Pumpkin Cream Donut Sandwiches
Well, that’s a mouth full.
I’m back in Colorado! Thank gosh. I love California, I love visiting California, I love being in California, but Colorado is home. Colorado is my love and the place I love to be the most. I won’t be saying that come winter, but whatevs. But the next few months will be tough since I will be traveling for most of it. I have 3 cities to go to in October, so my thankfully my room will finally be clean and organized. I have Pittsburgh, California, then Boston on the agenda. I need to get a frequent flyer credit card. Like, asap.
So California, as I’ve mentioned a couple times, is where I’m working on a little secret project. That’s so annoying. I feel annoying even writing it. But I’m really, super excited to tell you about it, really really really soon. But anywho, my project included lots of cooking and eating. So much eating. I also got to hang out with some amazing bloggers like Vanessa from Clean Eating with a Dirty Mind and Kelly from The Spunky Coconut, so you can imagine the amount of food and food talk. You can’t? Well, it’s an annoying amount. I didn’t know that I could get sick of talking about food. Turns out, I can. But Vanessa fed me chocolate molten cakes and mimosas for lunch, so I was able to shut my brain off due to insulin spikes. That doesn’t even make sense, but somehow it does in my brain. My sugar brain. Then we had Pumpkin cider. More sugar brain. But the molten cake was by far the best thing I’ve ever eaten. Seriously. To die for.
On my instagram, I posted some of my sugar brain treats. First was mimosas in mason jars. I didn’t explain what they were, just that I wanted to get Friday drunk. And people thought it was melted butter, melted ghee, and/or urine. Yep. You caught me. Friday’s I like to drink my own urine. What are you thinking, people? After a while, I just took the picture down. I didn’t want people to think I was drinking urine on a Friday afternoon. That’s for Tuesdays, obviously. I also posted an up-close and personal picture of chocolate molten cake. To any chocolate lover, it looks exactly like that. But to a weird brain, it looks like a blood clot or a flesh wound. Like…what? What you lookin’ at fools? I about died eating that thing, but it didn’t not cause a flesh wound. I assure you.
Moving on.
Even though I was in California working away, there was no way that I was going to miss New Girl and The Mindy Project. If you’ve read my blog before, you know I’m obsessed. You need to be obsessed with it, too. If you don’t like those shows, that’s weird. Real weird. But the more I watch these shows, the more I notice that I cannot do anything except stare at the screen while the show is on. Makes sense, right? Well, I’m a big listentothetvinthebackground kind of person and half pay attention to the shows. But that’s not ok when it comes to these two shows. There are WAY too many good one-liners. But Mindy Project took the cake on season premiere night. When James Franco said that ‘the ear is the clitoris of the head.’ When did clitoris become an ok word to say on national television?? You can’t be mad that I just talked about a clitoris if they’re allowed to say that in front of children watching that show. I mean, I highly support it. And if you think about that statement, it’s kind of, well actually totally true. Talking about sex organs is funny and makes people nervous. I love things that make people nervous.
My mother would be so disappointed right now. Sorry, mom!! I love you!
Ugh. Now I’m disappointed in myself.
PrintPumpkin Donut Cream Sandwich Cookies
- Yield: 8 1x
Ingredients
For the donuts
- 6 dried medjool dates, pitted
- 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
- 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
- 4 eggs
- 3 tablespoons coconut flour
- 1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- pinch of salt
For the cream
- 1 (14 ounce) can of coconut cream OR coconut milkrefrigerated over night*
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
For the chocolate
- 1 cup Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips, melted
- 3 tablespoons coconut milk/water
Instructions
- Place dried dates in a food processor and pulse to break down.
- Add pumpkin puree, melted coconut oil, and eggs to the food processor and puree until smooth.
- Add coconut flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, ginger, baking powder, and a pinch of salt and puree once more.
- *To make the donuts easy to pour and keep them a round shape, place donut puree into a plastic bag or pastry bag, cut the end off of the plastic bag so you can squeeze to mixture in a circle in the donut maker. If you are using a donut pan for the oven, preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Heat up a mini donut maker, grease the donut maker maker or pan, and use the bag to squeeze about 2 tablespoons of the mixture into each donut round.
