Guest Blog by Lauren Lobley
As a former pastry chef turned certified health coach and healthy chef, I wish I could tell you that my sweet tooth suddenly turned off when I turned up the volume on all the healthier food.
It didn’t. With a continuously raging desire for sweets, I have spent the last 5 years creating and crafting healthier versions of some of my favorite treats. Because you only live once, and life without chocolate doesn’t sound like living to me.
That said, it’s important to me to keep things as healthy as possible. With a history of poor gut health, I am very protective of what goes into my mouth. And now that I am a mother of two young children, I am even more protective of what goes into their mouths too.
I kept my now 4 ½ year old daughter, Madison, away from sugar until she was about 3 years old. I finally broke down and let her have a piece of birthday cake at a friend’s birthday party. I felt like I had been training for this moment since she was born, though. How? Well, I’m glad you asked:
Up until that point, I always let Madison eat dessert. I just made sure it was dessert that I had made. Translation? It had no refined sugar, no dairy, no dairy, and in many cases, no eggs (though we are not an egg-free family). My hope was that when she tried the refined sugar versions, she might not be as interested.
I wish I could tell you it worked, but sadly, Madison dug right into that sugary birthday cake and begged for more (which I kindly declined). That said, she still loves any dessert that I give her, and to me, that’s a win!
One of my favorite desserts to make healthy is donuts!
They remind me of my childhood (especially at Halloween when my mom would go and get a box of Halloween themed donuts from the local Dunkin Donuts), and I wanted to find a way to make them healthier.
Since I started using Just Thrive Probiotic, I have noticed an incredibly positive difference in my gut health. And upon reading further up on the product – and realizing I could bake with them without destroying their beneficial bacteria – I’ve been adding them to everything: including my donuts!
If you’re looking for a donut recipe – without refined sugar, dairy, gluten or eggs – that tastes amazing and has the added benefit of gut health supporting probiotics... here it is:
Probiotic Chocolate Donuts with Dark Chocolate Drizzle
RECIPE
- 1 ⅓ cups coconut sugar (you can also use Swerve or Monk Fruit or another sweetener)
- ½ cup white rice flour
- ⅓ cup all purpose gluten free flour blend
- ⅓ cup potato starch
- 2 tbsp arrowroot or tapioca starch
- ½ cup cacao or cocoa powder (one is raw, one is processed - whatever you have will do!)
- 2 Just Thrive Health probiotic capsules (powder)
- 1 ½ tsp aluminum free baking powder
- ⅛ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp himalayan pink sea salt (or whatever salt you have on hand)
- ¼ tsp guar gum (you can also use xanthan gum but I prefer guar because it’s not synthetic)
- ⅓ cup melted coconut oil
- ½ cup organic apple sauce (unsweetened)
- ¼ tsp vanilla
- ¼-½ cup hot water (depending on how thick your batter is)
DIRECTIONS
*Note: You’ll need donut molds to bake the donuts.*
Preheat oven to 325F (350F if your oven isn’t super hot, which mine is not).
- Melt the coconut oil in the microwave or over low heat on the stove. Set aside.
- Place all the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Mix using a whisk and your hand to get the clumps out as you combine the ingredients (baking powder and soda, cacao/cocoa powder, and coconut sugar tend to be clumpy, so be sure to get those clumps out).
- In a separate bowl, combine all the wet ingredients except for the water. Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Add ¼ cup hot water. Mix with a spatula. If the batter is too thick, add another ¼ cup hot water. It should pour like cake batter. Stir to combine.
- Fill your donut molds to about ⅔ high. You can use regular sized donut molds or you can get mini sized donuts molds (these are great for little kiddos).
- Place the donut molds on a sheet pan as you don’t want the donut pan to be directly on the oven racks. Bake the donuts for 8 minutes, then turn the pans and swap shelves in the oven, and bake for another 7-8 minutes, or until firm. Remove from the oven and let them cool in the pan for about 5 minutes before removing them from the molds.
- Now it’s your turn to get creative! Decorate your donuts any way you’d like! My favorite thing to do is to melt down a 3.5oz sized bar of 85% dark chocolate with a teaspoon of coconut oil over a double boiler, and then drizzle the chocolate over the donuts.
You could also consider sprinkling the chocolate drizzled donuts with chopped nuts of your choosing, chocolate chips, sprinkles, shredded coconut or anything else you can think of! If you’re a parent, consider making it a fun activity to do with the kids!
Enjoy :)
ALSO: If you're looking for more recipes from Lauren Lobley, you can find them at www.delectableyou.com or visit her YouTube channel for cooking videos. She will also be posting new recipes up on her new website, www.themomfeed.com, so be sure to check that out too. Follow her adventures in cooking and mom life on Instagram @laurenlobley and @themomfeedpodcast
