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Do you ever have really old bananas in your kitchen? Like, you think bananas sound good, so you buy some, but then you’ve had enough after about one or two (and if you’re a Trim Healthy Mama and only eating a half banana at a time, they don’t vanish very quickly), and they develop brown spots, and then you’re ready to toss them in the trash? That happens in our house quite often. I happen to be the person at our house that likes to “rescue” about-to-be-pitched food items (I call myself frugal), so I took it upon myself to repurpose two brown bananas that were gracing our counter and receiving evil glares from my mother. Since I recently bought a Babycakes mini donut maker at a thrift store (you can see a chocolate donut recipe I recently posted here), I have donuts on the brain. Banana donuts? Why not?
I had a couple of things in mind for these donuts:
- cream cheese frosting
- taste like normal food – banana bread would be great
- take two bananas
- take few ingredients (I made these the day after everyone was complaining about the ingredients list for this Chocolate Pudding Cake)
- take relatively normal, easy-to-find ingredients
The astute of you will realize that that is a very difficult list of parameters to work around. I fully expected these things to turn out less than stellar. Shocker of all shockers, I loved them. And my mom and sister loved them. That says a lot.
See, I wanted these donuts to be low-fat (low-fat to me means 5 grams or less of fat per serving). For Trim Healthy Mamas, anything made with bananas (a carb) needs to have little to no fat. But I wanted a cream cheese glaze. Using a small amount of reduced-fat cream cheese, I thought I could swing a light drizzle of frosting, but there would be no room for any fat in the donuts themselves. And then I challenged myself to use only easy-to-find ingredients (so no oat fiber, glucomannan, or protein powder. I made an exception for stevia. You have to sweeten with something. If you don’t have stevia or another low-glycemic sweetener, you could try just leaving it out entirely and contenting yourself with the sweetness from the bananas.). And as few of them as possible. I left a lot of things out of this recipe that I really wanted to experiment with, all for the sake of simplicity. And I was pleasantly surprised.
These things are amazing. Like, they actually taste like perfectly-spiced banana bread. They’re good warm, but they’re great cold. And topped with a light drizzle of cream cheese frosting (which you can omit if you want to go totally fat-free)…deliciousness.
Don’t have a mini donut maker? You could always buy one (keep an eye out at thrift stores!). Or you could try these as mini muffins, or even cookies. Or waffles. I haven’t really tried any of those things with this recipe, but they’re totally possibilities. I don’t know if this would work as actual mini loaves of banana bread or not (the centers might not get done?), but I’d love to try it sometime!
As far as serving sizes go, since these donuts are full of bananas and oat flour (which are both carb sources), I recommend not eating more than 3 in a sitting. For Trim Healthy Mamas, this would be most of your carb source for an E breakfast/snack/meal. As long as you stay at 3 or fewer mini donuts, the fat from the cream cheese in the glaze will be well within E guidelines.
Question of the day (comment below!): what’s your favorite thing to do with old bananas?
You can pin this recipe from my Breakfasts board here.
You can find this recipe in my cookbook, Necessary Food.
- 2 ripe medium bananas, mashed
- ½ cup egg whites (carton kind works great)
- 1 T lemon juice
- ⅓ cup water
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 3 doonks THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder (a doonk is 1/32 tsp.)
- 1¼ cups oat flour (ground-up oats; be sure to use gluten-free oats if gluten is an issue)
- 1½ tsp. cinnamon
- ¾ tsp. baking soda
- 3 oz. ⅓ less-fat cream cheese, softened
- 2 doonks THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder
- Dash vanilla
- 2 T unsweetened almond milk
- Beat the wet ingredients together until slightly foamy (20-30 seconds). Add the dry ingredients, baking soda last, and beat again until well-mixed. Bake by 2 T in a Babycakes mini donut maker (lightly sprayed with cooking spray) for 5 minutes. Yields approx. 20 mini donuts. Let cool before frosting.
- Combine all glaze ingredients. Put in a plastic sandwich bag and snip a small hole in the corner. Drizzle the donuts with the glaze. Refrigerate to store.
You may be able to totally omit the stevia sweetener if you want no special ingredients. The donuts will not be as sweet.
Don't have a mini donut maker? Try these as mini muffins, cookies, or even waffles! I haven't tried any of these, but I don't see why they wouldn't work.
Suggested products:
- Babycakes Mini Donut Maker
- THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder can be purchased from the Trim Healthy Mama online store.
Could I use Almond Flour instead of Oat? I am allergic to oats but these sound amazing!
You’re welcome to try, but that would make these a THM Crossover. 🙂 I haven’t tested that sub so can’t vouch for it for sure.
I eat simply low carb..how many carbs are there? Could I use 2 whole eggs instead?
I’m sorry – this is a really old recipe and I don’t have the carbs calculated. With the bananas and oat flour this would not be a low carb recipe. You’re welcome to use whole eggs to equal the measurement given for the egg whites.
You didn’t list the oven temperature in the recipe. 🙂 They sound yummy.
I used a mini donut maker to make mine and haven’t actually tried them baked in the oven, but if you want to try it, I would make mini muffins and bake at 350* until a toothpick comes out cleanly.
I didn’t have oat flour so I used oat fiber. Are these still and e or did that change it to a fp?
They would still be an E because of the banana. 🙂 (PS – you can make oat flour by grinding up old-fashioned or quick oats in your blender or coffee/spice grinder!)
I made these this morning. Very yummy. My 5 yr old loved them. My 4 yr old that doesn’t eat anything actually had 3 bites ( that is good for something new). Hubby said they weren’t bad considering they were sugar free. I gobbled to 3 and couldn’t eat more because I was full.
Thank you for so many wonderful recipes. I can’t wait for the cookbook to show up!
I made these and baked in oven for 10 mins on 350. I used a mini muffin pan. It’s 1 T each so I can have up to 6 of these!!!
If I make these donuts, can I have something with it as long as it is an E meal? I see you have a post with E eggs….could I have both in one meal? Or could I have some kind of meat? Still trying to figure out the THM way of eating :). Thanks for your help.
Yes, you can pair these with anything that is E or FP. 🙂 I would definitely eat them with some protein: a lean meat of some sort, low fat cottage cheese or Greek yogurt, protein powder, or egg whites. If you’re eating them with another E carb source, keep your 45 g net carb limit in mind (not that you have to count, but just remember that you don’t want to overdo the carbs. For example, I wouldn’t eat 3 of these donuts plus 2 slices of sprouted bread.).
how would they be an E with the fat in the glaze. would i have to only use a teaspoon of the glaze?
“3 donuts will keep you well within THM:E fat guidelines and will serve as most of your carb source for an E breakfast/snack/meal. ”
Don’t worry – I counted the numbers for you. 🙂
Is there enough protein in these to eat just them as my E snack or would I have to eat some other protein along with it?
I would suggest eating a little protein with them to help hold you over.
Have you tried this recipe with the THM baking blend?
No, I haven’t, Monique. 🙂
Thanks. Love your blog and recipe ideas.
If I was to make this recipe.. these banana bread donuts would definitely not last for very long. I have absolutely no self control when it comes to delicious little snacks like these!