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Chocolate Baked Donuts

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baked donutsWell hello there gluten-free baked donut recipe! 👋🏼👋🏼 So nice to see you again!

I found out I was celiac in 2004. At that time there was NOTHING pre-made to buy at the store. No gluten-free bread, gluten-free bagels, or gluten-free donuts. Thirteen years later you can buy those, plus all kinds of pasta, muffins, cookie dough, and you know, everything. Whats more, lots of cafes and coffee shops are even offering gluten-free baked goods. It’s a whole new world baby. I mean, even Costco sells gluten-free pre-made food. (I never thought THAT day would come.)

But the only problem is that the pre-made stuff you can buy, and the goodies they sell in coffee shops is, in a word: SWEET. On weekends my husband and I like to go out for coffee and errands, and lately we’ve tried gluten-free donuts from three different places, which they ranged from good but super sweet, to awful and super sweet.

Which brings us to this week. This week has been filled with mommy challenges, work challenges, and life challenges, and this mama decided (kind of absentmindedly actually) to give herself a treat: my own super popular lightly sweetened baked donuts. And I took this opportunity to tweak the recipe and give you a second frosting option too! 🙂

chocolate gluten-free doughnuts

 

Chocolate Gluten-free Donuts
Below are the photos of Ashley and Zoe from when I first published this recipe, the day before my birthday in 2012. I had to keep these photos in here—look how cute they are!

Ashley-coconut-cream
As I was taking the photos of the donuts Ashley B was eating the Tropical Traditions, Coconut Cream Concentrate with a spoon. LOVE it.

zoe-donuts

Chocolate (& Vanilla) Baked Donuts

with Coconut Cream Frosting and Chocolate Frosting

gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free, paleo

Ingredients

2 eggs
1 cup almond butter
1/4 cup honey
1/4 teaspoon vanilla stevia
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
3 tablespoons organic, fair-trade cocoa powder + 1 tablespoon coconut flour (or 3 tablespoons coconut flour only for vanilla donuts)
3/4 cup to 1 cup coconut milk, as needed

Directions

  1. Set the oven to 350F. Add all ingredients to a blender. Note: the amount of milk you need depends on how thick your almond butter is. You want the batter to be fairly thick – almost too thick to pour from the blender. Add the milk gradually. You can always add more, but you can’t take it out! Puree the batter.
  2. Grease each of your pan’s 12 donut wells with oil (I use solidified coconut oil). You really need the oil even with the non-stick pan.
  3. Pour the batter evenly between the 12 wells, to almost full.
  4. Bake for about 12 minutes. They will continue cooking slightly as they cool in the pan. Cool the donuts in the pan for at least 20 minutes. Run a spoon around the outside of each donut to loosen them, before carefully taking them out.

Top with THIS coconut Cream Filling or Chocolate Frosting, recipe follows.
NOTE: the coconut cream doesn’t dry on top of the donuts, but it is delish. The chocolate frosting that follows will stay soft, but the top will dry after sitting for an hour or two, just like unhealthy frosted donuts. YUM.

Easy Peasy Chocolate Donut Frosting

1/2 cup organic, fair-trade dairy-free chocolate chips
1/2 teaspoon coconut oil

  1. Melt the chocolate chips and the oil over a double boiler until just melted, then turn off the heat. Stir to combine.
  2. Dip the top of each donut into the chocolate frosting.
  3. The frosting will stay soft but the top will dry within and hour or two.

Save leftover donuts (as if there will be any 😉 ) on the counter in an airtight container for an additional day.

Makes 12 to 14 donuts.

♥, Kelly

For more gluten-free donuts see my Mini Boulder Cream Doughnuts.

 

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Comments

  1. Like always, your recipes look amazing. 🙂 I noticed that you are now adding psyllium husk powder to things and was curious why.

  2. cant do nuts could you use coconut mana or beans mashed up instead of almond butter?

  3. These look amazing Kelly. Donuts are definitely in the air. Besides you guys and myself, I knew of three other people that made donuts on Sunday 🙂
    I am actually working on a similar recipe to this inspired by the Roost donuts. I cannot wait to try yours – I cannot believe there isn’t any flour in these, thats amazing! Thanks for sharing!
    Oh and your photos are incredible by the way!