- In a mini donut maker, cook for 5-7 minutes. Times will vary with the different donut maker. If you are using a donut pan, cook for 20-25 minutes.
- Remove donuts once cooked through and let rest and cool on a wire rack.
- Once cooled, place in refrigerator for about 10 minutes. (the donuts will be easier to work with once they are a bit harder).
- While the donuts cool, in a bowl, remove the coconut cream that sits on top of the coconut water (keep the coconut water for later) and whip together the coconut cream with a fork or whisk. Then add maple syrup and cinnamon and mix well. Place cream in a piping bag or plastic bag and then cut off the end.
- In a bowl, melt chocolate chips and coconut milk/water that was left behind from the coconut cream via a double boiler or in a microwave.
- Cut the donuts in half, carefully. On the bottom donut, pipe on the cream around the donut then place the top donut half on top of the cream. Then finish the donuts off by dipping them halfway into the melted chocolate.
- Place donuts on a parchment lined baking sheet and into the freezer to harden the chocolate.
- Once chocolate has hardened, eat up! Yields 8 mini donuts.
Notes
*I’ve found that Thai Kitchen full fat coconut milk is the best when it comes to coconut cream and water separating. But I have also seen coconut cream in a can at Sprouts and Trader Joe’s. So if you can find that, buy that instead!!
It’s Pumpkin Season!
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
______________
Click Here To Get All My PaleOMG Recipes Into Your Meal Planner With Real Plans!
I may be compensated through my affiliate links in this post, but all opinions are my own. This compensation helps with expenses to keep this blog up and running!
Oh, Hi! I’m Juli.
DON’T MISS A BITE
discounts, and stories straight to your inbox for FREE!
126 thoughts on “Pumpkin Cream Donut Sandwiches”
I literally looked at the picture and drooled. Flipping heck that looks amazing!
Could you make these into muffins with the cream in the middle as I (shockingly) do not have a donut maker?
Have you ever tried the whole30? If so, how did you feel reincorporating maple syrup/honey into your diet?
I can’t wait to try this when I’m done the whole 30!
absolutely!! just not sure how long they would need to bake for. and as for whole30, i was fine bringing back sugar but I definitely didn’t crave it as much
I don’t have a donut maker. But I have a donut pan. I got it from Michaels. It has 6 molds in it so a dozen takes just a touch long but totally worth it and not as expensive as a donut maker.
Genius. Now I just need a donut maker
This looks amazing and I have a donut maker. I did want to ask tho. When a recipe calls for medjool dates, are they for texture or just used as a sweetener. If they are used as a sweetener, can you sub for another? Thanks.
texture and sweetness. so they are definitely needed in this recipe
OMG OMG OMG Need this in my life. LOL
This looks amazing and I have a donut maker. Can’t wait to make these. I did have a question tho. When a recipe calls for medjool dates, are they used for texture and sweetness or just sweetness? If they are used for just sweetness, can you sub for another kind? Thanks.
Texture and sweetness!
We don’t tolerate dates. Any ideas for a substitution?
You could use prunes
They look to die for! No flour of any sort in them?
coconut flour!
You can’t fool me. I printed it out before you corrected it to add the coconut flour 😉
hahaha damnit
*cries* I cannot continue to live without a donut pan… or this recipe in my mouth… but all the pans are made with teflon “non-stick” coating, which could kill my bird if overheated (toxic fumes that birds are extremely sensitive to).
Does *anyone* know of any stainless steel / ceramic / cast iron / paper donut pans available on the market?!?
What about silicone? I can’t vouch for this product; I just found it by Googling:
http://www.amazon.com/Freshware-6-Cavity-Savarin-Silicone-Baking/dp/B004G43WAQ
I do have silicone muffin cups, which I love.
Thanks for the suggestion, Alyson — I forgot about silicone, but it’s out too for potential toxic fumes (no definitive reports, but anecdotal evidence on some bird forums I frequent… sudden deaths after removing silicone bakeware from the oven).
Sheila. the last time I looked on Amazon I didn’t see any cast iron donut pans… guess I’ll have another look!
