Coconut flour is easy to bake with, and if you have a nut allergy, it is a great gluten-free substitute for nut flours like almond flour. It’s low in carbohydrates and high in fiber.
I purchased my latest batch from Tropical Traditions, however coconut flour is showing up all over the place. Bob’s Red Mill also offers organic coconut flour.
I finally received the donut baking pansI ordered from Amazon, and so far, I like love them. I can now make full-size, cake donuts with a myriad of flour types. This recipe is for vanilla donuts using coconut flour. This recipe can also be used to make vanilla cupcakes – no alterations necessary.
About the donut pans Now that I’ve used them for a while, I’ve found that the non-stick surface becomes a bit sticky (I think the non-stick coating wears off after a while). I’ve had to grease the pan before adding the batter (shortening, butter or coconut oil will do the trick), and I also a bit of care in pulling them out – I nudge them from a couple of corners before lifting them out of the pan.
Tip If you use the donut pan that I mention in this post, this recipe makes 6 big donuts, so double this recipe if you have two pans. It also makes 6 slightly smaller donuts if you want to spread the batter out a bit more.
Comfy Belly
Coconut Flour Donuts
Ingredients (makes 6-8 donuts or cupcakes)
- 1/2 cup of coconut flour
- 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
- 6 eggs
- 1/2 cup of honey (or other liquid sweetener)
- 1 tablespoon of vanilla
- 1/2 cup of unsalted butter, melted (coconut oil, or regular oil will work as well)
Method
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Blend all the dry ingredients together in a bowl.
- Using a whisk, or mixer on a low setting, blend in all the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
- Mix until well-blended.
- Fill donut pan circles about 2/3 of the way full with batter.
- Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Honey-dipped, toasted coconut topping
Warm a few tablespoons of honey in a saucer (I put it in the microwave for about 10 seconds). Toast some coconut flakes for about 5 minutes at 300 degrees F. Dip each donut in the honey and then in the toasted coconut.







This is the basic recipe I use for Peanut Butter cookies using dry roasted peanuts and organic peanut butter (rather than coconut butter). They make a cake-like breakfast cookie since I make them about baseball sized and cook for 12-15 minutes at 325 degrees.
Delish!
Does coconut flour taste like coconut? I’m not a huge fan of coconut, but wasn’t sure if the flour was similar to almond flour in the sense that it doesn’t really taste like almonds.
Gina, suprisingly it doesn’t taste like coconut. If you use coconut oil or coconut butter though, it will start to taste like coconut. The coconut pancake recipes don’t taste like coconut either (in my opinion).
Good to know! Thanks Erica!
Those look very very scrumptious! I’ll have to look into a donut pan of my own
Can you make these without a donut pan? What modifications can I make so I don’t have to purchase another pan?
Saja, no modifications are necessary. Just put the batter into the mold of your choice. They make great vanilla cupcakes as well.
Erica, Thanks so much for this site! I make your recipes all the time. My husband has Crohn’s disease and started the SCD diet 3 months ago. His health has improved tremendously!! I made the Coconut donuts last night and they are wonderful! Thank you so much!
Hi Michelle! Great news. I’m so happy for both of you. Best wishes.
What a great idea! I have tried other forms of flour, but wasn’t aware of coconut flour. I’ll add it to my pantry. Thanks for the sub of nut flours. We have a toddler so nut flours are not an option for us just now. Cannot wait to try these
YUMMY!! I am in love with all things COCONUT and also I’m in love with your “food philosophy” and enjoy your blog. Thanks for sharing!
Looks lovely! Thanks for sharing and I look forward to reading more of your blog soon!
These donuts are scrumptious! I tweaked the recipe somewhat by using 3 eggs & 3 egg whites in order to reduce the fat and saturated fat content. A definite recipe keeper!
I’m baking today, and was looking for a coconut flour donughnut recipe. I’m making this today, and will let you know.
I am thinking of making a variation of these for my son’s birthday~He is also sensative to eggs… do you think that my current substitute would work? Gelatin in hot water to make a egg like substance…=-)
Hi Melinda. It’s an interesting idea, but I don’t know if it will work. Maybe someone else has tried it and can let us know.
you can use ground flax seeds and water to sub eggs, many recipes for this on the net!
Thanks Nikki!
I am new to your site and really excited to find it!! I made these little treats and they were good. I didn’t have a donut pan but used a mini muffin pan (12 minutes). My only questions was should the butter be melted? I used soften butter and whipped the heck out of it. Oh so tasty!!! Thank you.
Yes – much easier to melt or soften the butter
. Thanks for adding that, and I added it too.
WOW! Now I think I’m going to be obsessed w/doughnuts! I want to try these. Just so you know the link for the baking pans on your choc honey doughnut page didn’t work… nor did the link to print these coconut flour doughnuts. I can obviously print the whole post… not a problem, just wanted to let you know.
Your pictures look fantastic. Do you use an SLR or a semi automatic 35mm camera? Natural lighting or special lights?
Uh. The links work for me. Even the print button? Weird.
thanks! SLR, and mostly natural lighting. Let me know if the links still don’t work – I checked some and fixed some.
