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Mini Boulder Cream Doughnuts

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Gluten Free Boston Cream Donuts
Before I knew I was celiac I was crazy for Boston Cream doughnuts. Haven’t had one in 8 years. Then somehow I developed this dough recipe. I’ve made it a million so many times now that I can’t remember how it began, but I love how it’s turned out: Doughy. Stretchy.

Gluten-free Boston Cream Donuts
When I bit in I knew in an instant that it had to be a Boston Cream. Only these are made with my kind of ingredients —That’s why I’m fondly calling them “Boulder” Cream. They’re probably half the size of a Boston Cream, hence the “mini.” But these little guys will fill you up, making it hard to eat more than one or two.

I know lots of you will want to know if you can make these with eggs, and the answer is I don’t know—I haven’t tried. But I highly recommend you make them this way, even if you can eat eggs.

The secret ingredient is psyllium husk powder which comes from the fiber that covers the seed. I’ve never been able to get a dough that stretches like this with coconut flour and eggs or almond flour and eggs. The closest I’ve come is my bagels and cinnamon rolls, but even they don’t stretch quite like these. The texture is amazingly similar to, well… a Boston Cream doughnut 🙂

Hope you love them as much as we do!

Mini Boulder Cream Doughnuts

starch-free, egg-free, grain-free

Ingredients

Dough

½ cup cooked butternut squash, sweet potato, or pumpkin
¾ cup cashew milk (see my video)
¼ cup honey
2 tablespoon melted ghee
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
½ cup coconut flour, sifted
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoon psyllium husk POWDER

Cream Filling

½ cup melted coconut cream concentrate (also called coconut butter or coconut manna)
2 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 to 6 tablespoon water as needed to thin

Chocolate Frosting

¼ cup melted coconut cream concentrate (also called coconut butter or coconut manna)
1 tablespoon raw cacao powder or cocoa powder
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 to 4 tablespoon water as needed to thin
Taste and add vanilla stevia as desired. (I use about 10 drops)

Directions

  1. Set the oven to 375°F.
  2. Add the butternut squash, sweet potato, or pumpkin, cashew milk, honey, ghee, and vanilla to the food processor fitted with the S blade. Puree until smooth.
  3. Add the coconut flour, salt, baking soda, and psyllium husk powder, and puree to combine.
  4. Line a cookie sheet with unbleached parchment paper. Use a large ice cream scoop with a lever to get the dough. Pack it in and level it off. OR divide the dough into 8 balls if you don’t have a large ice cream scoop with a lever.
  5. Bake for about 35 minutes, then allow to cool completely.
  6. Combine the filling ingredients in one bowl, and the frosting ingredients in another bowl.
  7. Insert a paring knife into the side of each donut, being careful not to go all the way through. Move the knife from left to right inside the donut to make the space for the filling.
  8. Using a piping bag and a round tip slowly fill the space you created with the cream filling.
  9. Frost the top of each doughnut with the chocolate frosting. Store leftovers covered at room temperature.

♥, Kelly

Easy-Paleo-Meals-sq These doughnuts and all our family favorites are in my new cookbook Easy Paleo Meals, also at Barnes & Noble. All of your Christmas favorites are also inside Easy Paleo Meals!

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Comments

  4. These sound delicious, I love the idea of a boston cream doughnut! I don’t usually go for a doughnut, but these sound more healthful and filled with ingredients I wouldn’t mind eating! The squash puree is a wonderful addition!

  5. OMG. I’ve been DYING for a boston creme ever since I became GF, dairy-free, egg-free, soy-free. You just made my life better.

  8. Ohhh, I read your recipes, and fall in love and hope I might make them for a friend who is gluten, dairy and fructose intolerant. Do you know any information about the fructose content in coconut products, I am finding it very hard to source…
    Please help

  10. Getting coconut cream concentrate on a whim is probably impossible. So I opted for Lexie’s recipe. I am impatient (and the vitamix was uncooperative) so mine has a bit of extra texture which doesn’t rally bug me.
    The donut-y part is spectacular. I got a bit too excited watching it expand, pushing the limit to when there was too much filling. They stretch beautifully to the point where I ran out of filling for my last 2. Oh well.
    Can also be easily doubled.

    Thank you for posting such wonderful recipes.
    More egg-free, please!

  11. Getting coconut cream concentrate on a whim is probably impossible. So I opted for Lexie’s recipe. I am impatient (and the vitamix was uncooperative) so mine has a bit of extra texture which doesn’t rally bug me.
    The donut-y part is spectacular. I got a bit too excited watching it expand, pushing the limit to when there was too much filling. They stretch beautifully to the point where I ran out of filling for my last 2. Oh well.
    Can also be easily doubled.

    Thank you for posting such wonderful recipes.
    More egg-free, please!

  12. Can you do anything to come up with a traditional eclair replacement? I saw the cream and had to ask–that’s what I miss most of the doughnut world!

