Sweet Potato Maple Donuts

Last night, I was so lucky to have spent the evening with my beautiful pals at Souplantation and my house for a sleepover. Before they arrived, I made some spur-of-the-moment sweet potato maple donuts. I used Paula Deen's recipe, but made some adjustments because I didn't have all of the ingredients her recipe calls for.

Sweet Potato Doughnuts with Maple Icing

Original Recipe by Paula Deen

• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar (I used 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup white, the applesauce was sweetened so I didn't use the full cup)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup sour cream (I used Mexican crema fresca)
• 1 cup cooked mashed sweet potato (about 1 medium potato) (I used 3/4 cup sweet potato and 1/4 cup apple sauce cause my tater was too small)
• Vegetable oil, for frying

For Icing (I didn't follow Paula's recipe):

• ~2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 2-4 tablespoons milk
• nearly 1 tablespoon imitation maple extract, but taste it as you add drops to the icing

For Crumbly Topping (totally made up on the spot, use whatever amounts please you!):

• finely chopped walnuts
• cinnamon
• brown sugar
• white sugar

Directions:

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together wet ingredients. Gradually add dry ingredients to the wet. It'll be waaayyy sticky, so you may want to add more flour to get it to a workable consistency. On a heavily floured surface, dump the dough out and roll it out to about a half-inch thick. 

Heat oil to 360 degrees F in a pot or pan thick enough to fill with about 1/2 inch of oil (I used corn). 

Cut the dough using a cutter of your choice. I used a glass cup and cut the hole with a metal pastry tip. Paula Deen's instructions say to cook them for 2 minutes on each side, but mine took less than a minute per side. Perhaps because they were smaller than hers? I'm not sure, but they'll be done once they're golden on both sides. 

Remove donuts from the oil and place on paper towels or napkins, then dip them in the icing and then the crumbly coating. These would also be good in some simple cinnamon sugar.

This post is dedicated to the red-haired cutie who was a fan of these treats :)