Fluffy fruit-sweetened Coconut Flour Donuts! Eight ingredient easy with a perfect soft texture and sweet coconut butter glaze on top. Vegan and paleo!
Coconut flour donuts!
With just purple glaze. And almost every shade of sprinkle. And the best fluffy moist (sorry, had to do it) texture. And not your average donut ingredient list.
This recipe is one of those rare baking enigmas – a vegan + coconut flour recipe. Coconut flour with eggs, okay. Coconut flour in no-bake stuff, sure. But coconut flour without eggs and baked…let’s just say if we were hypothetically playing truth or dare and the dare was to make a triple layer vegan birthday cake with coconut flour, I would be spilling ALL THE TRUTHS.
But these brownies inspired me. If flourless brownies can exist with the yummy base combo of dates and almond butter, than surely a not chocolate version must be possible. Now obviously these Coconut FLOUR Donuts aren’t flourless, but they are still grain-free and without almond flour for a change.
The texture is pure magic. Soft fluffy magic! These donuts have changed me. I cannot hate coconut flour ever again now. And when I inevitably find my future self staring at a crumbly pan of supposed-to-be-cake cursing the stuff, I will make these donuts and feel instantly better inside.
That warm, fuzzy, restoring faith in coconut flour effect – these donuts can do that for you too.
But coconut flour still isn’t ready to fly solo. To get that perfect texture we’re going to need some help from:
- A nut or seed butter. I used almond butter, but any kind is a-okay. Nut butters do this thing when you bake with them where they make the crumb super defined and moist but not oily. Pretty much everything you want in a cake donut.
- A starch. Either arrowroot or tapioca starch will work, or even cornstarch. This is what prevents the whole crumbly mess part. I tried it without…just trust me on this one.
Oh and these coconut flour donuts are date-sweetened too. See, I wasn’t kidding on that whole unconventional donut ingredient list thing. No grains, no oil, no refined sugar.
The glaze is very optional. And while we’re at it, the donut shape/pan is optional too – coconut flour muffins, anyone? But if you are going to glaze, I used my favorite coconut butter glaze colored but with blueberry juice this time.
Blend and strain fresh or frozen blueberries and then add that juice until you get your desired shade of purple. Or make yellow glaze with turmeric. Or green with matcha. Or pink with raspberries. Or blue with blue spirulina. More options, HOORAY.
Or, let’s be real, just dunk them in melted chocolate already.
So to everyone who always asks to sub coconut flour into places where it will only lead to disaster, please just make these lovely little donuts instead!
Coconut Flour Donuts
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 20
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 6 donuts 1x
- Category: dessert
- Method: baking
- Cuisine: american
Description
Fluffy fruit-sweetened Coconut Flour Donuts! Eight ingredient easy with a perfect soft texture and sweet coconut butter glaze on top. Vegan and paleo!
Ingredients
Donuts
- 1 cup (160g) pitted medjool dates
- 1/2 cup (120g) non-dairy milk
- 1/2 cup (130g) nut/seed butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup (30g) coconut flour
- 1/4 cup (30g) tapioca starch*
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
Glaze
- 1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen/defrosted)
- 1/2 cup coconut butter
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 1/4 cup non-dairy milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- In a high speed blender, blend the dates, milk, nut/seed butter, and vanilla until smooth.
- Add the rest of the ingredients. Blend until combined.
- Use a ziplock bag with one corner snipped off to pipe the batter into a donut pan (that has been thoroughly sprayed with non-stick spray!) and smooth the tops. Or you can make them into muffins.
- Bake for 20 minutes at 350F.
- For the glaze, blend the blueberries and strain to get just the juice.
- Melt the coconut butter (10 seconds or so in the microwave). Make sure all the other ingredients are at room temperature or warmer.
- Stir together the melted coconut butter, maple syrup, and 2 tablespoons of milk. Add the milk slowly until it becomes smooth and drizzle-able. It will seize up at first, keep adding milk and it will eventually smooth out.
- Add the blueberry juice 1 tablespoon at a time until you achieve your desired color.
