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5 from 1 vote

Red Velvet Donuts

Decadent cake and frosting without the guilt! Red Velvet Donuts are a fun way to portion out this classic dessert so you can stay on track while still indulging.
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time15 minutes
Course: Breakfast, Dessert
Cuisine: American
Servings: 9 donuts
Calories: 97kcal
Author: Geri

Ingredients

FOR THE DONUTS

  • 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
  • 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp kosher salt
  • 2 ounces reduced fat cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 3/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce
  • 2 tbsp nonfat Greek yogurt
  • 2 tsp almond milk (or milk of choice)
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • red food coloring (amount depends on your food coloring and how red you want it)

FOR THE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

  • 2 ounces reduced fat cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 1 tbsp powdered sugar
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tbsp almond milk (or milk of choice)

Instructions

MAKE THE DONUTS

  • Preheat oven to 350F. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together dry ingredients: flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
  • In a separate bowl, beat together softened cream cheese and sugar. (See blog notes for how to quickly soften cream cheese.)
  • Add the rest of the wet ingredients to the cream cheese/sugar mixture and beat until fully combined.
  • Slowly whisk the wet ingredients into the dry until just fully combined. Add in food coloring (if you want) until the batter is a deep crimson/burgundy color.
  • Evenly divide batter between 9 donut molds or muffin tins. Mine came out to about 3 tbsp batter per mold.
  • Bake until just cooked through, when a tooth pick inserted comes out clean, about 11-15 minutes. Mine were perfectly done at 13 minutes. Try not to over bake! Let cool for about 5 minutes.

MAKE THE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

  • Beat together cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth. Add in vanilla and milk, then whisk until combined.
  • Frost donuts/cupcakes with a mini spatula, or drizzle frosting over the top. See blog notes for how I did that.

Notes

Click here to determine your WW PersonalPoints for this recipe (if you are logged in to your WW app, it should calculate for you automatically)
WW Green, Blue, and Purple SmartPoints: 4 per donut/cupcake with frosting