Orange Chocolate Chia Donuts (Grain Free, Gluten Free, Sweetened with Honey)

These little heavenly morsels were created for two reasons. The first being that I was ever so kindly given a bag of Salba Chocolate Chia Seeds a while back to see if I could come up with a recipe to incorporate them into (thanks Deb!) They have been sitting staring at me for way too long, awaiting a burst of inspiration for a new recipe. 

On to reason number two… We have been house hunting as of late, and our wonderful agent-who-is-also-my-sister-in-law has been driving us around kingdom-come for a number of weeks. We were embarking on another road trip and I wanted to surprise her with some tasty treats for the drive. (She is celiac, so cooking for her, with all of my own dietary issues, is a proverbial piece of cake!) So on went my thinking cap. My brain jumped to donuts pretty quick, and these lovely little chocolate coated chia seeds were screaming at me to use them. I also had some beautiful organic cara-cara oranges, for further inspiration. Chocolate and orange is such a classic combination that is so well represented in these lovely little morsels, I was absolutely thrilled with the results! The texture is not unlike a poppyseed muffin or loaf, with a delightful bit of crunch, and the mix of flavours conjures

 a little happy dance in your mouth!  So, to Deb and Jo, a labour of love, and a brand new recipe!

This is also my first post using pictures taken with my son Mac's amazing camera..I am totally enamored with it..(so much that he had to buy me my own memory card so I quit filling up his...)

Orange Chocolate Chia Donuts

½ cup tapioca starch

½ cup coconut flour

1 tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

3 eggs

Zest from 1 orange (make sure its organic!)

Juice from one orange (3-4 tbsp approx)

¼ cup melted coconut oil (***see end of post for handy tips to melt your oil!)

¼ cup honey

¼ cup kefir, yogurt or non dairy alternative

______

¼ cup chocolate chia seeds (Salba brand)

Preheat oven to 350F

Grease the donut pan with coconut oil or butter and set aside.

I love my silicone baster for greasing pans!!

Measure all ingredients except chia seeds into a large mixing bowl and mix with an immersion blender until well blended. If you measure your coconut oil first, and then use the same scoop for your honey, it will slide right out of the cup, no scraping required!! 

Handy dandy kitchen rasp is awesome for zesting citrus fruits!
be sure to zest first, and then cut and juice your orange !

 Ensure no lumps are left.

Stir in the chocolate chia seeds and let stand for 5 minutes to thicken up.

Scoop batter into a zip top bag, squeeze out the air, zip, and cut off one bottom corner of the bag (alternatively use a piping bag with no tip), 

fold the edge of your zip bag down when filling to keep it clean!

and squeeze evenly into pre-greased donut pan.

 

Bake in preheated oven for approx 10-12 minutes or until cooked thru.

Tip out onto wire cooling rack to cool completely before enjoying!

Store at room temp in an airtight container for 2-3 days. 

Alternatively freeze for later enjoyment!

 

***How to melt your coconut oil with ease!!

I keep my coconut oil in a mason jar, and melt it one of two ways: 

1. in-front of the vent on my
gas stove-top

2. immerse jar in your hottest tap water until
melted enough to pour out your measurement!

Grain Free Chocolate Walnut Donuts

These little lovelies are a perfect treat when you want comfort food without the guilt (well, not too much guilt…)  They remind me of one of my favourite donuts from my old wheat eating days, without the gut issues and sugar crash!   I find them best the first day; they were a bit dry on the second day. Like most grain free baked goods, they do freeze well, so I would recommend freezing for storage, if they hang around long enough!

Grain Free Chocolate Walnut Donuts

4 eggs

1/3 cup melted coconut oil

½ cup sour cream

1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup coconut flour

¼ cup coconut sugar

1/3 cup arrowroot starch

¼ cup chick pea flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

___________

Add-in:

¾ cup chopped walnuts (no big pieces! )

-------------------

Topping:

¼ cup chopped walnuts

½ cup chocolate chips (I like Enjoy Life)

2 tsp coconut oil

Preheat oven to 375F.

Grease donut pan with a rubber basting brush or piece of paper towel and butter, ensuring you cover the entire inside surface. Set aside.

