Vegan Galaxy Donuts

It all started off in my final presentations week at Matthew Kenney’s Raw Vegan Culinary School (mention my name for 20% off any classes!)  I wanted to create something so out-of-the-box that even a raw vegan culinary superstar like Matthew would be impressed (and those are big expectations to live up to!)

I searched and scoundered through thousands of recipes and knew I wanted to create something 

1. Colorful
2. Spiritual
3. Artistic

to really capture me in a dish. Obviously I really put a lot of thought in this.

To make things more difficult, everything had to be raw vegan and plant-based. That means no artificial food coloring, no baking, no sugar, flour or eggs. So basically everything that goes into a regular cake was out of the picture. However, leave it to me to figure out.

After a week of blending potential donut mixtures, messing around with superfood colors, trying everything I could to create a raw-vegan frosting that could actually create the galaxy effect, I finally got it together.

I found that:

• Coconut flour was the perfect ingredient to bind together the donut-mixture, while also keeping it raw, ketogenic, and paleo (triple win!)
• Cashews are super imperative to the creaminess of the frosting, as my attempt to just mix coconut oil and Lakanto monkfruit sweetener came out super grainy and didn’t have the texture to swirl
• Too much coconut oil in the dough will make it sticky and taste more like truffles than donuts. The cashews naturally release oil when blended.
• Maple syrup or other liquid-based sweeteners work best in raw vegan desserts
• Never doubt the magnificent color of superfoods

There are several ways you could make this recipe but I’ve found this to be the most balanced and pleasing to all types of tastebuds and dietary restrictions.

Ingredients

• 1.5 cups raw cashews (NOT soaked)
• 3/4 cups coconut flour
• 1 cup Lakanto maple syrup to make it sugar-free (use code SAHARA for 20% off your order)
• 2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground vanilla
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 2-4 tbsp lukewarm water (as needed for blending)

• 1 cup raw cashews, soaked overnight
• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• 1/2 cup Lakanto maple syrup to make it sugar-free (use code SAHARA for 20% off your order)
• 1 tsp ground vanilla
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• ¼ tsp sea salt
• 2-4 tbsp water (as needed for blending)

• 1 tbsp beetroot powder for red
• 1 tbsp blue spirulina powder for blue
• 1 tbsp turmeric for gold

Instructions

1. In a high quality food processor blend the cashews, spices and coconut flour until it becomes a really fine flour with no lumps left.
2. Add the Lakanto maple syrup and water to processor. Continue blend until it becomes a soft dough.
3. Transfer to a large mixing bowl and begin to mix and "knead" the dough with your hands. It should feel stucky and clumpy- not too wet and mushy or dry and crumbly. If it's too dry, add a bit more water. If it's too wet, add a bit more coconut flour.
4. Take a small handful of the mixture and roll it in your hands like pizza dough, creating a long tube. Shape the dough into a circle, pressing the edges together so they stick. You can wrap them around a silicon donut mold if you need help shaping them.
5. Freeze the donuts as you mix together the icing ingredients.
6. Blend together the icing ingredients from the cashews to the water, leaving out the colors.
7. Once you've gotten your mixture, taste for sweetness and make sure it's good for you.
8. In small containers, combine 3 tbsp of the icing mixture with 1 tbsp of the food colors; beetroot powder in one container, blue spirulina in another and turmeric in another.
9. Now is time to get the galaxy effect! Take a large mixing bowl and spoon on 1 tbsp of each of the colored icings, side by side.
10. Use a tooth-pick to slightly mix the colors together, creating swirls.
11. Remove your donuts from the freezer and one by one, dip them in the mixing bowl of colors. If you've ever tye-dyed a shirt, this is a similar process of marbling. The donuts will take on whatever color you dip them in.
12. Continue adding and swirling in colors into the mixing bowl as you dip the donuts to keep the swirls looking clean. I like to dip my donuts in different parts of the bowl for different color variations.
13. After dipping, refrigerate or freeze so the color can set. The donuts taste best slightly cooled.
14. Enjoy your out-of-this-world plant-based, raw-vegan, ketogenic, paleo donuts!

Sprinkle with Lakanto golden as glitter and pair with star-shaped dragon-fruit and homemade blackberry jam for an even for galactic effect!

Make sure you check out some of Sahara's delicious raw, vegan recipes on her blog Eat Feel Fresh!!