Double Chocolate Donuts with Coconut - Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Refined Sugar-free

Double Chocolate Donuts with Coconut - Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Refined Sugar-free
This weekend was the last hurrah for getting things done on the house. The realtor comes in the morning and we are starting the process of getting the house on the market, finally. Yay! Since yesterday afternoon my project was to re-caulk the bath tub and shower walls, it had to sit for at least 24 hours before getting wet. I woke up this morning, realized that I couldn’t shower before leaving for yoga, but felt so gross from all the house work yesterday, so I decided to take the day off and lay in bed for a bit this morning with hubby and the pooch to watch a movie! It felt really nice to just get up at my leisure and be lazy for a bit. It has been a while since I have done that. I will likely squeeze some time in later today for a brief yoga practice at home on the grass in the yard.

After the movie was over, I rolled over and asked Mark what he wanted for breakfast. Since most mornings I don’t even eat breakfast since I am at yoga, I get really excited when I have the time to make something special. Mark exclaimed “donuts!” and I jumped out of bed and made my way to the kitchen to start creating. Even though we don’t have kids and Mark may only be a daddy to our pooch, our two cats and our business, I still thought that he should be spoiled this morning for Fathers day. So his wish was my command.

I used Coco from Roost’s recipe for donuts not too long ago and I was incredibly impressed, so I decided to make that my starting point for these. I also decided to play around with a simple frosting recipe that didn’t require any sugar. Topped with some shredded coconut and some mini-chocolate chips, these were perfect and Mark was happy!

Double Chocolate Donuts with Coconut - Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Refined Sugar-free

 

[print_this]Double Chocolate Donuts with Coconut- Gluten-free, Grain-free, Dairy-free + Refined Sugar Free
(makes 6 regular sized donuts or 18 mini donuts)

  • 1 1/4 cup blanched almond flour (I prefer Honeyville brand)
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 cup cocoa powder
  • 3 organic farm fresh brown eggs
  • 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted (you could also use ghee, grape seed oil, etc)
  • 2 tablespoons honey (you could also use maple syrup, brown rice syrup, agave, etc)
  • 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease your donut pan with coconut oil.

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients. Transfer to the blender*.
In the same bowl, whisk together all of the wet ingredients. Add to the blender.
Blend the batter until is very smooth. Pour into greased donut molds, filling them about 2/3 of the way.
Bake for 12 minutes. DO NOT OVERBAKE or they will be dry. Remove the donut pans from the oven, allow to cool in the pan for 3 minutes, then pop them out and all them to cool the rest of the way on a rack. Make your frosting in the meantime.

* I never thought to blend a batter like this, but I went with Coco’s suggestion and it is brilliant. It can be challenging to get a smooth batter with nut flours, but using the blender definitely gives you a very nice, smooth batter.

Chocolate Frosting – Gluten-free, Grain-free, Vegan + Refined Sugar Free

  • 3/4 cup pitted Medjool dates
  • 1/4 cup cocoa powder
  • 1/4 cup sustainable organic palm oil shortening or coconut butter
  • 1/3 – 1/2 cup water (you may need less or a tad bit more depending on how soft your dates are, be careful not too add too much though)

Add all of the ingredients to a high-speed blender, start with just 1/3 cup of water, you can always add more. Let everything sit for a few minutes, especially if your dates are very firm.

Blend everything together at a high speed. It may take a little bit to get the it started, so you can start at a slower speed and increase the speed a little at a time.

Continue blending long enough to get a smooth, velvety consistency, this may take 5 minutes or more. If the frosting seems like it isn’t moving around in the blender because it is too thick, before you add more water, use a spatula to unstick the mixture from the blades and make some room in there. Put the lid back on and keep blending. When there are relatively no bits of dates and you have a rich, smooth chocolatey mixture, your frosting is ready.

In addition to donuts, this icing would be great on cakes, cupcakes, brownies, cookies, etc. Store any remaining icing in the refrigerator.

SERVING THE DONUTS:

Additional toppings:
1/4 cup unsweetened finely shredded coconut
1-2 tablespoons of semi-sweet mini chocolate chips

Once the donuts have cooled, spread a thin layer of frosting on top and sprinkle with some finely shredded unsweetened coconut and a few mini chocolate chips. Instead of these toppings or in addition to them, you could also add some crushed cocoa nibs, chopped nuts or anything else you might like.

 

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