I danish doughnut pan is cast iron. Find it on Amazon.
I got mine at Michaels. In their baking section
Ahhhh! Amaazing. I can’t wait to make these!
Juli, are you coming to Pittsburgh for a book signing? If so, where and when? Would love to come see you. I made about 10 paleomg recipes this weekend-no joke! Having a great time making and testing them all….so far so incredibly yummy! Especially the pumpkin ones. I am slightly-ok completely-obsessed with pumpkin as well 🙂
no, just doing some work out there with some friends! next book I do, I will definitely be coming out there for a book signing, though!
i can’t find those dates anywhere – can i use honey?
you should be able to find them on the same aisle as prunes and dried fruit ( at Walmart and Kroger stores in my area).
no you need dates. but you could use figs or prunes, as well. they serves are textures, as well as sweetness.
I’m definitely making these but step number 4 for the donut pan directions are cut off. How long on 350 degrees?? Thanks for the awesome recipes!!
20-25 minutes, it says a couple lines underneath! 🙂
Woah woah there’s cream in these things? and chocolate dipped? That sounds amazing Juli. Welcome back and thanks for the recipe! And the clitoris mentions! (It’s such a funnnnny worrrrrdddd)
I am continually amazed by how you even know how to START making stuff like this. If you told me I had to figure out how to make donuts, I’d laugh. You, on the other hand – you just do it! And we are all grateful!!
★★★★★
haha thanks kate!! it doesn’t always work out, that’s for sure
What do you do to keep your recipes from crumbling? People would normally use guar gum or xanthan gum, but recently, I’ve noticed that less and less are using this ingredient. What can we do instead?
mine never crumble so I’m not really sure what to say….
Huh?
I’m guessing the amount of coconut oil to be used is 1/4 cup–and yay!! No overly fancy shmancy ingredients. Making these very soon!!! Thank you, Juli 😀
yes! sorry about that, changed it!
I’m in Pittsburgh! Are you doing an event here or something?? I’d love to come out and see you if you are!
no ma’am. just doing some work out there with some friends!
Yes Pittsburgh!!!
Pittsburgh!! Are you doing a book signing?!
no, just doing some work out there with some friends!
Is there an ingredient missing from the donuts? That sounds way to wet to make a dough.
no, nothing missing. the coconut flour thickens it up but it is definitely more of a wet dough
these look amazing!!!! another reason why we love our donut pan 🙂
I have a donut pan, and I am so going to try these! BTW, I am new to your blog and just wanted to say that I love your sense of humour! Can’t wait to read more!
thanks Fiona!
Oh my, WOW!!! Those look like S’Mores! I have to try!
New Girl and The Mindy Project–YES! And of course, these donuts! Thank you very much.
wow, these look good! I don’t have a donut maker, but I do have a whoopie pie pan. Think I could use that and make whoopee pies instead of donuts?
I’d think so!
PITTSBURGH!! Please fill us in =) Many members of my box are huge fans of you, your blog, and cookbook!
Oh holy hell. This is happening.
Hahaha you’re freaking hilarious. You’ve heard it before, I know.
★★★★★
Do you think this would work as muffins, kinda like hostess cupcakes? Too lazy to obtain a donut pan
Yeah! Just don’t know the baking time
Could I use protein powder instead of coconut flour?
That should work!!
When are you coming to the ‘burgh?? Please stop in CrossFit Athletics in Southside for your WOD fix!! We’d love to have you 🙂 Is it weird if I told you that you could stay with me? Yea I guess it is. Haha! If you have any questions about Pittsburgh, let me know!
in 2 weeks! i’m staying with some friends (I have no idea where they even live in pittsburgh) and not sure if I’ll have time to workout. but i’ll keep that gym in mind if I have time!!
I 2nd coming to visit Crossfit Athletics. We’re awesome! 😉 We’d love to have you visit!
Silly question. If I need these immediately and I don’t have a donut pan/maker you think it would work in the waffle maker? Maybe??
i can’t see why not since a donut maker is the same as a waffle maker, just a different shape. worth a try.
then I will just have to force myself to try them. Waffle maker, as muffins… I’ll just go crazy 😉 Thanks!