    • These were AMAZING!! Well, unfortunately I didn’t have enough coconut butter on hand to make the cream filling, so we just put the chocolate on top, but I can’t wait to make them again!! I’m scouring your website for recipes that call for the Psyllium Husk Powder. Yummy!!!

  14. Alright Ms. Coconut Queen, you’ve done it! Egg-free and barely any sweetener. I’m going to HAVE to try these. Love you lots for all your experimenting to please us egg-free folks.

  18. Since I can tolerate dairy, do you think that regular butter, or non-hydrogenated margarine would work in place of the coconut butter?

  20. Got very excited about the starch free part ( starch flares my arthritis) and I want to try cutting eggs and nuts for a trial, but winter squash is starchy. So are cashews. But the recipe sounds delicious. Oh well.

  21. MaryCay, What about using water in place of cashew milk? Half a cup of butternut in 8 doughnuts isn’t very much. I can only eat one or two – they’re so filling.

  22. Danielle, They have it in the bulk section of my regular grocery store, but it’s also a link in the recipe : )

    Unknown, What do you mean traditional elixir replacement? Like store-bought egg-replacer? I’ve never used those – don’t think they would work in this.

    Anonymous, Coconut butter is dairy-free. It’s just coconut. There is a link to how to make your own.

    Thanks everyone!

  23. Thanks Kelly – I may give it a go during a feel good period to see if I react – really want to try cutting both the eggs and nuts but cannot seem to break away and a comfort food option like this would help. Would this recipe work without the filling as a plain muffin?

  24. Does anyone know if you could grind whole psyllium husks in a vitamix to make your own powder? I ordered the wrong thing! 😛

  25. Just curious–does the filling have any taste of coconut from the coconut butter? I use refined CO because of the neutral taste because I really do NOT like coconut. Thanks so much–these sound & look terrific!

  27. I did not do so well on the cream and frosting department. My cream looked like my honey – tan and honey like and my chocolate frosting looked like melted tootsie rolls. = (

  28. I made these using almond milk in place of cashew milk and store bought coconut butter in place of the coconut cream concentrate, with great success! Today I’m going to try filling them with some blueberry chia jam (cook blueberries with agave, add chia and wait until thick!) and topping them with a lemon glaze – we’ll see if they’re as delicious.

  29. Kelly… A-MAZING! Truly amazing! Not one bit of gluten-free crumble. They were tender and pillowy, stretchy and moist, creamy and decadent but not sickeningly sweet. Refined sugar free? Who would have known? When I said I was making these, my partner said… great… gluten free, sugar free, grain free, taste free. She would have eaten her words, but her mouth was filled with these divine little sweeties!
    PS> I did not have cashew milk but subbed unsweetened vanilla hemp milk with excellent results

  30. I can’t wait to try these!! Do you have or have you thought of adding a “share this recipe” link to email? Or a “print this recipe” link??? I always seem to copy and paste so I can print it out, and that would be super lazy, I mean helpful! hahaha 🙂

  33. Thank you so much for such a wonderful recipe!
    I tried making them into apple “fritters” by folding stewed apples with cinnamon into the batter then after they baked I topped them with some maple coconut butter I made. My batch cooked up a little too moist due probably to the added apples but still delicious. My little one and I both ate two! Thank you.

  34. Thank you, I miss eating pastries – this looks so yummy, I will be trying this. I bet canned pumpkin would work for this. In baking gf, I’m learning use ingredients with the same texture and weight as subs, maybe that’s why the applesauce didn’t work.

  35. these were SOOOO good!! I think I’m a total coconut flour convert!! I honestly am in awe of how good they are. Like Suzette said, soft and pillowy, yet stretchy and such a treat, yet not overly sweet! I love these Kelly! Thank you!! I can’t wait to see your coconut flour cookbook because I have a feeling you will HAVE to write one! 😛

  36. Wow, Kelly. I didn’t want to get my hopes up too much about this one, but it was hard not to with those pictures and the promise of a gf, df, sf, ef recipe! You’ve done an INCREDIBLE job! The dough amazed me when I finished mixing it all together! I’m glad I found some time to make these. (I’ve been missing doughnuts, and like that I don’t need a doughnut tray to make these =])

    If I want to store these to eat a few days later, would you recommend freezing before icing/filling, or assemble and then keep in the fridge?

    Twolicious: I have to be careful about excess fructose content of foods due to intollerance, and know that coconut is fine, but honey has excess fructose. Honey is easily substituted with another liquid sweetener such as maple syrup, though (you may need less water with thin maple syrup). Watch out for agave syrup, as that has excess fructose as well.

    Anonymous: I grind psyllium husks in the mill attachment of my food processor, and sub that powder into any recipes requiring psyllium husk powder. Works fine for me!

