It’s the final day of the #EVOOChallenge. This challenge, in which we make foods with the only cooking fat being olive oil, was issued by Spartan Olive Oil. The goal is to highlight the benefits of using olive oil over its less healthy counterparts, I’m looking at you butter and vegetable oil. Search the hashtag on social media to see more great recipes!

While both olive oil and vegetable oil have 120 Calories and 14 grams of fat per tbsp, olive oil has 10 grams of monounsaturated fat (the good fat) whereas vegetable oil has only 3 grams of monounsaturated fat. Monounsaturated fat is actually good for your health; it reduces bad cholesterol and provides vitamin E. (Source: American Heart Association)

This unfiltered extra-virgin olive oil is made from the olives of 700 year old trees in Sparta, Greece. The flavorful oil has a rich golden color and smooth texture. I wanted to highlight the nutty, fruity flavor of the oil in my recipes this week.

I wanted to end the week on a sweet note and make dessert, or breakfast if you’re so inclined! I got a donut pan for my birthday last summer and thought it was about time it was christened! I brought my son into the kitchen and let him whisk the ingredients and add the pinch of salt… which ended up being more than a pinch… ah well!

I veered a bit from the recipe: I substituted cake flour for the pastry flour because I simply didn’t want to buy another flour variety (we’re moving in a couple of months and I really need to start cleaning house). I don’t know if chemically that was a valid substitution, but I ran away with it. I also used whole milk instead of buttermilk because I didn’t have any in the fridge. (Yes, I know there’s a substitution involving vinegar but for only 2 tbsp worth of milk I didn’t bother.) And yet another “lazy baker” change was to put dark chocolate chips inside the donuts instead of glazing them with a beautiful dark chocolate icing. With my first attempt at baking donuts I didn’t fully realize that the tops wouldn’t get golden so for aesthetic purposes they definitely benefit from a frosting. I wonder if it’d be possible to flip the donuts midway through the baking process to get both sides golden from the pan. (I’m just “talking” out loud here.)

My 18 month old snagged a donut during food photography took a little bite and declared them “good.”

This recipe makes 6 baked donuts.

Dark Chocolate Chip Donuts

Ingredients:

• 1 C cake flour
• 1/2 C sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp milk
• 1/4 C dark chocolate chips

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 6 tin donut pan with olive oil.
2. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
3. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, olive oil, and milk.
4. Combine the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until smooth. Fold in the chocolate chips.
5. Divide batter evenly into prepared donut pan. Bake 10-15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out cleanly.

*This recipe is modified from Tara at http://tarasmulticulturaltable.com/olive-oil-doughnuts-with-dark-chocolate-glaze-and-sea-salt/*

Disclaimer: By participating in this 5 day challenge I received a bottle and pouch of Spartan Olive Oil.