Baked doughnuts speckled with chocolate chips. They’re healthier-than-usual, vegan, and adorably mini-sized.
Oh my, look at the time!
What time is it? It’s doughnut time, of course.
Regardless of what time of day you’re reading this, I can almost guarantee it’s doughnut time. Seven o’clock in the morning? Doughnuts for breakfast. Ten AM? Mid-morning doughnut break. Three-thirty in the afternoon? Clearly time for a pick-me-up doughnut. Midnight? Don’t tell me that a doughnut wouldn’t be a delicious midnight snack.
When you think about it, there are few times in the day that don’t qualify as doughnut time.
Since these mini doughnuts only require one mixing bowl, no fancy electrical equipment, and only take around ten minutes to bake, it’s especially easy to make any hour doughnut hour. A dangerous delectable thought.
These baked doughnuts also happen to be vegan and healthier than your average baked good. Plus, they contain two particularly nutritious ingredients: chia seeds and almond butter. So if you’re on some kind of New Year health kick, then these might be the healthier-than-usual treats that you need to balance out all that kale.
Yes, there’s chocolate. But you know, antioxidants or something.
The recipe also calls for some almond meal. As I’ve received a few questions in the past about almond meal, here’s what it is: ground up almonds. It’s usually not difficult to find in the supermarket, although you can also make your own by whirling some blanched almonds in a food processor until they turn into a sand-like consistency. The key is not to process them so much that they turn into almond butter.
Almond meal is also known as almond flour. Some people insist that almond meal comes from almonds with their skins on, while almond flour is from blanched almonds. However, this isn’t always the case (at least not in my experience – for one thing, I noticed that Bob’s Red Mill call their almond meal ‘Almond Meal/Flour’).
I always use almond meal from blanched almonds, just because it looks prettier. My guess is that whether the almonds have their skins on or not won’t make the world of difference – at least, not when you’re making doughnuts (macarons may be a different story, though).
By the way, if you’ve visited this blog a few times before, you may have noticed that today’s doughnut pictures are quite different to my usual colorful shots. Sometimes it’s fun to mix things up a little.
And one last thing: while I don’t usually give beverage recommendations, I highly recommend that you pair these doughnuts with an extremely large mocha.
- 2 teaspoons white chia seeds
- 2 tablespoons (30mL) water
- 2 tablespoons (35g) unsalted almond butter
- 2 tablespoons (30g) brown sugar, packed
- 2 tablespoons (30mL) maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup (60mL) almond milk
- ¼ cup (25g) almond meal
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup (65g) all purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- 3 - 4 tablespoons dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Grease a 12-hole mini doughnut pan with cooking oil spray.
- In a large bowl, combine the chia seeds and water. Let sit for 5 minutes to gel.
- Whisk in the almond butter, brown sugar, maple syrup and vanilla extract. Add the almond milk, and whisk until completely combined.
- Stir in the almond meal and salt. Sift in the flour and baking powder, and add the chocolate chips. Mix until just combined.
- Transfer the batter to the prepared mini doughnut pan, filling each hole approximately ¾ of the way up.
- Bake for 10 - 12 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean (or with a few crumbs). Let the doughnuts sit in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
The almond butter I used was unsalted, and contained oil.
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