    Debbie T.: The coconut butter I use definitely DOES have a coconut taste. I often substitute cashew butter in recipes when I am out of coconut butter. Tastes like cashews, but I like that! Cashew cream would taste less cashew-y, and you may not need to add much water to the cream/icing.

    Suzette: People sometimes comment on how my food must be taste free since I cook without so many common ingredients, but they have no idea how delicious these recipes can be! I laughed when I read your anecdote, so thanks for sharing with us other ‘taste-free’ eaters! = )

    Not trying to replace Kelly with my replies to questions, I just know she is busy!

  37. I subbed Trader Joe’s coconut milk for the cashew milk, and canned pumpkin for the butternut. Seemed to work fine, but I had a TON of creme filling leftover. Regardless, they were delicious. I’ve been on an autoimmune protocol diet since February and this is the 1st baked good I’ve had 6 months. Outstanding. Even my gluten-eating teenager liked them!!

  38. I made these some days ago when my sister came for a visit. My boyfriend and my sister totally loved these! Me too btw. 🙂 Next I will try the banana cinnamon doughnuts. Thank you so much for the recipe!

  39. Thank you for posting this recipe! Look amazing. I would love to get your Mini Boulder Cream Doughnuts so yummy! Sound delicious. Thanks for sharing this info!

  41. Hi there!

    I have been finding a few recipes with psyllium husk powder lately and was wondering if I could use Metamucil powder? (It’s the same thing, right?)

    Also – My donuts came out FLAT…still DELICIOUS, but flat. I should probably have left them as balls instead of flattening them or maybe it was that I used the Metamucil powder…

    Any thoughts?

    Thanks so much! <3

  47. Wow! These doughnuts are amazing! I have made several gluten-free and vegan doughnuts in the past 8 years, none of which have really tasted like the real thing. I am going to make these with my niece in a few weeks. She and her family are not gluten-free or vegan but they will love them! Thank you for sharing such wonderful recipes.

  50. These look sooooo yummy, Kelly! Thank you for sharing the recipe.

    I have a question though. My body doesn’t tolerate psyllium husks at all. Can you think of anything I could substitute for the flour? (Even if the results weren’t quite as amazing.)

    Thanks, Kelly!

    • Hi Julie. The psyllium is needed to make the dough stretchy. You should check out my other doughnut recipes. They don’t use psyllium.

  51. Would these be as oily as the original crispy creme donuts? There is a lot of oil. I’m hoping my boyfriend will like these, but he doesn’t like the actual crispy cremes.

  52. O m f g! This has to be the best baked good I’ve eaten in yeeears! Thankyou for the recipe! I used coconut water and water instead of cashew milk, vanilla powder instead of vanilla stevia and coconut oil instead of ghee and they turned out amazing. Even my non healthful eating bf loved them and that says a lot! Did one lot with apple jelly filling and coconut cinnamon sugar on top. Yum!

  53. I am making these now and can’t wait… Question, would these happen to freeze well? How long do they keep in the refrigerator?
    Thanks!

    • I don’t refrigerate them, and I don’t know if they freeze well. We keep them covered at room temp for 2 days, but almost never last that long 🙂

    • You might try refrigerating the. I’ve made these twice and I actually prefer them cold from the fridge.

  55. I have a question about the butternut squash cooked in the crockpot. So, you put an organic butternut squash whole in the crockpot for 4 hours with 2 cups of water and when it is cooked, then basically the “skin” will peel right off and it’s ready to use? It’s that simple and it won’t burst?

  56. Dont’ know what I may have done wrong, but mine came out gooey, not cakey at all. They looked perfect and blew up while cooking, then all deflated out of the oven and are gummy. So sad.

    • I thought mine came out gooey too, but I think it was because I tried to cut them open before they cooled. After they sat for a bit, they were less gooey and more cakey. Still a little wet on the inside, but not inedible! I didn’t have stevia for the dough so I omitted, and now they taste more like english muffins and I’m perfectly ok with that! Delicious with butter!

  58. Mine did not come out like the picture at all. The dough wasn’t that stretchy, and the bottoms burned, the filling looks very different, more clear. They taste like cake, not that airy stretchy. I followed the recipe exactly (even made my butternut squash in the slow cooker. They came out OK, but I don’t think I’ll be making them again.
    I tried to include a picture but I can’t seem to be able to insert one.

    • I’m sorry they didn’t turn out! Was the squash wet? Sometimes readers and I have to squeeze the water out of the squash or the dough won’t work.

  60. I finally got around to making this recipe (we tried the banana donuts this summer and enjoyed those so I was excited to try these). I filled them with strawberry jelly for sufganiyot for Hanukkah. I want sure how the jelly would go with the pumpkin but they were a hit all around. I am looking forward to making them again as a Boulder creme or perhaps chocolate creme donut. Thank you for all your great recipes. Happy holidays!