of June each year. It was originally celebrated by the Salvation Army in Chicago in 1938. It was meant to serve as a fundraiser to help those in need during the Great Depression and to honor the Salvation Army “Lassies” who served donuts to soldiers during World War I.

So in honor of those fine lassies/eating sweets for a good cause, today we’re making donuts.

And because I had a bunch of sweet potatoes from my most recent Imperfect Produce delivery (yes, I’ve written about them before, but they’re great for helping reduce food waste, so there), I decided what better way to celebrate this great holiday than to make Vegan Sweet Potato Donuts (recipe courtesy of Sarah Coates for The Sugar Hit). And because the calories from donut holes don’t count, they’re definitely in donut hole form. You’re welcome.

Vegan Sweet Potato Donuts with Spiced Sugar

 

Ingredients

Dough:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 cup cooked, mashed sweet potato
• 3/4 cup boiling water
• Flavorless oil for frying (I used Smart Balance Cooking Oil, but Sunflower Oil is another good option)

Spiced Sugar:

• 1/4 cup caster sugar (if you don’t have caster sugar, you can just put regular sugar in a blender or food processor until it is fine enough)
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp cardamom (after making this recipe I personally would actually just use a dash of cardamom, but you can be the judge)

Instructions

• Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine
• Add the oil, sweet potato and about half of the boiling water and mix to combine
• Continue to add water and stir until the mixture is a very thick, smooth and stretchy paste
• Heat about an inch and a half of oil in a small saucepan to 180C (you can figure out the temp by adding a small piece of batter and when it is bubbling and golden, the oil should be ready)
• Spoon in heaped teaspoons of the batter to the oil, carefully, so the oil doesn’t splash
• Cook until they are golden brown and crisp (the recipe said this should take about 2 minutes, but it was longer for mine to make sure they weren’t raw on the inside)
• Remove to a paper-towel lined plate and continue until all the batter is used
• Leave donuts to drain off a bit while you mix together all the ingredients for the spiced sugar
• Toss the still-hot donuts in the sugar mix and serve
• P.S. they are great with coffee

And if making donuts seems like too much of a commitment/challenge (to be honest, it was neither), check out this list of vegan-friendly donut shops. And if donuts really aren’t your thing (weird), but you still want to give to the cause you can just donate to or volunteer with the Salvation Army.

Okay, go get your donut on.