HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!
Today is the day! I’m excited to come home tonight, because Tim is planning a valentines night surprise for us! I made him a little somethin-somethin, and I want to give it to him too. This Sunday I am planning to surprise Tim with my own surprise plan for the day and I hope it turns out to be a success because I heard we might be getting piled on with snow Saturday night (which is when the gang is going to see Black Panther!! Sooo excited for that too. We wanted to go for the premier night tomorrow night, but its sold out at the movie theater we want to go to). What special things are you doing for Valentines day? Anything romantic or fun with your lover? Or perhaps you are just remaining low and going home to enjoy a relaxing night with your fine self? Either way, may I suggest a delicious dessert you can prepare for yourself relatively fast and easy to top your night off with?…
Chocolate Kidney Bean Gluten Free Donuts!!
What better way to say I love you than CHOCOLATE! I went searching the other day for a chocolate recipe of some sorts. And I came across these donuts by VeganHeaven, and decided to try making donuts sort of for the first time ever. I bought a donut tray and began baking, with kidney beans! Who would have thought these beans would add a fudgey texture when baking with them? Super cool! Because beans are a very healthy addition to your diet if you arn’t already eating them daily. There are studies that show some of the longest living people on Earth eat on average 1 cup of beans a day. And they are super cheap! There are a good amount of nutrients found in Kidney beans specifically, but they are mostly well known for their source of fiber, manganese, protein, potassium and B1. Fun fact, they are toxic to us when digested raw, so make sure to grab a canned of cooked beans, or better yet, cook them yourself from dried kidney beans so you can be 100% sure you are getting the best quality (not some beans that have been sitting in questionable liquids in a metal can for months and months…). You could also make this recipe non-gluten free like the original recipe, but why bother when the gluten free option maintained form without any issues?
Happy Valentines Day Everybody! Remember to cherish those you love, family, friends and significant others <3
Ingredients
- Donut Tray (preferred!)
- -
- 1 Can - Kidney Beans
- 1 Cup - Almond Milk
- 1 tsp - Vanilla Extract
- 1/2 Cup - Coconut Sugar (or other kinds of sugar like brown or cane sugar)
- 1 Cup - Cocoa Powder
- 1 Cup - Multi-Purpose Gluten Free Flour (I used Bob's Red Mill)
- 2 tsp - Baking Powder
- -
- 4 Tbsp - Dark Chocolate (to melt, I use Taza's chocolate discs or Whole Foods dark chocolate baking chunks)
- 2 Tbsp - Maple Syrup
- Small Handful - Roasted Hazelnuts, chopped or crushed as toppings (or other nut of choice)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350F.
- Open, rinse and drain your kidney beans and add them to your high powered blender with the milk, vanilla extract, sugar and cocoa powder. Blend until it turns into a thick paste.
- Transfer to a bowl and add your flower and baking powder. Mix thoroughly.
- Spray or oil down your donut tray, and add the batter to a zip lock baggie. Once everything is in there, cut only a tiny corner of the edge of the bag and squeeze the batter into your donut shapes in a circular fashion. Fill only to the top of the line, no need to go overboard.
- When the batter is all used up, place your donut tray into your oven and bake for 10 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when poked.
- Meanwhile, bring a small pot of water to boil and place a larger heat safe bowl (thick glass preferably) on top so that the bowl rests on the rim of the pot and does not touch your water. When the water begins to boil, place your chocolate inside the bowl so that it can melt from the steam (this way you wont burn your chocolate!). Add your maple syrup (to taste) and stir together well (to give the chocolate some sweetness so it is not so bitter by itself).
- When your donuts finish baking, take them out of the oven and let them cool for a few minutes. Pop each one out of its mold, and pour the melted chocolate overtop and your crushed nuts as toppings.
- Enjoy cooled or warmed, either way they are delicious!
Notes
Feel free to add different kind of toppings too, maybe some sprinkles, or dried raspberries for valentines day! These keep well in the fridge for leftovers throughout the week:)