Are you sick of donuts? I hope not!

For my birthday, my step-mother-in-law bought me a bunch of fun baking ingredients from King Arthur Flour. One ingredient included was called “black cocoa” and it is exactly that. It’s basically dutch processed extra dark cocoa powder and creates extra chocolately goodies with a rich and deep dark color. Mmmm, I love dark chocolate 🙂

Another item in my birthday baking pack was hazelnut flour! I actually baked these donuts on my birthday (yes, even after the vanilla cake I’d baked) just because I couldn’t wait to try out my new goodies! Plus, I was compelled to make sweet donuts because I’ve had a few people request them  since I posted two savory versions (here and here).

Since the glaze was so dark, I deemed these “black and white” donuts. They have a hint of hazelnut from the flour used but if you wanted the flavor to be more prominent, you could add a small amount of hazelnut extract. If you didn’t want to make the glaze, I bet these would be lovely topped with a smear of chocolate hazelnut spread!

Black and White Hazelnut Donuts

Ingredients

For Donuts
1 1/3 cups GF all purpose blend*
1/3 cup hazelnut flour (can use almond flour or other nut meal if needed for a different flavor variation)
1/2 cup coconut palm sugar or other granulated sweetener (or 1/3 cup palm sugar + pinch of pure stevia)
1 Tbsp chia meal (ground chia seeds) or flaxseed meal
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 to 1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 Tbsp melted coconut oil (or melted butter/ghee or Earth Balance for vegan)
1 egg or 1 flax egg for vegan (3 Tbsp water + 1 Tbsp flaxseed meal)
1/3 cup non-dairy milk + 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar (or lemon juice) – combine and let sit for 5 minutes
2 Tbsp unsweetened applesauce

For glaze
2 Tbsp unsweetened black cocoa or extra dark cocoa powder (you can use regular cocoa/cacao or carob powder as well, will be lighter in color)
2 Tbsp melted coconut oil (could use melted butter or earth balance)
2 tbsp powdered sucanat (could use powdered xylitol for sugar free) – use 2-3 more Tbsp to taste for a thicker and sweeter topping
1 tsp non-dairy milk or water
pinch of salt, optional

Directions

For Donuts
1. Preheat oven to 350 F and grease your donut pan well with coconut oil/butter/Earth Balance (it will stick if not)
2. In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk together dry ingredients (flours through cinnamon) until well combined. In a separate small bowl, whisk remaining wet ingredients.
3. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients slowly and stir until batter is moistened. Divide and spoon batter evenly into prepared greased pan and bake for 15 to 19 minutes or until cooked through (mine cooked for 15 minutes).
4. Remove from oven and let cool. Turn pan over and pop donuts out onto a wire rack or baking sheet, if needed you can run your knife around the outsides to loosen the edges carefully.

For glaze
1. In a small bowl, combine all ingredients and stir until smooth. Dip tops of donuts carefully into glaze; will harden after refrigerating. (Photos were taken right after dipping, still delicious but messy!)

*For the gluten free flour blend, I used King Arthur’s all purpose blend that contains starches that help with the texture of the cake. My first batch I tried these donuts with 1 cup of the Ancient Grains Blend from King Arthur and 1/4 cup tapioca starch but the quinoa flavor was too prominent for my taste. Use your favorite flour blend, but I would recommend including at least 1/4 cup of either tapioca/arrowroot/potato starch for texture.

Makes 6 donuts

Recipe Notes: if you do not have a donut pan, you can make these in cupcake/muffin form (would make about 5) but you might need to cook a bit longer. Keep an eye on them so they do not dry out!