Erica,
I made the choc version of these this weekend and had ordered the pans, so used them to good results. You do have to really oil the pans, and it seemed to me that there is a just-enough amount of batter to put in, otherwise the donut shape grows a ridge! Of your 3 donut recipes, which do your kids like the best? The almond flour ones or the coconut flour ones? I have a 13-year-old gluten-free donut lover I’m trying to please.
He liked the choc ones, but didn’t give them raves.
Hi Penny – my favorites are the chocolate coconut flour donuts, but we all vary here. My kids prefer the plain or vanilla coconut donuts. My husband eats all of them. I guess everyone has there favorite.
Have you ever tried to freeze these to store them? Would it work?
Well, I couldn’t wait to try them. They taste amazing!! I’m on SCD and have really been struggling trying to avoid nuts, so this is thrilling! Next time I’m going to try to put some cocoa butter in to sub for some of the butter: chocolate donuts, anyone?
I added a TBspn of cream and then cooked them in mini muffin tray. Then drowned them in choc ganash.
A big hit with the 2yo!!!
haks for the recipe!!!
KL
ooops that should read ‘thanks’
ok, I was wondering if that was an acronym I hadn’t heard of
im really trying to stay away from honey due to the high sugar content. is there something else i could use in its place. btw i love you website! thanks, kapu
Maybe maple syrup, or add additional water with a dry sweetener such as stevia. I haven’t tried it though.
Dextrose=Glucose=Corn Sugar is the only sweetener I can use. It is definitely available at health food stores and beer-making supply stores. Then you can use as little or as much as you want.
I made this today, thanks! They tasted good. They tasted more like cupcakes than doughnuts, but since I hadn’t had any dessert for a month now, they were great anyway. I whipped some lactose-free sour cream with some honey too, and served them together. Here’s a pic.
Thanks for the picture
These are amazing as cupcakes, but I haven’t tried them as donuts yet. I was wondering if anyone has tried a variation to these other than vanilla and chocolate, such as blueberry donuts. I’m hesitant to try because of the added moisture and was hoping someone had experience or advice.
Thanks!!
Has anyone tried frying these like normal doughnuts?
These are so yummy! I don’t have a donut maker or pan, so I’ve only made them as cupcakes. The first time I made them, I only had half of the vanilla I needed, so I also used orange extract. The result reminded me of a cake my mom used to.make- yellow cake mix with orange juice instead of water. So, I made these again last week for a party, and I only used orange extract. They were a hit!
I omitted the baking soda, since we are on GAPS, but they were still great (probably just a little shorter and denser than they would have been with it).
I frosted the cupcakes with this chocolate deleting recipe, and they were just perfect: http://realfoodforager.com/recipe-chocolate-icing-gaps-paleoprimal/
That was frosting, not deleting!
I am so disappointed! I tried to make these (I even was couragous enough to TRIPLE the batch). Well they are terrible, like…beyond terrible!!! What could I have done wrong!? I followed the recipe exactly!
They batter didnt blend well, it is all separated. But I tried baking it anyway, they are dry but greasy all at the same time. They dont have a pastry consistency in any sense of the word. They are so gross! Help!
sounds like you forgot the eggs
I have the same problem with coconut flour recipes. It isn’t just forgetting the eggs. Something else is going on. I use so many eggs that all I taste is eggs at the end (pancakes today with 1/4 cup coconut flour and 4 eggs!) with cooked squash, and I still had that nasty grainy texture that I associate with coconut flour. What brand do you use? I’m starting to think it’s just MY coconut flour that sucks, or that I need to let it set and absorb moisture for a while? To give you an idea, I tried to use it to thicken creole once, and it just made it gritty.
My favorite brand is Tropical Traditions. I haven’t tried many others, but I find TT brand to be very fine ground.
I just made these this morning, using half coconut sugar and half honey. They were a little thick, so I added some almond milk. Just wondering how thick the original batter is? Mine was pretty thick.
I have a feeling that if you use coconut sugar (which is dry) with this recipe you’ll probably need to add a bit more almond milk since honey adds quite a bit more moisture.
Any idea how to make these pumpkin donuts? How would I compensate for the puree?
Not offhand. I would have to test it. I’ve been thinking about it, but I’m just too tied up with the book. I might try it next week.
Best donuts/cupcakes I’ve tried yet. I purposely cover the “hole” in the donut pan. When cool, I either frost or fill with pudding or pie filling. Very versitile. Quite spongey like a twinky! yes, like a twinky! Could even “inject” white frosting into a muffin. Like a HoHo!!!!! When measuring coconut flour, DONT pack. Lightly spoon into measuring cup. THanks a bunch!
how funny! Thanks
Dont forget to add 1/4t. nutmeg for that donut flavor!
Your donut looks so yummy! However, when I made these they came out way too moist. I put the batter in mini donut molds. They ended up tasting more on the egg side. They were super moist tho on the bottom half of the donuts where they touch the pan. It’s almost like all the liquid sank to the bottom. Why could this have happened?
I am going to bake this in a 4 inch diameter ramekin to make a mini cake. Has anyone done this? Thanks