So I haven’t ever done a guest post. Never! But I’ve wanted to do one with Jenni from Urban Poser ever since I first came across her blog. Not only are her pictures by far some of the best out there, but her recipes are incredible. I don’t understand how her brain comes up with some of these recipes she makes. She is an inspiration in the blogging and paleo food world, and I feel incredibly lucky to have her as my first guest post. She’s the best. Be sure to check out her blog right away and spice up your kitchen!
Oh and by the way, you’re welcome. This recipe is UNREAL. Bravo, Jenni. Bravo.
___________________
Picture this: You’re sitting in your cave, shooting the breeze with your buddies Grok and Brog. It’s a nice day outside and you’re all feasting on the last of this month’s wooly mammoth. As you polish off the last bit you think, “dang, I could really go for something sweet.” Almost on cue, the doorrocks clank together and lo and behold, there’s a Cave-Girl Scout at the door with your favorite post-mammoth treat: Samoa cookies!
Ok, ok….so historically speaking that’s probably not 100% accurate. But seriously…..who cares? And who doesn’t love Girl Scout cookies?!?
When Juli asked me to guest post on her blog, I immediately started trying to figure out what I wanted to make for her. She left it wide open for me to choose and I had a lot of options in mind. But when the idea to reinvent my old favorite Girl Scout standard in “Paleo-friendly” donut style hit me, I knew that I had my answer.
Sometimes when I’m creating a recipe, it takes a little while to zero in on the perfect balance of ingredients and complimentary flavors, but in this case, literally millions of people have already stamped their seal of approval on the classic combination that is the Samoa cookie. (I know, I know….we’re not supposed to call them “Samoas” anymore but hey, I lived on the islands so I get a pass. Deal with it.)
All that was left for me to do was to see if I could reasonably create a Paleo friendly version of this classic treat. And surprisingly enough, I nailed it on nearly the first try. They came together beautifully and even though it may seem like a lot of steps, it’s actually incredibly simple to pull together and the caramel can even be made ahead of time, so don’t be afraid to dive right in and give it a shot.
Now I know that people come to “Paleo” for a lot of different reasons; and I’m not saying that these donuts will make you live any longer or be significantly healthier, but I do know that pretty much everyone agrees that one of the biggest keys to longevity is happiness, and these donuts will make you happy, guaranteed. So as far as I’m concerned, these donuts will make you live longer, healthier and make you an overall better person.
Guest Post: Samoa Donuts
Ingredients
For the Donuts
- 2 1/2 cups blanched almond flour (such as Honeyville)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- A scant less than 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons honey
- 1/4 cup coconut oil, softened or liquid
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon Lemon juice
- 3 whole large room temp eggs
Coconut caramel topping
- 1 can full-fat coconut milk (about 1 1/2 cups), I used guar gum-free Natural Value
- 1/2 cup mild flavored honey or maple syrup,
- A pinch of sea salt
- 1 rounded tablespoon ghee or butter (can sub palm shortening or coconut oil)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¼ cup finely shredded coconut, plus 2 more tablespoons for garnishing
For the Dipping Chocolate
- 1 bag Enjoy Life Chocolate chips (melted in a double boiler)
Instructions
- Preheat your mini donut making machine OR preheat the oven to 350 degrees if you are using a regular donut pan or making into muffins.
- In a large bowl, mix together the almond flour, baking soda and salt.
- In another bowl, combine the honey, oil, vanilla, lemon juice and eggs.
- Add the oil/honey mixture to the dry ingredients. Mix till just combined.
- Add about 2 tablespoons of batter to each mould in the donut machine or scoop the batter into a ziplock bag, twisting the other end to close it. Snip the end off of one of the corners with a scissors. Start with a small cut. You can always make it bigger if you need too. Squeeze batter into moulds.
- Close the lid and allow to cook for about 2 minutes. Times will vary with each machine. Open the machine and flip over each donut using the forked ‘skewer’ that comes with most machines. Close the lid again cook for about one more minute. Remove donuts and let cool on a wire rack. Repeat with the rest of the batter.
- If using a regular donut pan, fill each well-greased mould about ¾ full. Smooth the tops if needed and bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes, remove from the pan and cool completely on a wire rack.
- Makes 12-15 mini donuts or 6 regular sized ones (depending on how much batter you eat during the prep time.)
