Paleo Dark Chocolate Spiced Donuts

I LOVE easy recipes! The good news? This is 80% easy... The bad news is 20% can be a real pain in the a$$. Worth it though! I'm going to go ahead and put full blame on my donut pan however -- so perhaps with the right pan this could be a totally easy recipe! (NOTE: Please send me a good pan immediately! I wanted to murder mine / cry a lot making these haha). Again-- likely, just my darn pan. 

PALEO CHOC DONUTS (CONTAINS ALMONDS) 

Makes 11 -12 reg donuts

BROWNIE BASE

• 1/3 cup maple syrup

• 1 cup cacao powder

• 1/3 cup cacao nibs

• 1/2 cup coconut flour

• 1 cup almond meal

• 1/3 cup coconut oil melted

• 1/2 cup almond milk -- (add more as needed)

• 4 large eggs at room temp

• 2 tsp baking powder

• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt

• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

• 1/2 tsp cardamon powder

• 1-2 chai tea mix (I just cut 2 tea bags open and poured the leaves right in!)

FROSTING | GLAZE

• 1/2 cup coconut butter (or cacao butter)

• 1/4 cup maple syrup room temp (sub: coconut sugar)

• 2 tbsp coconut coconut oil

• 1-2 tsp hot water

• 1 cup cacao powder

• 1 tsp vanilla

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350F.

Mix all the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl -- sifting the flour if needed (though I just got my hands In there and really worked it ---  Feels. So. Good)

Beat eggs (or chia eggs if vegan!) Then add remaining 'wet' ingredients, mix mix mix. 

Make a 'well' in the middle of the large dry ingredient mixing bowl and pour the wet mix right in. Mix it all together [you want a nice smooth consistency-- if it feels too fluffy, add a little more nut mylk]

Grease your donut baking tin (hoping yours is better than mine!) -- making sure to grease it verywell if it's a tin, as the batter will want to stick like glue (thanks to the almond/egg combo!). 

Scoop batter into each donut mould (or cut a hole in the corner of a ziplock bag and scoop mix inside, then use the bag to squeeze the mix into each mould-- MUCH easier and less mess too!!) -- NOTE: make sure to only fill each mould about 3/4 way up as they will rise! 

Bake for around 20 minutes.

Step 2

Melt the coconut butter in a double boiler -- once melted, add in remaining ingredients and stir really well. Allow to cool down to room temp before spreading onto donuts. 

Step 3

I call this the FUN part! Simply dollop/drizzle the frosting/glaze [note: thicken it up by adding more cacao powder, or thin it down by adding more hot water]. Be generous here! Start with one layer, and once set (usually takes 5-10 minutes), you can add another layer!

Decorate! GO TO TOWN.  I used cacao nibs, corn flowers and smashed-up freeze-dried strawberries (I just used my hands to crumble them!)-- but other toppings could include edible flowers (rose petals are my fave!), coconut flakes, fresh berries, dried mulberries, lemon peel, hemp seeds, tea leaves ---and well, anything and everything you fancy!

PSST You're not having fun unless you're making a mess!