I went through a fairly hardcore Krispy Kreme doughnut phase back when they were just starting to open shops in Yankee (a.k.a. non-Deep South) states. When that neon sign lit up announcing that those perfectly-shaped-shiny-with-melty-drippy-sugar doughnuts were coming hot and fresh off of the magic conveyor belt, it was a siren call for a fat and sugar fest. Ah, to be so young again. After I switched to a plant-based diet and then one that greatly eliminated refined sugar and added oils, for me, doughnuts went the way of the dodo bird.
For the e-book I published last year – TEAse Me: 15 Tempting Plant-Based Recipes Inspired by the World’s Favorite Beverage – I created a doughnut recipe that would healthfully satisfy my sweet cravings and use tea for flavoring.
If you haven’t noticed TEAse Me on the side bar over there, it’s a little freebie incentive to sign up to receive email notifications when I publish a post – which is only about one post per month so your In Box is not going to be inundated, I promise! I’m really proud of the book and had a blast putting it together, so I hope you’ll check it out. BTW, it’s also available for purchase for the low-low price of $5.99. Click here to go to my Shop.
- 1 large ripe banana
- ½ cup unsweetened plain vegan yogurt
- 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
- ¾ cup pure maple sugar or coconut sugar
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
- 2 vanilla tea bags, snipped open and
- contents emptied (discard or compost tea bags)
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1 Tbsp. vanilla powder
- 1/3 cup unsweetened vegan chocolate
- 1 Tbsp. unsweetened sunflower butter
- powdered stevia sweetener, to taste
- Preheat oven to 425-degrees F. Have two mini doughnut pans ready. (If using coconut sugar, batter will be darker and stickier; you may want to lightly spray pans with oil.) This recipe makes ~24 mini doughnuts.
- In the bowl of a food processor, process the banana, yogurt, vanilla extract, and maple sugar until smooth.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, dry tea, baking powder, and vanilla powder. Add the wet ingredients and stir until thoroughly moistened. Scrape the mixture into a pastry bag (see Notes) and pipe batter into doughnut tins. Fill them only about halfway – they’ll puff up nicely.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes. Remove and let sit in pans for a couple of minutes before removing gently and letting them cool completely on a wire rack.
- In a double boiler, slowly melt the chocolate and the sunflower butter. When melted, stir in the stevia powder to taste.
- Dip the tops of the doughnuts in the chocolate, swirling to coat, or drizzle to get stripes. Place the doughnuts on a wire rack and let the chocolate set.
- Make your own pastry bag using a quart- or gallon-size food storage bag! Tilt the bag so that one corner faces down, snip off the corner and place the bag into a tall glass, folding the opening of the bag down around the rim of the glass. Now fill bag with batter, twist and squeeze into the doughnut tin.
I’m still waiting for the sweet treat delivery service 😉