Homemade Donuts (Coconut Flour)

Thanksgiving is coming up this week and we will be gathering with my family in Michigan.  One of the things I miss most about living in Michigan in the fall is the Cider Mills.  The one we frequented when I was younger had walking trails through the beautiful fall foliage alongside streams.  We would walk and then wait in line while watching the fresh cider being pressed, smelling hot donuts.  Mmmmm!  We would order cider and donuts, which were handed to us hot in a paper bag with the grease seeping through.  So, in anticipation of our cider mill trip and me wanting a healthier, low sugar, gluten-free, grain-free option, I decided upon making and bringing my own.

I successfully experimented on the kids and Donnie this morning, and as always forgot to take a picture before cutting them in half to serve them (so they could try multiple).

What was left when I remembered to take the pic!  Cinnamon sugar, toasted coconut and chocolate glaze with sprinkles.

I just purchased Norpro donut pans here and received them yesterday.  I adapted the recipe from comfybelly.com, which has great recipes using coconut flour and for those on SCD diets.  Since I'm mainly doing grain-free, gluten-free, and trying to reduce my sugar (even honey) intake, here's my recipe:

Vanilla Coconut Flour Donuts (or cupcakes)

Ingredients (makes 6-8 donuts or cupcakes):

• 1/2 cup of coconut flour
• 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
• 6 eggs (I often use liquid egg whites for lower calories and convenience)
• 2 Tablespoons honey
• 2 Tablespoons Xylitol 
• Stevia equivalent to 1/4 cup of sugar
• 1 tablespoon of vanilla
• 1/2 cup of unsalted butter (coconut butter, coconut oil, or regular oil will work as well)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Blend all the dry ingredients together in a bowl.
3. Blend in all the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
4. Mix until well-blended.
5. Fill donut pan circles about 2/3 of the way full with batter.
6. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Toppings

Toasted Coconut:  Dip donut in some warm honey, then into toasted coconut. 

Cinnamon Sugar:  Mix: 1 Tbsp sugar (I used 1/2 xylitol, 1/2 sugar) and 1 tsp cinnamon into a small tupperware container.  Put warm donut in and shake to coat.

Chocolate glaze:  I made a glaze of water, powdered xylitol and unsweetened cocoa powder, then topped with sprinkles that I had around the house.  It came out runnier than expected.  Next time, I think I'll try melting some dark chocolate to dip them in.

The kids and Donnie all LOVED the donuts.  I loved that they had less about 1 tsp of honey each (not including the toppings, which adds a minimal amount and none if using xylitol), 1 egg each and about 4 grams of fiber.  I hope you enjoy them too!

Muffins without the Muffin Top!

Okay, so these are not muffins without tops, these are muffins that don't add to your muffin top (the fat roll that bulges over one's waistband).

We had our first fire of the season last night and it is feeling very fall-ish.  With fall in mind, I baked some pumpkin bread today using coconut flour (my new favorite thing).  I found this recipe about a month ago and have been enjoying muffins and bread.....a lot!  As I mentioned before, I have gluten allergies and my body doesn't seem to like grains very much, so I haven't had bread in quite a long time.  My husband could eat the same thing everyday and be happy, however I love variety with my food and get awfully tired of protein and veggies at every meal.  Sometimes, I just want something bread-like, especially with eggs in the morning.  So, I was excited to find this recipe.

Coconut flour is fiber from the coconut meat after most of the oil has been extracted.  It is high in protein and fiber and often used in low carb diets.  BEWARE.. coconut oil cannot be used as an equal replacement for wheat flours as it has very different properties.  I encourage you to try these muffins to see how it can be used, then you'll be able to find a ton of recipes online calling for coconut flour.  I bought my coconut flour here, at tropicaltraditions.com (see pic below), but Bob's Red Mill brand can be purchased at health food stores and even some grocery stores.  While it seems expensive, you use much less than wheat flours, so it goes a long way.  The recipes also call for a lot of eggs as the binding ingredient, which provides even more protein, making these great for breakfast on the go.  You won't feel the blood sugar drop that you would get from the typical carbohydrate-laden breakfast muffins.  If you're not used to a high fiber diet, start by eating only one muffin at a time to allow your body to adjust and see how you respond.  My body does better with these than many of the high fiber products out that use chicory root or inulin to increase the fiber content.

