Healthy donuts? One of my favorite recipes in the #NScookbook is a gluten free lemon donut with beetroot glaze and it’s out.of.this.world – you can see the picture on the back of the cookbook cover here. Anyways, I can’t share that recipe since it lives in the cookbook, but I wanted to make another summer inspired donut recipe that was refreshing, cold, light on digestion, and easy to make. aWait, am I still talking about a donut here? Yep, a raw one. Say hello to The Best Healthy Donut Holes, made raw.
Hello, healthy donut.
I’ll start by saying this recipe was a complete accident and honestly, those are some of my favorite recipes. I was in a rush trying to come up with a dessert or snack to bring to a friends house and I had nothing I could think of, let alone a fridge full of produce to put together a salad or my go-to which is the Lemon Lime Guacamole. SO, I looked in my pantry that’s always stocked with nuts, seeds, coconut, and all those things, and I had some dates in the fridge and said, “Alright, raw balls it is!” Fast forward a bunch of improvisation later, and I landed on this amazing raw energy ball that reminded me of a powdered donut hole, you know the ones you used to eat as a kid? Those! So here’s my super nutrient dense and healthy recipe inspired by a donut hole!
- For the donut dough:
- 1 cup raw cashews
- 2/3 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
- 2/3 cup pitted and chopped dates
- 1/8 teaspoon vanilla powder
- Heavy pinch of sea salt, adjust to taste
- For the coating:
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 1 tablespoon coconut butter
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1/8 teaspoon vanilla powder
- Pinch of sea salt
- 1/2 cup coconut sugar, ground into a fine flour with a food processor (reserve this for the garnish only, do not mix in with the coating step)
- For the donuts:
- In a food processor grind all the ingredients into a thick, moist dough in a <g class=”gr_ gr_91 gr-alert gr_spell gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling multiReplace” id=”91″ data-gr-id=”91″>high speed</g> blender or food processor.
- Use about 1 tablespoon of the mixture and roll into a ball using your hands. Place on a plate lined with parchment paper and put in the freezer for about 30 minutes to chill and firm. In the meantime, make the coating.
- For the donut coating:
- In a small saucepan, melt coconut oil, coconut butter and maple syrup on low heat just to combine. Take off heat and add vanilla and sea salt. This should just coat the back of a spoon.
- Take donut holes out of the freezer and dip into the melted coating mixture, place back on the parchment paper lined plate (or you can use a cookie sheet if it’s easier). Place in the freezer for 20 minutes until hard and then repeat this another time to coat the donut hole a total of 2 times.
- Before serving, sprinkle the coconut sugar flour on top, this mimics “powdered sugar”.
- Store the donuts in an airtight glass container in the fridge for 1 week or in the freezer for several weeks.
Ingredients I used to make these: vanilla powder (my new must have!), coconut oil, coconut butter, maple syrup, sea salt, and these airtight glass containers to store them for later.
What are your…
What are your favorite donuts? Comment below so I can do a recipe inspired by them or make the real deal except NS approved! Let me know what you think in the comments, rate the recipe if you try it (it helps me improve them for you), and if you make it at home share it on Instagram with #nutritionstripped so I can see!
xx McKel
Photos by Kelsey Cherry
p.s.
Want that Lemon Donut with Beetroot Glaze recipe? Get it and over 100 more delicious whole food recipes in the Nutrition Stripped Cookbook that’s released in THREE WEEKS on August 23rd! Pre-order your copy HERE!
