Recipes: Raw Vegan Chocolate-Glazed Donuts

Posted by Claire Ragozzino

After the most blissful week of camping in Joshua Tree for Spirit Weaver’s Gathering, I drove back to the coast to quench my dry desert thirst with a few days of LA meandering, filled with juice bar explorations, farmer’s market wanderings and beachside picnics. I finally got the chance to check out my dream of a juice bar, Moon Juice, when I was in LA last week and catch up with new friend + blogger, Lacy Phillips of Free + Native. Over green juice and golden milk, we chatted up everything from Vedic astrology, to blogging life, to travel adventures.  Before I left, I snagged a box of mini raw chaga donuts on my way out of the shop (read: I bought them and they barely made it out of the shop!).  Totally hooked on these little guys, I immediately decided I had to attempt to make these at home.

Fast forward through the rest of my trip, I returned home eager to get in the kitchen to recreate my donut bliss, and low and behold…it was National Donut Day.  I didn’t even know this was an actual thing! I guess I’ve been living in a cave? Well I decided to crawl out of the darkness and declare this a week long celebration!So cheers to a donut recipe that’s actually pretty damn good…and good for you! This raw vegan donut is gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free and processed sugar-free, but not flavor-free. Figs and apple give the dough a touch of sweetness and the moistness it needs to create a moist, cake-like dough.  If you want to create more of a breakfast donut, you can skip the chocolate glaze and slice it in half with heaping spread of almond butter on top.  But if you want the full on donut experience, cover it in a few layers of the raw chocolate glaze and load it up with the quinoa sprinkles.  You can’t go wrong either way! For these easy sprinkles, I used uncooked quinoa grains  and soaked them in natural dyes made from turmeric and beet juice for yellow and pink sprinkles. I broke out my juicer and ran a small meet and a few fresh strawberries through to make the pink dye.  For the yellow, I whisked together turmeric, hot water and maple syrup.  After these soaked for an hour, I placed drained the liquid out and let them dehydrate until they were dry and the donuts were ready.

If you don’t have a dehydrator, you can use your oven on the lowest temp with the door cracked to make both the sprinkles and the donuts.  Because you want the donuts to be softer and more cake-like, it doesn’t take but a few hours to dehydrate in your dehydrator or about an hour in the oven.  Serve these guys at room temperature with a big mug of your favorite tea or a tall glass of activated almond milk.

CHOCOLATE GLAZED DONUTS WITH QUINOA SPRINKLES 

Donut
2 cups oat flour
1 cup shredded coconut
4 tbsp chia seeds
1 tbsp ground psyllium husk
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp vanilla bean
¼ tsp Himalayan pink salt
8 dried figs, soaked for 2 hours to rehydrate
1 cup grated apple (about 2 small apples)

Combine all the dry ingredients a food processor, pulse until well combined. Add the wet ingredients and process until a sticky dough forms. Split the dough into 8 equal parts and form into tennis ball sized balls. Space evenly on a mesh liner over the dehydrator tray.  Wet your hands and begin to form each donut by pressing your thumb into the center. Keep wetting your hands and smooth the edges until you form an even round donut shape. Rinse and wet hands again between forming each dough ball.  Once formed, dehydrate at 145 degrees for 2-3 hours. Check periodically to avoid over-drying or cracking. You want a harder outside and soft, cake-like inside.  Remove from dehydrator and allow to cool for 15-20 minutes before pouring the chocolate glaze and sprinkles on.

Chocolate Glaze
½ cup raw cacao
½ cup coconut oil
2-3 tbsp maple syrup
pinch Himalayan pink salt

Combine all ingredients in a high-speed blender, blend until creamy smooth and slightly warm. Drizzle the glaze on top of the donuts, sprinkle with the colored quinoa sprinkles, then allow to set at room temp until hardened. Note: If your house is quite warm, you may need to pop these guys in the fridge for 10 minutes to harden the glaze.

Yellow Sprinkles
4 tbsp dried quinoa grains
2 tbsp turmeric powder
¼ cup hot water
1 tsp maple syrup

In a small bowl, whisk together the turmeric powder, hot water and maple syrup. Stir in the quinoa and allow to soak in the mixture for while the donuts are dehydrating, stirring occasionally. After 1-2 hours, strain the quinoa grains and pour the liquid mixture out.  Layer evenly on top of a dehydrator sheet and dehydrate for 1 hour while the donuts finish up. Once dry, sprinkle on top of the glazed donuts before the glaze hardens.

Pink Sprinkles
4 tbsp dried quinoa grains
4 strawberries, juiced
1 small beet, juiced
1 tsp maple syrup

In a small bowl, whisk together the beet/strawberry juice with the maple syrup. Stir in the quinoa and allow to soak in the mixture for while the donuts are dehydrating, stirring occasionally. After 1-2 hours, strain the quinoa grains and pour the liquid mixture out.  Layer evenly on top of a dehydrator sheet and dehydrate for 1 hour while the donuts finish up. Once dry, sprinkle on top of the glazed donuts before the glaze hardens.

Makes 8-10 donuts

**Need a little music to serenade your donut making escapades? I got you covered! No. 07 -Kitchen Mixtapes: Summer of Love**