Coconut Flour Muffins

Ingredients:
6 eggs
1/4 cup butter or coconut oil*, melted
1/4 coconut milk* or whole milk
6 Tbsp honey (I reduce this and use stevia to make up the difference for less calories and sugar)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder*
1/2 cup coconut flour, sifted

Directions:
Blend all wet ingredients together.  Combine baking powder, salt and coconut flour and stir into the wet ingredients.  The coconut flour will absorb the liquid making a thick batter.  If too thick, add 1 tbsp of liquid at a time until a thick batter.  Pour into well greased muffin pans or pans lined with foil liners (the muffins tend to stick too much to paper liners).  Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes, until center springs back when touched.  Makes 12 muffins.  You can also bake in a loaf pan for 40 minutes.

*If on the specific carbohydrate diet (SCD), use: coconut oil, coconut milk (or replace with any liquid) and substitute the baking powder with 1/2 tsp baking soda and 1/2 tsp lemon juice to make the muffins gluten and casein free.

Options:

• Pumpkin bread/muffins - add 1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree, 1-1/2 tsp cinnamon, 3/4 tsp nutmeg and 1/4 tsp cloves.  
• Blueberry Muffins - add 1 cup fresh berries (if using frozen, thaw then pat dry) and 1/4 tsp almond extract.
• Lemon Poppy seed bread or muffins - omit vanilla and substitute with 4 tsp lemon extract.  Sprinkle with poppy seeds before baking.
• Lemon or Orange cake - omit the vanilla and use 4 tsp lemon or orange extract.  For a "glaze", simmer 3 Tbsp lemon (or orange) juice and 2 Tbsp honey for 10 minutes until thickened.  Allow to cool, then pour over loaf.
• Apple muffins - Add 1 cup of chopped apple, plus 2 tsp cinnamon (or to taste).

To calculate nutritional info, try this website to enter the recipe/ingredient variation that you used.


 

64 ounces....Are you kidding me?

I'm a water drinker... no ice, no lemon.  So, you're supposed to drink 2 ounces of water for every pound you weigh (the non-mathematically inclined just suggest 64 ounces).  That is a lot of water!  My kids aren't big water fans.  In addition, I try to watch their sugar intake, so they don't really drink juice, we don't have pop in the house and that certainly eliminates kool-aid.  We also avoid artificial sweeteners, so what are the options?  I have found some fun alternatives to water boredom and the kids LOVE them!  Our first experiment was with Root Beer flavored stevia.  Stevia is a natural sweetener extracted from the leaves of the stevia plant.  It is WAY sweeter than sugar, so you use very little of it.  It can have a bitter taste if you use too much. SweetLeaf brand has flavored liquid stevia sold in dropper bottles.  We have Chocolate, English Toffee, Vanilla Creme and now Root Beer.  The kids love the Root beer with some of the Vanilla creme (12 drops root beer, 4 drops vanilla for a 12 ounce cup of water).  In fact, they brought it in their water bottle to school the first time they tried it and were talking about how their water tasted like a root beer float.  Their friends thought they were crazy, so I had to send taster cups with them the next day for them to try!  We use the chocolate in coffee, tea, and oatmeal, the vanilla and english tofee with cottage cheese and fruit, or mixed with fruit for a pancake topping. 

After that was a success, I found Stevita brand had powdered, flavored stevia, so I bought: cherry, lime and grape.  It tastes like kool-aid without the super sweetness.  We're enjoying cherry limeades often these days.  I get both of the stevia products at vitacost.com, which offer it cheaper than the health food stores that sell it. 

I've gotten Donnie hooked on it now for his coffee.  It started with him discreetly carrying around a small dropper of plain liquid stevia.  It was a bit bitter for his taste alone, so he would still add some sugar to balance the flavor.  It was great for reducing the amount of sugar he put in it (a ton!).  Now, I have him using Xylitol in place of the sugar (another healthier option, also at vitacost.com) and he started using the chocolate stevia instead of the plain.  So, he looks like a real food snob when he dresses up his coffee, pulling dropper bottles and shakers out of his backpack.  I will admit that I've brought some along in my purse to jazz up the water at restaurants, too!  Both brands have a bunch of other flavors that I look forward to experimenting with.   Endless possibilities!!