Carrot Cake Donuts with Coconut Glaze

If you’re looking for an insanely delicious dessert, look no farther than these carrot cake donuts with coconut glaze!

They’re filled with pineapple, oats, carrots, and enveloped with warming spices and baked to perfection. They're so delicious, they'll disappear!

How to make carrot cake donuts

Featured Ingredients

• Carrots: Not only do carrots bring a beautiful sweetness and a good deal of moisture to these donuts, they’re also loaded with health benefits! They help stabilize blood sugar and promote good digestion. And, yes, they really are good for your eyes! One large carrot can provide more than 200% of the daily value of vitamin A. And vitamin A isn’t just good for your eyes, it’s also a great for promoting lung and skin health.
• Eggs: When you grab farm fresh eggs locally, or grab organic eggs, you’ll be amazed at the difference! The shell won’t necessarily just be white or brown, quite often you’ll find some with a pastel blue or green hue. Things are brighter on the inside too – the yolks are more yellow, and the whites are whiter. Also, because of the hen’s natural diet, farm fresh eggs tend to have lower levels of cholesterol, less saturated fat, and an increase in vitamins.

• Milk: Feel free to use dairy milk, nut milk, or unsweetened oat milk in these donuts!
• Vanilla Extract: If you’ve never made your own vanilla extract, you should try it! It’s incredibly simple to make, and the end result is rich and full of flavor.
• Oat Flour: If you don’t have oat flour on hand, simply process old-fashioned oats or even quick cooking oats in a food processor or spice blender. One cup of oats will yield one cup of flour. To store, keep in an airtight container in your pantry or cupboard.
• Spices: In addition to the cinnamon and nutmeg, you can add in other warming spices like ground ginger, cloves, cardamom, or even a touch of ground star anise!
• Cream Cheese: If you don’t have regular cream cheese on hand, Neufchåtel cheese would be a fabulous substitute.
• Coconut Milk: If you don’t have coconut milk on hand (and you don’t feel like running to the store) almond milk or unsweetened oat milk would swap in really well.

Equipment Needed:

• An oven.
• Donut pans.
• A stand mixer with the paddle attachment or a mixing bowl with a hand mixer.
• Measuring cups and spoons.
• A small microwave-safe bowl to melt the butter.
• Two to three medium mixing bowls.
• A whisk and a spatula.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coat a donut pan with cooking spray.
2. Place brown sugar and melted butter/oil in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Whisk together until combined. While mixer is running, add the egg, milk, pineapple and vanilla extract until combined.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together oat flour, rolled oats, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg until combined.
4. While mixer is running, add dry ingredients into wet ingredients and mix until combined. Fold in the grated carrot.
5. Fill donut cups with donut mixture, pressing it down into the cup with the back of a spoon and filling to the top, leaving a hole in the center. Bake in preheated oven for 12-13 minutes, until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool slightly, then transfer donuts to parchment paper and allow to completely cool.
6. While donuts bake, whisk together cream cheese, coconut milk, powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Place in the refrigerator until donuts are cooled. Coat donuts with glaze, sprinkle with toppings and allow to dry.

Recipe Substitutions and Alterations

• Flour: This recipe works with whole wheat pastry flour, whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, oat flour or gluten free all-purpose flour.
• Crushed pineapple: You can take canned pineapple rings or diced pineapple, and process it in a mini food processor.
• Carrots: If you don’t want to grate the carrots by hand, you can fit a food processor with a shredder disc to make quick work of getting the carrots to the consistency you’re looking for.
• Add-ins: You could add in raisins, dried cranberries, or your favorite dried fruit for a little extra zing in these donuts. Also, you could add in chopped walnuts, almonds, or pistachios to the mix.

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• Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread
• Coffee Cake Muffins with Cinnamon Streusel
• Blueberry Upside-Down Cake
• Pumpkin Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
• Mixed Berry Crumble Muffins

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