I have a couple of rules when it comes to donuts. I'm a little obsessed with them so I take this pretty seriously.
In order of importance:
- Everybody deserves a donut - even those of us who can't eat gluten.
- Donuts must be fried, never baked.
- If you see a "donut" covered with cinnamon and sugar, it's not a donut. Donuts are glazed. That cinnamon sugar coating is just somebody's idea of a mean joke and they're trying to fool you. Don't let anyone ever trick you out of your real donut.
- Cake "donuts" are not donuts; they're glazed cake. Don't fall for that one either. I think these donuts have the consistency of a Chinese donut. Those things are awesome (minus the granulated sugar coating).
- Sundays are donut days.
- The correct spelling is "donut", not "doughnut". (I don't actually know. I just made that up but my blog = my rules.)
I love my Sunday donuts! We used to pick them up from a place down the street but that's unfortunately not an option for me anymore. More recently, Lenny's been picking up his donut there while I keep some store-bought gluten free donuts in the freezer for myself. It works but they definitely don't leave me feeling great and they aren't maple glazed - my favorite kind! These use maple butter as a glaze which is just maple syrup heated until it becomes a spreadable consistency when cooled, just like the process for making candies. It's pretty much the best invention ever. If you can't find it in a store like I did, here is maple butter on Amazon.
A while back, I bought a donut pan and tried making donuts several times but they never tasted right. Then I realized why: they weren't fried! Donuts should always be fried (see rule #2). I love frying foods so these were particularly fun to make. I think the best part about making these is that my best friend (don't worry, she's equally obsessed with donuts - she's cool) came by and made these with me. She thinks these need crumbled bacon on them. I think she's a genius.
Prep Time:
Yield:
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PinIngredients
- 1/4 C melted lard or coconut oil, plus extra for frying
- 2 eggs
- 3 Tbsp honey
- 1 mashed banana, preferably not over-ripened.
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 C coconut flour
- 2 C almond flour
- 3/4 C tapioca starch
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- pinch of salt
- 1/2 C maple butter
- optional topping ideas: shredded coconut, pecans, or crumbled bacon.
Instructions
- Use a mixer to combine 1/4 C melted coconut oil or lard, eggs, honey, mashed banana, and vanilla extract.
- Sift the dry ingredients (almond flour, tapioca starch, coconut flour, baking soda, nutmeg, and salt) into the wet ingredient mixture. Use the mixer to combine until you get a dough. The dough will be pretty sticky and wet but firm enough to form into donuts.
- Dust a work surface with tapioca starch. Transfer the dough to your work surface and dust a little more starch on top of that to make the dough easy to handle.
- Divide the dough into 6 equal chunks. Form these into balls then slightly flatten with your hand.
- Use a knife to cut X's into the middle of each donut then push dough from the center of the X outward to form the donut holes.
- Heat 1/4 inch of coconut oil or lard in a medium to large skillet. Allow the oil to heat to 275ºF for best results.
- Place the donuts in the hot oil and once they are lightly browned, flip. Each batch of donuts should cook about 2 minutes. I cooked mine in 3 batches but the number of batches really depends on the size of your skillet.
- Place donuts on a cooling rack to dry.
- When donuts are cool enough to handle, put maple butter in a bowl and microwave for a few seconds until it's just barely runny. Mine took about 10 seconds to get there from room temperature.
- Dip donuts in maple butter and whatever toppings make you happy. I like mine plain. Return the donuts to cooling rack to allow the glaze to dry.
These were SO good!!! I had so much fun making them with you (and taste testing!) I do think my idea of crumbled bacon on top is a delectable idea, now I want a donut! Why can't I just live down the street from you?!
I know .... Your blog your rules .... But I love cinnamon sugar donuts. MMMMM. I am so excited to try these! I miss having donuts. I'm definitely sprinkling mine with coconut sugar and cinnamon. Thanks for sharing your recipe.
Haha I completely forgot I wrote out my rules until I read your comment! Definitely dress them up however you like. Coconut sugar makes everything better ;)
Can these be made ahead, and if so should they be refrigerated? How long would they keep in the fridge? (Not that we wouldn’t eat them all in a day!)
Hi Courtney! I did save some of these for later when I made them but I’m trying to remember what I did. It’s been a long time because I later developed an allergy to bananas so I can’t make the recipe anymore. They have the best texture fresh but if you need to make them ahead of time, leave off the glaze and store in the fridge in an airtight container so they don’t dry out. When you’re ready to serve them, reheat them until warm (serving them too hot or cold could make them hard or dry) then dip the tops in the maple butter. Taking those steps before serving shouldn’t take much time at all and I think it’s the best way to go about serving them if you made them in advance. By the way, I have experimented a lot more with frying things lately and I’ve been getting the best results using non-hydrogenated shortening (by Spectrum). I will probably go through and update some recipes to use this but just wanted to give you the tip!
Meagan,
Thank you!! We did store them in the fridge overnight and enjoyed them SO MUCH!! They taste so close (yet better) than the crazy-unhealthy cake donuts my hubby and I remember from before we cleaned up our eating. What a treat! Thank you for the recipe and the tips! (I had made them before we exchanged comments and used a combination of ghee, avacado oil and lard, because that’s what we had, and it worked great :)
Coconut oil, ghee and lard, not avacado oil
I’m so glad it worked out for you! Thanks for trying the recipe :) I don’t think I’ve ever fried anything in ghee although I used to cook with it. I bet that added a great flavor to the donuts
Is there an alternative to honey? (preferably not maple syrup or agave)
Hi Arielle. I haven’t tried it but I think there should be enough moisture in the dough to use a granulated white or maple sugar instead. Would either of those work for you? Keep in mind that if you remove the honey, there might not be enough acid to activate the baking soda (unless the banana does anything - I don’t know). Try about 1.5-2 teaspoons of baking powder instead if you decide to take out the honey.