  4. Kristen, I’ve been using it as an egg-substitute for people & kiddos with an egg allergy 🙂

    Anonymous, That might work. Sunflower seed butter would most likely work also if you can do seeds.

    Thanks Beth! Can’t wait for yours! XOXO

    • I made these before when the egg-free recipe was posted and they were perfect! Can anyone share if you needed an egg replacement and what as I am trying to plan what to make my daughter and her friends for Halloween treats. Thank you!!!

  6. oh my Gosh those look deliciously tempting! And your photgraphy is gorgeous — you caught the frosting at the perfect ooey-gooey moment!! 🙂 thanks for the great recipe! can’t wait to try!

  11. Coconut cream concentrate? I think that might be what I’ve been looking for. Can you make coconut milk with it?? Where do you buy it?

    Last week I nearly cut my thumb off trying to make coconut milk from fresh coconuts. I told myself there must be an easier way to get coconut milk without the can!

  12. I did not see where you used the coconut cream for the icing. The one I saw was coconut butter. How am I missing this/

  14. Hi just wondering how you would change the recipe to make non-chocolate donuts? I cannot wait to try these I ordered a Dounut pan today cuz I saw this! Thanks!

  16. Kelly, don’t you feel bad for one second. Live and learn right? I mean who would’ve thunk that the consistency of a nut butter could have such an impact on this recipe?

    Your readers understand that you create and post recipes out of the goodness of your heart—to heal and to help others. I can only imagine how many jars of almond you have gone and will go through just to perfect this recipe (you are soooo close). It will get there. I hope people understand and appreciate your labor of love.

  17. Hello!

    Just wanted you to know that I made them using Trader Joe’s roasted almond butter…and coconut oil and they were perfect, moist and awesome!!! Unfortunately, I didn’t write the recipe down…just made it from the website…please, please post again when you can!!! My whole family went nuts! Thanks! ~Sue~

  18. My whole homeschool co-op is waiting for this recipe!!~no pressure 🙂 I hope you are able to work out the kink because these doughnuts look fantabulous!!

  19. Hmmm, just to let you know, I made these yesterday and they turned out great. I quadrupled them because I have four boys and they have friends, so it was sorta hard on my blendtec, but it worked. I used homemade almond butter from unblanched almonds that I roasted first. I made the egg version and they had a nice fluffy texture, not oily at all, and there was no sinking. The boys all loved them and would have eaten them all if I hadn’t made them save some for lunches today.

  20. I really want to make these! I’m on GAPS though, so I can’t do baking soda or powder. I’m usually able to get away without using it, but I’m wondering if it will work for these. Hmmm….

  21. Did those of you that had success do the egg free version? if so, what did’ya do? need to do this for friday donut days:) thanks, tracy
    I kow Kelly is working on it, but I am soooo eager and I know she has alot on her plate.

  25. I tried the recipe with the egg and it worked wonderfully!! We loved the donuts. This will be my go-to donut recipe from now on. I used a generic store brand almond butter. Thank you for this lovely recipe.

  26. Hi Kelly,
    I made these this morning and they were great. I’m wondering if you have doubled the recipe. I have both a regular (6) pan and a mini donut pan (12) so I’m thinking about filling them both. I’m guessing I should cut the time a bit with the mini pan. Any thoughts. Thanks again for your great recipes!

  27. My kids loved these, but I didn’t have a doughnut pan, so I used a mini-cupcake pan. Today I doubled the recipe and poured the batter into a small cake pan so they can have birthday cake for Grandma’s birthday. The only subsitution I made was I used sunflower seed butter instead of the almond because that is what we had. Delicious – thank you!

  29. Erin,
    You can get coconut cream concentrate on Tropical Traditions website. You can make coconut milk with it (though for me it didn’t quite work).
    Erica,
    I’m on GAPS, too, and you can use small amounts of baking soda in baking (no powder, though). I’m going to try it and see how it comes out.
    I can’t wait to try these!!

  30. I would love to know the best donut pan to buy or if you can recommend one to me.I would really appreciate it.Love your recipes! Thank you in advance. Take Care, Jacqueline

  31. Hi! These look great – do you have any suggestions for a honey substitute? Honey/agave doesn’t agree with me!

  33. I made these today for a special New Year’s Eve breakfast for my GAPSters. Thank you so much for the recipe, they were a huge hit, my children were all begging for seconds. I frosted them with a silky chocolate icing I made from honey, butter, and unsweetened chocolate. I think the only thing I would do differently next time is to double the recipe. 😉 Thank you for helping to make our New Year’s Eve special!

