These are a favorite Sunday morning breakfast in our house. Taste- and texture-wise, these fall somewhere in between true doughnuts/beignets and funnel cakes. They cook very fast, so make sure you have everything on hand!

1 egg
1/2 stick (1/4 c) butter, melted
2 tbsp Splenda or erythritol
1 tsp vanilla
1 scoop vanilla whey protein powder
Splenda & cinnamon for topping
Canola oil

Heat about 1 inch of oil in a heavy skillet until it's hot enough for frying. While the oil heats, beat the egg lightly with the melted butter, then add the Splenda, protein powder, and vanilla. Whisk together until all the lumps are pretty much broken up, then let it rest a minute or two and whisk a bit more (batter will still have a grainy look to it, but that's fine). Using a small ladle or large spoon, drop the batter by large tablespoonfuls into the hot oil in batches of 4. Fry until bottoms are golden-brown, which will only take a few seconds, then flip. Drain on paper towels, then sprinkle with Splenda and cinnamon to taste and serve hot.

Makes about 8 doughnut holes, and serves 2-4 depending on how piggy you are.

COUNTS:
Counts are for total recipe, excluding the sprinkled Splenda/cinnamon, and may vary a little bit depending on your brand of whey. The carbs are mostly from the Splenda, so using an alternative heat-stable sweetener will cut the carb count a bit more (I use erythritol).
Calories: 586
Fat: 52g
Carbs: 6g
Protein: 24g

NOTES:
I've made these probably 10 times, and after trying every kind of spoon and pouring implement in my kitchen, I use an ice cream scoop for the batter -- it seems to give me the most control. The batter manages to be both thick and liquidy, and it takes some practice to figure out the trick to pouring.

These are easier to flip neatly if you use your spatula to dribble a little oil over the tops of them while the first sides are cooking. The batter will still be liquidy in the center at that point, and it will spill out when flipped; but if you use a little oil to make a "skin" on the tops, you'll get nice round doughnuts.

If you prefer funnel-cakes, you can pour the battter into the oil in ribbons, but be aware that this goes even more quickly than the holes!

You could easily fool around with other flavors of whey protein -- chocolate and praline both sound appealing -- to tweak these up. I'm working on using natural-flavored whey and no sweetener to make sausage balls and other little savories.