Valentine’s Day Toasted Coconut Doughnuts

It’s the end of the week, hooray for that, right! And Valentine’s Day lands on Sunday. Which by the way I love Sunday’s. It’s the day I give myself completely off (for the most part) to spend that QT (quality time) with my family. My boys do love doughnuts however, so making a batch or two of these babies will be prepared tomorrow for Sunday’s loving festivities. And by festivities I mean laying around watching movies all the live long day, pajamaed up, from head to toe.

My hubs and I don’t do the whole dinner and a movie thing. We didn’t even do that when we were dating. We just use the day as an excuse to eat more amounts of chocolate. Hey it’s Valentine’s Day, I have clear permission from the universe to eat an entire box of vegan chocolate. Oh and doughnuts duh, how can I forget. Especially, wait for it…wait for it…when they’re made healthy!? Jenn what did you just say? Healthy doughnuts? Isn’t that like an oxymoron, no such thing. Well think again fellow responsible sweet toothers, because they indeed and in fact are healthy. This recipe is God sent (thanks God 😉).

It’s no secret by now that all vegans love coconut whipped cream. It’s like the go to for errr thang. And why not, it’s super amazeballs for ya. Coconut cream does not make you fat, that’s a complete misconception. The fact is that 50 to 70% of coconut cream contains water (which I use for smoothies BT dubs), and 15 to 35% contain fatty acids. The difference in this verse say dairy, is that this converts into energy quickly and is not stored as fat. But there are so many benefits to coconut cream it’s amazing. It helps boost your immune system because of it’s strong antioxidant properties. The word antioxidant gets thrown around so loosely these days. But don’t take light of it. Antioxidants are a vital part of our well being. Just make sure whatever company or companies you buy from are true and transparent. Labeling in this country is limitless for the most part and companies like to use tricky play on words to get ya.

For coconut whipped cream you need to leave a can or two of full fat coconut milk in the fridge overnight. The next day scoop out the cream and save the water for later. I usually use two cans because I like to use this for dipping of fruits during the day. And my son LOVES it. Like loves it. ❤️

How bout this toasted coconut! Like seriously. It’s coconutty, warm and subtle. Totes my fave and easy to make. If you have unsweetened shredded coconut, set your oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Lay out shredded coconut and bake for 5-10 minutes. They toast up pretty quickly so keep an eye on them. You want them to just be turning brown, not burnt. And your house will smell amazing.

The doughnuts are brilliant. Here’s what you’ll need: ap flour or ap gluten-free flour, flax eggs, vanilla extract, coconut extract, almond essence, baking powder, coconut oil (melted), coconut sugar or regular organic cane sugar, full fat coconut milk (for the doughnuts and the frosting) maple syrup, himalayan salt, and some baking powder. The almond extract combined with coconut just really compliment one another, creating an amazing flavor.

To make the flax egg it’s one tbsp of flaxseeds or meal to 3 tbsp of water. That is equivalent to one egg. This recipe only calls for one flax egg but in the future if you need say two or more eggs just double or triple that ratio. Make the flax egg first then set aside while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

In a large bowl whisk together the sugar, salt, and baking powder. Drop the melted coconut oil into the flour mixture and use your hands to evenly distribute it. It will become very crumbly.

Add all the extracts and the coconut milk to the flax egg and mix well. Make a hole or well with your hand in the middle of the flour, and pour wet ingredients into the center. Stir until well combined.

Scoop batter into a pastry bag or a zip lock baggie with a corner cut off, and pipe the batter into a greased doughnut pan. I use coconut oil spray for that but you can use any non stick cooking spray. If you need to, you can slightly wet your finger tips with a little bit of the leftover coconut milk or water to smooth out the tops of the doughnuts. Once ready, bake for 8-10 minutes on 350F. They will be a nice, warm, golden brown.

Place doughnuts on a cooling rack before frosting. Once cooled you can decorate anyway you’d like. I left some plain, some with frosting, toasted coconut shreds and cute Valentine’s Day hearts.

To give the frosting a nice coconut essence I used maple syrup as the sweetener and coconut extract with a little vanilla extract. It was delicious. 👌🏻

These doughnuts are not overly sweet but just right. They are super moist with a cake like texture. They stay soft too which makes them even more perfect.

Whoa! 😍

These Valentine’s Day Toasted Coconut Doughnuts are sure to win over the hearts of anyone you make em’ for. With each sweet bite, you will fall more and more in love. 💞

Happy and Healthy eating peeps!

Here are more Valentine’s Day recipes you’ll swoon over:
Chocolate Fudge Raspberry Brownies
Coconut and Chocolate Covered Heart Pretzels

Recipe adapted from OhMyVeggies

Print Recipe

Yield: 6 doughnuts

Valentine's Day Toasted Coconut Doughnuts

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Fluffy cream filled doughnuts topped with toasted coconut shreds and loving hearts. Perfect for Valentine's Day!

Ingredients:

Doughnuts

• 1 flax egg
• 1/3 cup coconut sugar or organic cane sugar
• 1 cup all purpose gluten free flour, regular flour, or whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
• 1/2 cup full fat coconut milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp almond extract

Toasted Coconut Frosting

• 1 can full fat coconut milk
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tsp coconut essence
• 1 cup toasted coconut shreds
• hearts for decoration (optional)

Directions:

Doughnuts

1. Make flax egg (1 tbsp flax seeds or meal to 3 tbsp water) and set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 350F and grease standard doughnut pan with non stick cooking spray.
3. In a large bowl whisk together sugar, flour, salt, baking powder..
4. Pour the melted coconut oil into the flour mixture and evenly distribute it using your hands. The batter will become crumbly.
5. Add coconut milk, almond, and vanilla extract to the flax and and mix well.
6. Make a hole or well in the middle of the flour mixture and pour wet ingredients into the center. Stir until well combined.
7. Scoop batter into a pastry bag or a zip lock baggie with a corner cut off, and pipe the batter into a greased doughnut pan. If you need to, you can slightly wet your finger tips with a little bit of the leftover coconut milk or water to smooth out the tops of the doughnuts.
8. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Toasted Coconut Frosting

1. Scoop out coconut cream and save water for later.
2. Add 2 tbsp of maple syrup and 1 tsp of coconut essence.
3. Using a hand mixer, whip until peaks form and you have a cool whip like consistency.
4. Place coconut shreds on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 5-10 minutes on 350F.

Valentine's Day Toasted Coconut Doughnut Assemble

1. Once doughnuts are cool you can begin to frost them. Start by dipping and swirling each doughnut into the coconut whipped cream frosting.
2. Proceed to dip into toasted shredded coconut flakes. They will grab right onto the frosting.
3. Top with decorative hearts or anything else you prefer for Valentine's Day.
4. Serve up and Enjoy!

• Stores well in the fridge for up to 5 days.