- Once the donuts are cool, top with glaze and (optional) sprinkles.
Notes
*You can use arrowroot or cornstarch instead.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 donut
- Calories: 341
- Sugar: 13
- Fat: 24
- Carbohydrates: 26
- Fiber: 6
- Protein: 9
Keywords: baking, dessert, snack, paleo, gluten-free, vegan
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Hi, I was wondering if I could use peanut butter for the nut butter? Also, would the recipe bake up well in a cake pan?
I made your apple tart tin the other day and my family loved it.
Thank you for sharing all the yummy goodness 🌿
Absolutely! PB donuts will be delicious😋 Hmm haven’t tested it as a cake, only muffins, but I imagine it will be okay. May need to bake a bit longer though, try 30 minutes. Aww yay, I’m so happy the apple tart tatin was a success🤗 Happy baking Amy!
Never have I been more grateful to own a donut pan! I love all of your date and nut butter based baked goods and one can never have too many healthy donut recipes =) I still can’t get over what an amazing glaze/icing coconut butter makes. I just slathered it all over a homemade cinnamon roll last night and it was EPIC! Not excuse me while I put my vitamix and donut pan to good use 😉
Haha worth the $10 for sure! Even though muffins work too, donuts are just more happy-making somehow🍩 I love coconut butter for frosting, you barely need to sweeten it with that natural coconutty flavor too! Thanks Ashley😊
I don’t even like donuts but somehow your recipe has me super excited to try make them!!! You are amazing.
Haha well they are basically just a glorified muffin, so what’s not to love🤗
Woah, this is an awesome! I will be making these on Saturday. Thank you so much for sharing yet another one of your creative desserts!
Woohoo! Your weekend is sounding very yummy already🍩🤗 Can’t wait to hear what you think Heidi!
Hi Natalie.Would applesauce work instead of the nut butter?
Not for this one unfortunately, with the coconut flour you need the nut butter for texture and binding. Sorry!
Is there anything I can use in place of coconut butter? Would these work as muffins?
Yes they will work as muffins! And you can either skip the glaze or make a cashew based frosting/glaze or top them with melted chocolate instead 🙂
Donuts, sprinkles and a blueberry glaze, now this is how to end the week!! I squealed at the sprinkles when I first opened my email…haha…sprinkles have that effect on me! That is amazing that you created these coconut flour donuts. Coconut flour has got to be the hardest and weirdest flour out there to bake with. I must admit I don’t like the texture that it gives since it leaves the oddest sandy mouthfeel and of course, CRUMBLY as heck. But it looks like all the reasons I hate it that you’ve fixed, hahaha! Now, I’ve got to try it. Tapioca and it’s binding magic to the rescue! That and the dates of course would make them hold much better. Probably wouldn’t work too well with syrup I’m guessing. I love the blueberry glaze you put on top, what a lovely fruity taste I bet it adds. I have 2 big bags of coconut flour that I’ve been sent by companies just sitting in my fridge and I keep saying I’m going to get them out to use and never do, lol. That must change soon!
Haha sprinkles cause me to have an involuntary HAPPY reaction too! They are one of those beautifully frivolous things in the world and i just love em🤗 Omg yes the sandy description is so spot on, I’ve found not much of it and the VERY necessary tapioca starch to be the only way I can tolerate it. I was kinda amazed when these worked and actually had a wonderful cakey texture, you really can’t guess they are made with coconut flour. So I may do more coconut flour stuff to come…we’ll see🙃 I would love to see what you can make of the stuff too. Happy weekend, Brandi!
I love when a new recipe from you shows up in my email AND I have all of the ingredients to make it right away!! I have a bag of coconut flour taking up space in my drawer that I have been avoiding because it kinda stresses me out 😂 such a tricky flour! BUT these donuts?!?? AMAZING!!! The perfect cake-y texture and no coconut taste! They are so good on their own and don’t need frosting/glaze, but I was so intrigued by the use of blueberry juice so I had to try. Our glaze didn’t turn out as nice as yours…for one, I didn’t strain it very well so there were specks of blueberry 😆 and then we added just a tablespoon and it turned super dark purple! Haha!! But it was absolutely delicious! I’m in love with the flavor of the donut – despite the use of dates and coconut flour, there wasn’t a dominant/overpowering flavor! Seriously perfect. I think I’ll make these again soon and turn them into muffins!