Can I use pumpkin pie spice instead of the nutmeg, cloves and ginger??
Absolutely!
I love Mindy Kaling. Total girl crush
YUM!!!
★★★★★
O….M…..G….!!! So trying these this weekend!!!!!
do these have to be done in the donut maker or can you do them on the stove in a deep enough skillet?
i’m sure it would work in the oven!
Holy crap. That’s it–I am buying a doughnut pan tonight. I can no longer resist the siren call of your doughnut recipes, Julie. I am going to MAKE ALL THE DOUGHNUTS!
I’m the one that posted the comment about the drinks looking like urine. Of course I didn’t actually think it was urine. But when a photo is posted that can be interpreted oh-so-many ways, you have to be prepared for snarky responses. 🙂
Yum! Also lately I have been seeing everything with weird ingredients I don’t have, so thanks for making something with stuff I have on hand!!!
We love you in Pittsburgh. Can we plan a meet and greet?! Again, we love you in Pittsburgh!
maybe! i’ll have to see what my schedule looks like!
Do you watch Girl Code, Juli? If you don’t watch already, you should.
I never have!! What network is that on
MTV. You can watch online
ARE YOU KIDDING ME WITH THIS RECIPE?!! I’ll be making these on Saturday after my very long run and will devour all of them – and not even feel bad! It has become a tradition for me to eat your donut and/or waffle recipes after my long runs. It’s all I think about over those 24 miles. THANK YOU for being so awesome!
Sorry I weirded you out with my blood clot reference. It’s a side effect of working in the medical field. Everything looks like a bodily fluid after a while. 😉
Hi Julie:) These look amazing! I do have a question about the Coconut Milk. I have tried to refrigerate a can before when trying the Chocolate Mousse recipe and it did not thicken up! Do I open the can or keep it closed? Thank you so much!
try using thai kitchen coconut milk
If I have to substitute dates for prunes, how many would I use…I know that the prunes are a lot smaller.
probably 8
yep, definitely have to make these. bring on the pumpkin!
Wow! These look amazing. My wife is a huge fan of donuts and likes to eat them as a special treat so i’ll definitely be making these for her as a present! Thanks for sharing.
★★★★★
yeah, sooooo everything looks great, except my cream filling, is a liquid…is there some sort of trick here?
I am using TJ’s canned coconut milk (though it doesnt separate milk:water)
my mixture is currently in the freezer to try to do some kind of panna cotta hardening trick
These look to die for. Also, I cant stop laughing at your comment on your IG pictures. I follow you and saw all those comments and I was thinking the same thing! a bunch of people holding ghee on a friday night?? REALLY? smh
Ok, well reading your blog is like watching Mindy Project. Seriously. I’m laughing just as much, and not like a I’ll smile a little funny, like laugh out loud funny. (refuse to type LOL). Thank you for that and the amazing recipes too.
You are just too charming. Thank you for inspiring me to eat so well all the time. You’re like that hilarious sassy gf that cooks for me that I wish I actually knew! <3
★★★★
My roomie and I have devoted our entire saturday to these (Post-CrossFit of course), except we are going to make them as cupcakes and hollow out the middle to fill it with coconut cream.
Any suggestions since we are doing it this way? Love your crazy only-child paleo self, girl! Reminds me of me 🙂
i would just recommend filling them half way in the muffin tin and putting frosting on top or just cut the muffin in half and put the cream in the middle!
Welcome back to Colorado. How do you like how freezing it is today? (:
You’re right about The Mindy Project, it’s my new favorite show.
This recipe is awesome! It was a big hit in my house.
I don’t have a donut pan, so instead I put the batter into mini muffin tins. After they were cooled, I cut them in half, spooned a little cream in the middle and dabbed a bit of chocolate on top.
So yummy! Using the mini muffin tins also makes it easier to dole out small snack-size portions as finger food for parties/events. 🙂
★★★★★
Jennifer, how long did you bake them in the mini muffin tin?
I made them this weekend with a donut pan….FABULOUS!
So the coconut milk will whip firm? I couldn’t find coconut cream:(
you need a coconut milk that will separate from the water when placed in the fridge overnight. that’s how it will whip up
These are wicked awesome! Went great with my coffee today!
