Horchata Coconut Lime Donuts

Photograph courtesy of Photography by David L. Clark

Let's talk about donuts...or, as David says, let's just eat them, forget about talking about them.

I am a little bit obsessed. I got a donut pan for Valentine's day because we decided that we were going to make homemade donuts a family tradition for all of the holidays. I didn't think that it would be like, a weekly tradition...Actually this week I've already made them twice.

These particular donuts were made for a Mexican themed potluck that we went to on Monday. I really wanted to take donuts, and I love experimenting with flavors so I was like hmm, what are some good things that you find on the hispanic aisle at the store? Lime...check. Coconut...check. But it needed something special. Horchata...check!!! Technically the horchata wasn't vegan, it had caseinate in it, but I had two hours to prep 2 dozen donuts, fry a ton of chips, and make pico de galo, guacamole, and puree some beans. Otherwise I would have made some myself...

Here is my proudly self derived recipe for 1 dozen, these are baked so they require a donut pan:

Donuts

• 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 cup vegan sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 1 tablespoon lime zest
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup horchata

First, preheat your oven to 350º. Measure out your horchata and add the vanilla, lime juice, and lime zest. Put all of your dry ingredients in a bowl or stand mixer and mix until completely combined. Add in the wet mixture and mix until very well combined, no lumps. It should look pretty smooth and be a little sticky, like a halfway point between cake batter and muffin batter. Grease a donut pan and spoon in the batter until it is level with the hole punch in the centers. Bake for 15 minutes. Cool on a rack for at least five minutes before dipping in glaze.

Glaze

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon lime zest
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 2 tablespoon horchata

Measure sugar and zest into a bowl, add liquids one tablespoon at a time and mix with a whisk or fork until smooth. If it gets too runny add sugar, or if it's too sticky add more liquid. It should be smooth enough to gently dip a donut in and drip off, but not run off.

Topping

• 1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
• 2 tablespoons cinnamon

Put coconut flakes in a frying pan and toast on medium heat until golden brown. Add in the cinnamon and toast for another minute. Remove from heat to a separate bowl/plate.

Once the donuts have cooled 5-10 minutes dip them tops up into the bowl of glaze, then into the coconut and then place back on cooling rack with some sort of pan underneath to catch the drips. Let set for about 5 minutes and eat the crap out of them. :)