★★★★★
Bahahaha! It is by far the most stress-inducing flour I’ve ever met. I mean come on coconut flour, we just don’t need the extra WILL IT CRUMBLE?? anxiety in our lives😂 It’s funny how many people have said they have a bag (or multiple even lol) of coconut flour that’s been hiding in the back of the cabinet for way too long without a use. But omg you already tried them!?!? Ahh you are amazing💜 Lol I was actually pretty bummed with my glaze color (almost reshot😬) so kinda jealous of your super dark purple. Well taste matters way more than lumpy blueb glaze texture, and even as muffins sans glaze I think they will be perfect🤗 Happy weekend my dear!
I loved the flavor and texture of these donuts and I was excited to find a recipe to use up my huge bag of coconut flour.. I found the coconut butter glaze to be overpowering and gross, and it took on an ugly gray color with the blueberry dye. If I make these again I will probably top them with chocolate or peanut butter and skip the coconut butter.
★★★
I am so happy you liked the donuts, and made at least a small dent in that bag of coconut flour😄 Good to know on the glaze, and yes chocolate would be awesome on top instead!
Another amazing paleo + vegan recipe! For my birthday, I wanted a version of Tres Leches cake. I found a recipe, but the cake part was a total flop. Pressed for time, I remembered seeing this recipe! I made the recipe as-is and baked it in a 6 in round cake pan for about 35 minutes. I let it cool, made holes with toothpicks, poured over the tres leches mixture (equal parts coconut milk, coconut cream and evaporated coconut milk) and put it in the fridge over night. Perfection!
★★★★★
OMG!! This is such a good idea and I am thrilled to hear it turned out so well🤗 Wow you have inspired me now, I’ve never had tres leches cake but it sounds incredible and like total coconut overload in a delicious way. Thanks for sharing Briana!
Hi,
Do you think it would be a good idea to make these as mini donuts? Also, should I change the baking time if making mini donuts?
Thanks!
Absolutely! I’ve made them as minis before, works perfectly too. Bake time will be around 15 minutes or so. Enjoy 🙂
Please tell me that you are not using regular sprinkles on these healthy donuts. With all those dyes. Please give a source to purchase safe sprinkles for those people that do not know of the problems with eating these dyes and letting their children have them. Great choice for the coloring in the frostings.
I personally don’t worry too much about those things, it’s mentally healthier for me that way, but if you want healthy naturally colored sprinkles you can use these instead: https://www.feastingonfruit.com/vegan-sprinkles/
Hi Natalie, would this work as a cake? And if so, how long would I bake it for? Should I double the recipe? Thanks!
Hmm I haven’t tested it, but I think it would be okay! I would try doubling and baking in a 9×9″ square pan for 30-35 minutes. Good luck, let me know how it goes😊
I’ve made these about 5 times now and just want to say thank you for this recipe, it’s soooo good every time. I love it. Thanks for making a GOOD coconut flour recipe that works! 🙂
★★★★★
Ah that makes me so so happy to hear Sarah! This is one of my favorites too, I’m always shocked at the texture that it’s actually made with coconut flour haha. Thanks for the feedback❤️
Could you use coconut butter in place of the nut butter? I am currently on AIP elimination phase and no nuts or legumes so no nut butters bit I can have coconut butter!
Hmm I want to say yes and I think it will be okay, but I really can’t say for sure without testing it myself. You will just have to try it out and see!
These are really, really nice! So soft and moist and delicious. I’ve tried 3 other recipes that were gross, but this one works.
Adaptions: I used sun butter and a mixture of dates and prunes (ran out of dates). I added 1 TBSP maple syrup for sweetness. For the glaze, I used powdered sugar, almond milk, and vanilla, which came out well.