★★★★★
Made these tonight with a couple twists. Couldn’t find a donut pan so used a mini muffin for donut bites. Also bought a can of coconut cream and it was more jell like consistence instead of cream like, so we dipped the bites in it and it was like a glazed donut hole! DELICIOUS!
★★★★★
how long did you bake them in the mini muffin pan
I put them in for 10-12 minutes. As soon as they passed the toothpick test. Next time I am going to try a little longer to see if they get a little more golden brown.
I made these and they are amazing! I don’t have a donut pan, but I do have a pan that makes little animal muffin shapes and it worked great. I doubled the recipe and ended up with enough batter to make 8 animals and three waffles. One of my kids loved the cream-filled chocolate-covered version, and another of my kids loved the waffles w/ maple syrup (my other child doesn’t like pumpkin. He’s weird 🙂 Another cool thing is that I had leftover cream and chocolate so I just combined them into mousse. This recipe made for a delicious weekend!!
★★★★★
Hi juli!! What kind of donut maker do you have? I do not have one I just have pans but honestly thinking about getting one. I have seen them at bed bath and beyond. Just curious!! Your awesome!! And please come to Kansas City!! My box rocks!! 🙂
i honestly have no clue. it doesn’t say on the donut maker. i just got it at the thrift store!
Just made these again but this time used a tbsp of Nikkis pumpkin donut coconut butter in place for one tbsp of the coconut oil. Also added a liitle of th pumpkin donut coconut butter into the melted chocolate. These donuts get berthed every time I make them. Txs for a great recipe.
★★★★★
Made these and they were a huge hit! THANKS!
what kind of mini-donut maker do you have?
thanks!
no clue. i got it at a thrift store
For the coconut cream, do I need to use the whole can of coconut milk (cream on top and water below), or just the cream and save the water for something else?
no, just the cream on the top! save the water for something else
By far the best paleo treat I have made so far, everybody LOVED these!!
★★★★★
What a great recipe. Made 11 mini donuts which were very well received by the 11 people at work who got to test them out and had some advocating for a higher test quota on the next batch. Thanks for having such an awesome blog
Just made these and they are awesome, I drizzled the chocolate on top so every bite had a taste. I used a donut maker and everything came out perfect. Going to share these at the gym this a.m …after the W.O.D of course!
Thanks for sharing
★★★★★
is there is a difference between “coconut cream” and “coconut cream concentrate” can they be used interchangeably?
Thanks!
Yes they are different. Coconut cream concentrate is coconut butter. Coconut cream is the cream that settled on the top of coconut milk
I made grown men cry with these donuts! I made noises the whole time I ate them. I could not believe how easy they were!
FYI..Coconut cream from TJ’s is just coconut milk. Also I had refrigerated the thai kitchen brand, for days actually, and there was no separation, cant count on that happening for this recipe.
These were absolutely amazing, you made my weekend! THANK YOU!!! I used Thai Kitchen coconut milk and both cans separated just fine (although I have seen it not work in the past as well, I think it just depends on the can you get).
Hey Juli! What is the coconut cream that you use in this? I have seen it listed for a couple of your recipes and cannot find it anywhere. I found some on Amazon that’s called Native Forest Organic Premium, but it’s $17.45 for a 5 oz can. Is that the right stuff?
coconut cream is what you find in full fat coconut milk when you refrigerate it over night and the cream separates from the water. so you can scoop it out like cream from the can
Since coconut doesn’t agree with me, what can I use as a substitute for coconut flour, oil and cream? Also, I am allergic to eggs. Can I use the egg substitute ENER G Egg Replacer? Sorry for not rating this recipe. Maybe I can if I can find a substitute. Sounds great.
I have no clue. That’s changing the recipe completely. Sounds like it’s just not the recipe for you
This might be a silly question, but for those who don’t have a donut maker.. could you make it in a waffle iron?
not sure! i don’t see why not though, it’s worth a try! waffle sandwiches!
I wanted to know if I could replace the pumpkin with sweet potato? Not a huge pumpkin fan.
that would work!