Triple Dark Chocolate Doughnuts w/ Cacao Nibs (Vegan, Gluten Free)

I don't always make doughnuts. It's sort of a rare thing around here, lately. I don't think I've made a batch since these delicata squash babes! Dang. That's a long time to go without doughnuts. Except that I did eat some doughnuts. At Babycakes NYC when we went to New York before Christmas. So I got my fix. I even got an eclair fix while I was there -- which in the case of Babycakes I know is essentially two doughnuts with an EFF ton of coconut oil icing squished between them. I DON'T EVEN CARE. Gimme more.

I always sort of had an aversion to doughnuts. Logan and my bff Angel and I all got into it last night about our memories of Dunkin & Krispy Kreme. Logan's eyes got all chocolate glazed over talking like this one time I had one right out of the fryer. I swear his face turned into a hearts-in-its-eyes emoji. And Angel was all if someone gave me a dunkin donut right now i would definitely stuff it right into my doughnut hole... er... mouth. And all I could think of was the dime-store doughnuts my dad used to get us when we lived at the beach. There was only one market (no stoplight, no movie theater, no nothin. just all of us hermits and the beach). So if you wanted doughnuts or cake or a sandwich you were relegated to whatever the local on staff felt like making that day.

I don't know why my dad relished getting us doughnuts so much. He swings wildly between being a health nut and being a comfort food junkie. C'est la vie, I suppose? We all swing wildly between different parts of ourselves. A plain cake doughnut was pretty much my downfall. I couldn't say no. And dipped in coffee?! I don't need anymore words, you know. Thank god that only happened once in a while.

But other than that my deep seated distaste for doughnuts pretty much kept them out of my life. I think it's just an aversion to fried pastries in general. I know what you're thinking. Well, now we now that Renee's not a human so... there's THAT. But I just hate the way my body feels after eating something like that. It makes me feel all sludgy and foggy. I don't even know what that means but I think you do.

Baked doughnuts tho. That's a different story.

So, I'm hanging out doing work in the living room and Angel's like Hey can we make doughnuts? And I'm like Well we're going over to a friends house for dinner tonight so YES and let's make SO MANY. 

And I happened to have a bunch of cacao nibs around that we roasted last week. And chocolate is the perfect food. Logan says it's the only thing he would ever get a tattoo about -- life is inconstant, but chocolate is forever. So, chocolate doughnuts it is.

Triple Dark Chocolate Donuts w/ Cacao Nibs (Vegan, Gluten Free)

Recipe Type: dessert

Author: Renee Shuman (Will Frolic for Food)

Ingredients

• The Donuts
• 1/2 cup sorghum flour
• 1/4 cup white rice flour
• 1/3 cup coconut flour
• 3/4 cups tapioca flour
• 1 cups coconut sugar
• 4 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoons psyllium (whole & powdered both work)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup unsweet applesauce
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup hot water
• frosting
• 1 cup cacao nibs
• For the Chocolate Frosting
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup full fat coconut milk

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325F. Grease 2 donut pans with coconut oil. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine sorghum, white rice, coconut, and tapioca flours with the coconut sugar, cocoa powder, cardamom, cinnamon, psyllium, baking powder, sea salt, and baking soda.
3. Stir to combine evenly.
4. Add applesauce, coconut oil, vanilla extract, and hot water to the dry ingredients and stir to evenly combine everything.
5. Let sit 10 minutes to give the psyllium time to saturate.
6. Using a tablespoon, scoop out two tablespoons of the donut batter into each of your donut forms -- spreading the batter out evenly in the molds with a spoon or your finger.
7. Bake on the center rack for 18 minutes, rotating the pans half-way through.
8. Remove from the oven and let cool 5 minutes.
9. Loosen the donuts by running a sharp knife around the outside edges and the center hole, then pop them out using your knife (or flip your pan upside down).
10. Let cool to room temperature. Set out your chocolate frosting and place the cacao nibs out on a plate or in a wide mouth bowl.
11. To frost, dip each donut once or twice in the chocolate ganache frosting. Then roll the frosted side in nibs.

For the Chocolate Frosting

1. While the donuts are baking, make the frosting. Place the chocolate chips in a wide mouth bowl. Set aside.
2. Pour the coconut milk (preferably mostly thick coconut cream) into a small pot or milk warmer. Heat to a simmer.
3. Pour the hot coconut milk over your chocolate chips and stir to get all of the chocolate chips in contact with the milk. Let sit 2 minutes.
4. Stir the melted chocolate chips into the coconut milk until you have a glossy, even ganache.

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