One caution: this does not (at all) work in a regular blender; I started there but had to switch to my food processor, creating a bit of a mess. Also, I slightly under cooked them (on purpose because I often overcook!) but would have preferred them cooked a few minutes more, so the 20 min baking time is accurate.
Thanks for a great recipe!
★★★★★
I am so happy you liked them! Coconut flour is tricky in vegan baking, but I love the texture it gives these too😊 I love the sunbutter swap, that stuff is so yummy! Thanks for sharing your findings and feedback, Elizabeth!
Thank you for such yummy recipes! And, I can’t wait to get a Vitamix and try your recipes with it. Sigh, very soon!
To clarify, too, the other “gross” recipes I tried were for donut recipes from other websites. This is the first recipe of yours I tried and it was great. 🙂
Ah that will be amazing! I know they are pricey, but totally worth the expense in my opinion–there is no other appliance I recommend as highly🙌
I did this and I love it! I dint have a donut baking pan though so I just used a regular cupcake pan… soooo good….thanks!
★★★★★
I am so happy you liked them!! I make them as mini muffins sometimes–so good no matter the shape 🙂
This recipe is fantastic! The donuts turned out so soft and sweet, i had to ‘try’ more than 1!
I didn’t have medjool dates, so soaked regular dates and used a little more almond milk in the mix. Coconut flour is amazing.
I used a dark choc glaze and garnished with orange slice, which went with the flavour of the donuts beautifully.
Thanks for this amazing recipe 🙂
★★★★★
Hahaha I mean one out of the batch isn’t really an accurate taste test, so I fully support going for freshly baked seconds🍩🍩😂 I am so happy you liked them, and I LOVE the sound of this citrusy orange topping–how elegant! Thank you for the lovely feedback, Keira❤️
I made these for breakfasts this week, and they are SO DELICIOUS. A couple notes: PB works great. I added cinnamon for an extra flavor boost. The I have a “normal” blender, which cannot handle an entire cup of dates, so the food processor is the tool of choice here. And, the dough is so thick that I transferred it to a large ziplock bag, to then pipe into the donut pan. Overall, super tasty, pretty easy, and 100% will make again.
YAY!! I am so happy you liked them🤗 And thank you for the feedback and tips. Love the sound of that PB + cinnamon flavor combo, and I always use a ziplock for donuts too–much less messy that way. Enjoy the rest!
Is there anything that I can sub for dates? I don’t have any of them on hand rn 🥺
★★★★
Raisins or dried prunes would work instead although give them a fruitier flavor, those would be the closest subs though!
Do you think I could use honey instead of dates?
Honey doesn’t have the same bulk/fiber as blended dates does so I’m not sure if it will work as well. You can try it, but can’t guarantee how the texture will turn out. Sorry!
I initially made these as an excuse to use my homemade vegan sprinkles (thank you once again for that adorable recipe, Natalie!) vbut oh my, what a delicious excuse this turned out to be! As countless others have commented here, the combo and ratios of coconut flour, dates and nut butter work like a dream in this recipe to give the perfect donutty texture! Genius! And I still have leftover sprinkles! 😄
★★★★★
I am so happy you liked these!! Crazy right how well coconut flour works here when it can be such a disaster other times😆 Any excuse for sprinkles…I mean what don’t they make better🥳 Hope you are having a fun and delicious and happy weekend, Aleks!
I’ve made these yesterday, and they were amazing! So soft and even the next day they stayed soft and fresh! Thank you!
★★★★★
YAY!! I am so happy you loved these, perfect time for all the baking🤗 Thanks for the feedback Nicole!
These are really great donuts! I didn’t make the glaze so I can say they’re excellent on their own. My fiancé dipped his in cinnamon sugar. Very yummy, looking forward to having another for breakfast tomorrow!
★★★★★
I am so happy you guys loved them!! Cinnamon sugar is always an easy glaze-free way to go😋 Appreciate the feedback Molly!