What happens when peanut butter and jelly, breakfast, and donuts all collide? The atmospheric pressure changes and what you thought you knew about breakfast goes out the window. OK, only fifty percent of that is mostly true. But what does happen is something truly delicious that makes breakfast better than ever!

This recipe for the PBJ Quinoa Donut was born out of a friend’s request over dinner. “I want a quinoa donut,” was her simple request. I haven’t really been challenged in the kitchen in a while, so this was a task I enthusiastically took on. Her goal was something more low-carb, but I knew it would also satisfy so many people out there living by the gluten-free code.

I hunted down quinoa flour – no surprise that Bob’s Red Mill had exactly what I needed. It was $13 for the bag – an investment when it comes to flour. But this recipe only requires a 1/2 cup, so you’ll be able to hang on to it for a while.

I consulted with Cheryl Forberg, RD who virtually wrote the book on quinoa. The Biggest Loser dietitian and author of Cooking with Quinoa for Dummies nixed my original idea to use peanut butter and instead use almond butter – far less fat and it continued to fit the needs of my food-sensitive audience. Plus, I baked a PB version and an AB version and the almond butter totally won out!

Frosting was the next element, and obviously a super important one. Any cake donut worth its Kosher salt has a good topping. I baked with fresh raspberries, I even tried our homemade Strawberry Chia Jam, but ultimately, the Bonne Maman raspberry jam in the fridge was the best-tasting option that was also able to stand up to the baking process.

In pineapple-upside-down-cake fashion, I piped the raspberry jam in to the bottom of a donut pan (misted with cooking spray to reduce sticking). This was topped with the finished almond-butter-quinoa-flour batter, which makes exactly enough for six donuts. After they baked, I flipped them on their backs and had perfectly “frosted” donuts that tasted exactly like your favorite PBJ sandwich. Glass of milk on the side, of course!

PBJ Quinoa Donuts
Serves 6 – 190 calories ea.

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup almond butter
1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 cups quinoa flour
1 egg
1/2 cup skim milk
1/2 cup stevia or other natural sweetener (can use 1/2 cup honey)
pinch of salt
1/2 tbsp. vanilla
1/2 tbsp. cinnamon
2 Tbsp. raspberry jam (or flavor of your choice)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

2. Combine the wet and dry ingredients separately (except the jam) and then mix together to create the batter.

3. Mist a donut pan with cooking spray and then pipe the jam in to the doughnut pan. Top this with the batter, poured evenly across six donut molds.

4. Bake for about 20 minutes until golden brown and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Since the final successful batch, I’ve made at least three more. My three-year-old daughter can’t get enough of them. And let’s be honest – she knows what a donut is and we both know I’m not letting her have one. But these? Moist, the texture is just like a cake donut, and frankly, if you’re going to have a donut, this one is way better for you.

One more thing – you might be asking – why is an almond butter donut called PBJ? Well, have you ever heard of an ABJ and gotten really excited? Me neither!