Swoonuts are a firm favourite in our household and are without a doubt the Swoon Food recipe I make most often!
If you don’t know what a swoonut is yet, the short definition is: a baked cake donut that’s dairy, gluten and refined sugar free.
Swoonuts have a lovely, melt-in-your mouth, cake-like texture and won’t go stale by the end of the day. They must also have a delicious flavour that glaze and toppings merely enhance, and if you choose to add any glaze or topping, it must also be applied generously.
Basically, swoonuts are everything a good donut should be, and proudly sit on the healthy side of the donut scale!
With Christmas approaching, I wanted to create a swoonut that embodied all the nostalgic flavours we associate with this time of year.
I thought about the spices and flavours found in traditional Christmas cake and Christmas spice cookies and came up with a delicious combination of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and cardamom, with a hint of orange and raw cacao.
For the glaze I used the beautifully fragrant combination of cinnamon and orange, with a little coconut oil for setting. The glaze has a lovely gloss to it and really doesn’t need any further toppings, but if you can’t help yourself then coconut flakes, pomegranate or freeze dried raspberries would all go nicely.
If you make these Christmas spice swoonuts, let me know!
Leave a comment below and tell me what you think, and be sure to tag your pictures #swoonfood on Instagram or facebook. Enjoy!
Christmas Spice Swoonuts with Cinnamon & Orange Glaze
Makes: 12 donuts
Prep time: 20 minutes Bake time: 10 minutes
Dry Ingredients
50g rice flour
50g buckwheat flour
50g coconut flour
50g ground almonds
50g coconut sugar
1 Tbsp raw cacao
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp cardamom
1/4 tsp nutmeg, ground or freshly grated
1/4 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp pink Himalayan salt
Wet Ingredients
2 eggs
100g coconut yoghurt
250 orange juice
3 Tbsp rice syrup, raw honey or pure maple syrup
3 Tbsp coconut oil, melted
Chocolate Glaze
1/4 cup raw cashews
1/4 cup coconut milk
1 Tbsp pure maple syrup, rice syrup or raw honey
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
pinch pink Himalayan salt
1 Tbsp raw cacao powder
Cinnamon Orange Glaze
1 Tbsp orange juice
1 Tbsp pure maple syrup
1 Tbsp coconut oil, melted
2 Tbsp cashew butter
1 tsp cinnamon
pinch pink Himalayan salt
Topping Suggestions
Freeze dried raspberries/cherries/mandarin/strawberry/blueberries etc
Desiccated coconut
Coconut flakes
Preheat the oven to 180ºC fan bake. Lightly grease a non-stick donut pan with coconut oil. If you don’t have a donut pan you can also bake these as muffins.
Place all the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl and stir until evenly combined.
Place all the wet ingredients except the coconut oil, into another bowl and whisk until combined.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until evenly combined. Add the coconut oil and stir well to combine.
Drop spoonfuls of donut mixture into the pan and spread evenly to fill the holes 3/4 full.
Place the donut tray in the centre of the oven and bake for 8 to 10 minutes. The secret to a good baked donut is not over-baking them – you want them to be just baked through so they stay lovely and soft on the inside.
The donuts are ready when they bounce back when lightly pressed.
Remove the donuts from the oven and allow to rest a few minutes before tipping them out onto a wire rack. They should come out easily, if not, try gently teasing the donut sides out while holding the tray upside down.
Allow the donuts to cool completely before drizzling with glaze and your choice of toppings.
Store the donuts in a sealed container at room temperature for up to 5 days, or freeze up to 1 month.
To make the cinnamon orange glaze: place all the ingredients in a small bowl and stir well to combine.
