The Betty Crocker Project : Masala Spiced Donut Bites

There is a time and place for every sad story. Since it's Monday, I won't break your heart with the story of how we missed yet another BBQ this weekend because of a kitchen emergency, or give you nightmares telling you about the corn fritter from Hell that did this to me... only on the top of my foot. I hadn't realized that corn fritters could become molten lava, but they can. I also won't bore you to death talking about how the ceiling in one of our rooms caved in from the rain. What a big huge annoying yawn. Yeah. Instead I'm going to tell you about an odd little donut miracle that we stumbled across while flipping through The Betty Site.

If you follow me on Facebook and Twitter, you know since we moved to NYC we've been eating a lot of curry. To quote my handsome husband: "I am now more curry than man." I mean Thai, Indian, Chinese, Jamaican... you name a curry, and we've enjoyed it. So you can imagine what happened in The Shannon Homestead when I stumbled across donut "holes"/bites made in mini muffin pans and spiced with light, sweet & warm curry spice! I'm pretty sure something like this happened.

But that wasn't the only awesome thing to happen recently. Here are but a few!

• Compassionista Girlie Girl Army featured our Vegan Bacon & 3 Cheese Frittata of Your Dreams and included a Bloody Mary Recipe that I can't wait to try!
• Vegan Rock Star (& a bag of chips) Sarah Kramer opened her own Vegan Shop recently in Victoria, BC! I have just added a visit to this little shop of wonders to my bucket list... which I just started this weekend and only says : Visit Sarah's Place.
• Cookbook Author/Post Punk Kitchen Queen & Awesome-sauce Expert Isa Chandra Moskowitz & team launched their Teal Cat Project! Anyone who lived anywhere near Brooklyn knows that feral and homeless cats need our help now and this project is a clever and compassionate way to help cats and get an adorable tchotchkes in the process! We have already ordered ours! They already sold out of the first batch but more cats are promised and there are shirts to hold you over till then!
• We recently went on a doubles datesy thingy with the ladies over at Our Hen House and saw The Breakfast Club in the big screen! I'm still totally saying totally too much, but it makes me feel young again. Plus I work from home so who's it bother besides Dan who promised to love through better and worse. Totally.

There was more but I feel like I've kept you from the donut bites long enough...

Masala Spiced Donut Bites

• 1/3 Cup Margarine
• 1/2 Cup Sugar
• 1 Tablespoon Applesauce
• 1 1/2 Cups Flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1/4 teaspoon Nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon Cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon Ground Ginger (powder not paste)
• 1/2 Cup Almond Milk
• Baking Spray

Coating :

• 1 Cup Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon Garam Masala
• 1/4 teaspoon Ground Cardamom
• 1/2 Cup Margarine (melted)

Heat oven to 350.

In a large bowl, mix 1/3 cup Margarine, 1/2 cup Sugar & Applesauce with an electric mixer til blended and fluffy like a thick frosting. In another bowl, mix Flour, Baking Powder, Salt, Nutmeg, Cumin and Ginger. Then pour half the Flour mix into the bowl with the Margarine mix and blend with your electric mixer until smooth. Add the Almond Milk and blend until smooth. Then add the rest of the Flour and again blend until it is smooth.

Spray your beloved mini muffin pan with Baking Spray. Put 1 tablespoon of Donut Batter in each little cup and bake for 12 to 15 minutes. You'll want to pull them out when they are a VERY light golden and you can stick a bamboo skewer in the largest one and remove it cleanly.

Put all the Coating ingredients except the Margarine in a large food storage bag and shake to mix. Roll the muffin in the warm Margarine one at a time and then toss the coated donut bites in the sugar mix in the plastic bag to coat.

I'm having a few with my morning coffee this morning while I type this and I feel like you should know... I can't remember the last time I enjoyed a Monday this much... I mean ever.