Mix all ingredients up to the add-ins together in an 8 cup mixing bowl with an immersion blender. Scrape sides of bowl when needed and mix until well blended. With a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, fold in the first amount of chopped walnuts and stir until well mixed. 

Scrape batter into a medium sized zip-top baggie, squeeze out the excess air and zip closed. Snip the end (alternatively, if you have an icing bag and a large tip, use that)

 and pipe into greased donut pans, filling each cavity about half way. 

Repeat with second pan or bake for approx 12 minutes, remove from oven, tip donuts from pan onto a wire rack. Let the pan cool before refilling to bake second batch. (This amount should make 24 small donuts; adjust your cooking time if your pans are larger.) 

While your donuts are baking, in a double boiler or a heat safe bowl set over a pot of just simmering hot water, (don’t let the water touch the bottom of the bowl!) gently melt the chocolate chips and the coconut oil together. Stir until smooth, and leave over barely simmering water until needed. 

When donuts are all cooked and cooled, drizzle with the melted chocolate, and then sprinkle with the ¼ cup of chopped walnuts. Let stand until chocolate drizzle firms up. (Refrigerate for 15 min if you want to serve them quickly!) 

Best eaten the same day, they tend to be a bit dry on the second day. Keep leftovers in fridge for 3-4 days or freeze. 

Grain Free Banana Donuts

I have been dying for a reason to try out my newest kitchen toy! I picked up this sweet donut pan in a kitchen store on a weekend away in Niagara a few weeks back. I have been on the lookout for a new one for a while, since the ones that I had and lent out a few years back sadly never found their way back to me :(   Needless to say, I was very excited to find this one without shipping costs attached! It is slightly bigger than the ones that I had, which is kinda nice. Now I am wishing I had bought 2!!
 The 4 over ripe bananas lounging on my counter provided me with just the inspiration  I needed to try it out yesterday. (it also may have been the irritated look from my eldest when he picked up said bunch of  bananas  and they started to peel themselves...those babies needed a recipe, and quick!) 

 The results were awesome, bang on first time out of the gate (love it when that happens!) 

Grain Free Donuts, who'da thunk it!! My mind is already spinning with what new flavour combos to try!!

 

 Anyhoo, if you don't have one of these seriously cool donut pans, these darlings would bake up quite nicely in a mini muffin pan as well, with maybe just a few minutes added to the baking time. 

Grain Free Banana Donuts

4 bananas, very ripe!
3 eggs
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 Tbsp Apple cider vinegar(raw, unpasteurized!)
1/2 cup coconut flour
3 Tbsp arrowroot flour/starch
2 Tbsp chick pea flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350F
Using a silicone spatula, (or a paper towel) and a big smear of butter, liberally grease a donut pan, making sure to coat all of the surfaces. Set aside.

Mix all ingredients together well in a large mixing bowl with an immersion blender. Scrape sides of bowl to make sure everything is incorporated evenly.

Scrape batter into a medium sized zip top freezer bag, and snip off the bottom corner to make an impromptu piping bag.

You want the hole in the corner of the bag to
be just big enough to do one nice circle of
batter in the cavity.

Pipe the batter evenly into the greased pan, you will use about half of the batter.

Bake in preheated oven for 11-12 m or until cooked thru and just starting to brown at the edges.

Remove from oven, run a knife carefully around the edges and flip donuts out onto a wire cooling rack.
Cool pan and repeat the process with the remaining batter.***This depends on the size of your pan! I found another one at Sobeys yesterday, and it is bigger. They took about 2-3 minutes longer to bake, and took more batter!

I often cool things on the deck railing right
outside my back door...shhh! Don't tell
the neighbors or my food may
start disappearing!

Cool completely and serve as is, or dip into chocolate glaze.

Chocolate Glaze: 

1 cup Enjoy Life Chocolate chips
2 Tbsp coconut oil

Suspend a heat proof bowl (stainless steel works well) over a pot of simmering water (it shouldn't touch the water!) and melt together the chocolate chips and coconut oil. Stir the mixture until it is smooth. Dip each donut (I dipped the top side, it looked nicer this way!) and set back on the wire cooling rack. Refrigerate to set the chocolate glaze. Store any leftovers in fridge to keep the glaze firm.