These donuts are magnificent. I really can’t believe that they’re grain-free.
I saw these on Pinterest and had to make them. And by the way, I’m now on Pinterest and Instagram. I have been for a while but haven’t done much with them until now. My name on Instagram is “texanerin” and here I am on Pinterest.
I was really tempted to make some cream cheese frosting and pour it all over the donuts but I went the “sophisticated” route and added toasted sliced almonds. They looked pretty but then I picked them all off. They just got in the way of the good stuff. :)
The topping is amazing and doesn’t really need anything extra. There’s no added sugar at all but it’s still sweet enough. I didn’t know if I could handle eating raw dates but I loved it! I think the added raisins helped me out with that.
The creator of the recipe, Coco, noted that combining the donut mixture in the blender or food processor results in a super smooth texture which you don’t normally get when baking with almond flour. I’m going to do this from now on because like I said, the texture is awesome.
I wasn’t really able to capture how fluffy these were. These beat whole grain donuts hands down. Speaking of whole grain goodies, yesterday I realized that I hadn’t posted a non-chocolate whole grain recipe for six weeks. Whoops! I’ve baked you some super fluffy whole grain dinner roll muffins to make up for it. Recipe will be up next week. :)
Ingredients:
Topping: (this is only half of what’s in the original recipe and I added a few things – double this if you want a thicker coating)
- 45 grams dates
- 20 grams raisins
- 2 tablespoons almond butter
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil or normal butter, melted (I think I’ll leave that out next time)
Donuts:
- 145 grams (~1 1/4 cup) almond flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 3 eggs
- 1/4 cup coconut oil or normal butter, melted
- 2 tablespoons (40 grams) honey
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350°F / 175°C. Grease a six mould donut pan very well. In the bowl of your food processor, combine the topping ingredients. It should be totally smooth like a thick paste. Take out the mixture and set aside. Without cleaning the bowl of the food processor, add the dry donut ingredients. Pulse. In a separate small bowl, combine the wet ingredients and add this to the food processor. Blend until the batter is very smooth and then pour into the six donut molds, filling about 2/3 of the way. Bake for 12 minutes. Do not over bake! These should be moist and fluffy.
Remove the donuts from the pan and let sit for a few minutes (you want the donuts to be warm, just not super hot) before spreading on the topping. You could just spread it on, but I wanted them to look pretty so I divided the dough into six pieces, rolled them up like this, and then used my fingers to get the donut covered.
If you want to add almonds, coconut, or something else to the top, do it at the beginning when everything is still warm. These can be stored at room temperature and they stay moist for days (although they’re best fresh from the oven. :))
Source: adapted from Cinnamon Roll Almond Flour Donuts
36 comments on "Grain-free Cinnamon Roll Donuts" — Add one!
I tried your donuts and they are absolutely delicious!!! I just made a batch this week and can’t get enough of how yummy they taste!
I wrote about it on my blog and added a link to your recipe on there. Thank you for this fabulous recipe!
Thanks a bunch for your feedback! I’ll go check out your post. I’m thrilled that you liked the donuts enough to post about them! And this reminds me that I need to try a new version. It’s been too long since I’ve made them!
No not yet. I will soon though and let you know:)
These look amazing, I don't have a donut pan though. Could these work as muffins?
Sure thing! I'm guessing they'd take 12 – 16 minutes but that's really just a guess. Hope you enjoy them! Merry Christmas to you. :)
Did you try them as muffins? I don't have a donut pan either :)
These look fantastic! Can't wait to make them for Christmas morning breakfast. My kids will LOVE them :) Do you think it would be ok to make the batter the day before and just bake them the next morning?
Hi there! I'm afraid that that won't work. I think that the baking soda's effectiveness would just fizzle away and you'd be left with some non-risen donuts. But to speed things up, you could definitely mix the dry ingredients together the day before and the next morning, mix together the wet ones and add them to the dry mix. And you could also prepare the icing / topping the day before! I hope you all enjoy them. Let me know how they turn out. :) And happy holidays to you!
Thanks so much Erin! That sounds like a plan :) I'll let you know how it works! Happy Holidays to you too!
suede – It looks like it wouldn't work, but I don't have a grain mill so I can't say for sure. I just did some googling and found these:
Ctrl + F to find the almond flour question in the comments
and this one where she also mentions not having figured out how to do nut butters with a grain mill.
Kris – Thanks! Will do. :)
suede – Thank you! I'm thinking that this might make almond butter. I'm off to work now but I'll research the topic when I get home and let you know!