  36. Just made these today, very rainy day. However, they turned out more cupcake like than donut like and I had to bake for 32 minutes. Don’t really know why….I live in Montreal, which is considered a depression so maybe that’s low-altitude baking. But they were tasty. Made them in 12 donut tin, instead of 6, so were smaller.

  37. Thank you for posting this recipe. I am planning on making these today for my boys. Can you clarify the use of coconut concentrate. I wasn’t clear if you made frosting and then put the coconut on top, or if you sub. the coconut butter with the concentrate.Thank you again, appreciate your sharing with the gf community.

  38. Thank you for posting this recipe. I am planning on making these today for my boys. Can you clarify the use of coconut concentrate. I wasn’t clear if you made frosting and then put the coconut on top, or if you sub. the coconut butter with the concentrate.Thank you again, appreciate your sharing with the gf community.

  39. Wanted to post feedback, we made the donuts, lovely, yummy, boys ate them.
    I made them twice, first time, made the batter to thick not enough milk, second time, they were great. Both tasted wonderful. Thank you!
    I put a plate on the kitchen table, my son was doing homework, I came back down, most of them were gone! he said, I know, I am sorry, they were so good, I couldn’t help myself, they just kept staring at me.

  40. The first 6 have come out of the oven. They look like “real” donuts. We’ve made donuts with coconut flour that are tasty, but these should fool our resident gluten eater if any are left when he gets home.
    Thanks for sharing your recipes.

  41. Thank you so much for this recipe! I just found out I have celiacs, and I am in mourning for all the delicious food I feel like I will have to give up. This post really helped! I made these in a donut hole maker, and they were delicious! I put a simple chocolate glaze on them, and the whole family loved them! Thank you so much.

  42. Is there something I can substitute for almond butter? I made these in hopes that my husband would be okay with them. (Almonds did not show up on his allergy test but almond milk bugs him sometimes). Unfortunately he didn’t do too well with these and I think it’s due to the butter. But he really thought they were delicious so I’d like to try them again with something else. Any suggestions?

  43. SO glad I found this recipe! Can’t wait to try– I’m trying to avoid baking with paleo flours (sensitive to almond, don’t like the texture of coconut) so this recipe fits the bill!

  46. These were awesome!! Mine came out more like a muffin texture–they look a lot more dense in these pictures here. I’m going to guess that’s because I cooked them in a silicone muffin tray and not a donut tray. I’m not a fan of silicone cookware but the donuts just about popped right out. I made a coconut sugar based buttercream icing. Ridiculously delicious. Thanks!

  47. Made these today in celebration of National Donut Day! We loved the taste and texture (and I only used the stevia and no honey – still were sweet enough!) I wasn’t happy with how the glaze turned out, though, so I’m going to have to do some experimenting with that. Mine was just too runny and didn’t look nearly as white as your photo shows. I’m curious if you’ve ever used “Just Like Sugar” – the chicory root stuff? I think it might work well in these. Thanks for a great recipe!!

  48. Which Organic Almond butter do you use?
    I am going to try sprouted Almond butter.
    Thank you very much.
    Nancy

  49. Omg! Thank you so much… I made tons of homemade donuts recipes before, but none as great and moist as yours.. My 5 y old loves donuts and I am so happy when he said these are the best donuts he ever had! I used a silicon Bpa free green donut pan since was the only donut pan I could compromise for ( not a big fan of nonstick). Forever grateful!

  50. Will someone who has made these please comment on how much the flavor of the almond butter comes through. I am wondering if these basically taste like a Reeses Peanut Butter cup. Please someone advise. Thanks.

  51. This looks absolutely amazing. I usually avoid making stuff that needs time to cool down – because I live with a family of termites that burn their tongues on EVERYTHING 🙂

    Also, do you think this would work if I don’t even add stevia?

    That would be just cocoa then…

  52. Wow – these look delicious and the photographs are beautiful! It is nice to find a donuts option which isn’t too sweet. I will definitely be trying these at home 🙂