For the Coconut Caramel
- In a small-medium heavy bottomed sauce pan, bring the coconut milk, honey and salt to a boil over medium high heat, being sure that they are well combined. Reduce to a medium heat, and let the mixture boil down for about 35-40 minutes.
- Add the ghee and vanilla, stirring it in till well incorporated. Continue cooking for another 5-15 minutes or as long as needed until it is a deep caramel color. Don’t rush the process. Depending on how hot your burner is this process could be faster or slower. Stir often toward the end to keep the bottom from burning too much. A little burning is fine as long as you are stirring it in to the mixture. It will give it a darker flavor.
- Remove from heat, transfer to a bowl and let cool for 5 minutes then stir vigorously until it’s creamy, shinny and smooth.
- While the caramel is cooking, spread the coconut out on an ungreased cookie sheet and toast the coconut in a 325 degree oven. Stir often till golden, about 5-10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool.
- Mix the toasted coconut into the caramel minus a tablespoon or so for garnishing later. Use coconut caramel while still warm for best spreading results. Caramel can be made ahead of time(w/o the shredded coconut) and reheated in a double boiler.
These are sooo good! I substituted the honey with xylitol as I have to keep my sugar levels down, apart from that I followed the recipe exactly. My caramel was more like toffee (I think I cooked it a bit too long), but the taste was great. There was enough mixture to make loads of mini donuts. We had them for breakfast with an almond milk & raspberry smoothie, what a fabbie treat!
Thank you for another great recipe 🙂
Could you make these if you subbed out the eggs for something else?
(Maybe a flax egg, or ?)
Ty! 🙂 They look amazing!
After drooling over the photos of these heavenly treats, I attempted to make them. The Doughnuts turned out great- you don’t even need to dress them up, they are delicious. But my caramel didn’t turn out so well. It was fine and delicious until I added the butter and vanilla and then it separated and got lumpy- almost like a tapioca texture. I’m wondering if I cooked it too long? Any words of advice? I am planning to attempt it again this weekend. I was determined not to let all that time go to waste so I dumped the “caramel” into my vitamix and added some more coconut milk and whipped it up- turned into a butterscotch-tasting pudding, so not a total loss! I dipped the doughnuts in chocolate and dusted with the toasted coconut and they are very yummy. Thanks for any insight you can provide about my caramel issue…
Jacqui – It took me 2 attempts to make the caramel because mine separated as well. I think the reason my first batch didn’t turn out was because I had it too high and was stirring it too often during the first stage. The second time, I only stirred it a couple times and had it on a gentle rolling simmer for 35 minutes. I also melted the shortening before mixing it in and didn’t stir it constantly in the last 15 minutes of cooking (just stirred every couple minutes). The caramel came out perfectly the second time! Overall, these were DELICIOUS!!! I made them for my husband’s birthday and he was stoked! A little difficult to get everything timed correctly, but worth the effort!
These are great!!! Everybody I’ve made this recipe for has enjoyed the samoas and asked for the recipe. They can’t believe it when they see there is no wheat flour in it. I’ve used just the doughnut part of the recipe for cakes, muffins, etc. I just made blueberry muffins, and they came out great! I had to cook the batter a little longer.
I will definitely be making these soon, but in the mean time they were a perfect fit to my inspiration board today! i hope you enjoy my blog post as much as I have enjoyed finding your blog and this recipe!
http://christinaleighevents.com/blog/flattering-flop-friday-vol-7/
Kindly,
Christina
Christina Leigh Events
I made these today and they were incredible! Well worth the effort and the purchase of a donut maker! Jenni, you should put a link to these from the Recipes section of your blog so that everyone who visits your site can find these. They are too good to miss!
These look freaking delicious, but I really don’t see how they are paleo. Maybe there’s no dairy and no wheat flour, but beyond that, they aren’t very virtuous. I’m going to try them and I’m sure I’m going to like them, but I certainly won’t trick myself into thinking these are guilt-free.
Just made these on a test run for Thanksgiving and OMG THEY ARE AHHHHMAZZZZING!!! My family is going to go nuts!
for recipes like these, that require a good bit of honey, what kind of honey do you use? I usually have the raw organic honey but it’s not liquid so scooping out several tablespoons is a bit of a pain. i’m sure it’s worth it of course, just wondering what you use 🙂 Thanks!
i use raw honey too and just melt it a bit before i scoop it out
hi i love it is it gluten free
Yes