Recipes and food fun by Carolyn J. Braden

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PLEASE NOTE: We only test the recipes on this site with the listed ingredients and measurements. If you would like to try a substitution, Please share what you used and how it turned out in the comments section at the bottom of the recipe post. Carolyn loves to hear how others have experimented with her recipes!

I love sweets but super sugary sweets don’t like me. Lots of sugar isn’t the best for my skin and overall health. Because of this, I’ve made some adjustments to my diet over the years to eliminate food items loaded with sugar.

Coconut sugar, maple syrup, honey and agave nectar have become my go-to natural sweeteners in many of my recipes. Since making the switch, super sweet desserts are too much for me.

I craved donuts recently, but since they are too sweet for my tastes now, I created these VEGAN, GLUTEN FREE and NATURALLY SWEETENED alternatives!

They are sweet, but not tooooo sweet. And that’s why I love them! I figured out how to make powdered coconut sugar with this recipe which I LOVE too!

I adapted my donut recipe from The Glowing Fridge’s Vegan Everything Snack Bagel recipe. I LOVE Shannon’s blog which is full of AWESOME healthy living ideas. Check it out today!

Servings: 6

Suggested Tools/Pans: 6 cavity donut pan (I used a Wilton), whisk, 2 mixing bowls, measuring cup, tablespoon, teaspoon, high speed blender if making my powdered coconut sugar (I used a Magic Bullet), grease (for easier release of donuts, I used Spectrum Organic All Vegetable Shortening—I put a little shortening on a paper towel and rubbed it into the donut cavities to keep my hands mess free!), cooling rack, parchment paper

Ingredients:

Donuts:

1 3/4 cups almond flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill Super Fine Almond Flour)
1/3 cup tapioca flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill Tapioca Flour/Tapioca Starch)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
small pinch salt
1/2 cup warm water
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Glaze:

3/4 cup coconut sugar (I used Madhava brand. After doing some research, I learned some coconut sugars contain gluten, so check the labels if this is a concern for you).
1 tablespoon tapioca starch
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons unsweetened almond milk (or a plant based milk of your choice)
Optional Toppings: Vegan chocolate chips (I used Enjoy Life Mini Chocolate Chips), assorted crushed nuts such as pistachios or almonds.

How-To:

Heat the oven to 350 degrees (F).
Grease the donut pan. Set aside.
In a mixing bowl, whisk together the donut dry ingredients (almond flour, tapioca flour, baking powder, soda, salt). Set aside.
In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the donut wet ingredients (warm water, apple cider vinegar, maple syrup, vanilla).
Pour the mixed wet ingredients into the mixed dry ingredients and stir together until smooth.
Pour the batter into the the donut cavities evenly. Tap the pan on the counter several times to settle the mix (it’ll flatten easily by doing this).
Bake for 14-16 minutes or until slightly golden and puffed and a cake tester (or toothpick) comes out clean.
Allow the donuts to cool in the pan on the cooling rack while you make the glaze.
To make the glaze, place the coconut sugar and the tapioca starch into a high speed blender. Blend a few minutes or until it is powdery smooth. Be careful in taking the lid off-it’ll be a little “smoky” and is best to allow it to settle before removing the blender lid.
Pour the mixture into a bowl. Add the vanilla and the almond milk. Whisk until smooth.
Place some parchment paper down and put the cooling rack on top of it. (The parchment will prevent the glaze from getting all over your table or counter space…see my photo below the Tips and Tricks section to see my set-up).
Remove the donuts from the pan and place on the cooling rack.
Dip the donuts one at a time into the glaze. OR, pour the glaze on top of them.
Set them on the cooling rack (glaze side up) to dry.
Top with the chocolate chips or nuts (optional).
Allow the glaze to set for about an hour. Or, if you can’t wait—-devour the donuts now!
Enjoy!

Tips and Tricks

Don’t have a high speed blender? Use powdered sugar in lieu of making my powdered coconut sugar. The results will be sweeter, but you can use it if you want/need to. Just use 3/4 cup of powdered sugar and omit the tapioca starch. To make the powdered sugar more smooth, you can run it through a flour sifter. This trick has always helped me in making all my icings and glazes smooth!