One of my all time favorite candies growing up were Almond Joys. There was always something about the combination of sweet coconut, crunchy almonds, and decadent chocolate that just spoke to my soul.

Then this whole health conscious thing took over my brain and the ingredient label acted as some sort of supernatural repellent that shielded me from putting one in my shopping cart. Really, it burns my hand when I try, it’s the weirdest thing.

So after that happened, my only option was to figure out how to recreate as many desserts as possible that mimic such combinations in a healthier form.

The problem is, since my blog is geared toward healthy recipes, creating desserts has started to become a real pain in the arse. Desserts that are loaded with sugar, white flour, butter and heavy cream are so much easier to make attractive but to create something that is actually healthy and still tastes good is damn near impossible. Eventually, failure after failure left me feeling depressed and defeated so I threw in my beater and ran for the hills. The hills of Berkeley, to be more specific; better known as Cinnaholic.

Luckily, the memories of disaster started to slowly seep from my brain and I worked up the courage to try again. So I made cookies. Almond Joy Cookies.

Apparently cookies are a little easier to make healthy because the first time I tried, they turned out great. #score

Instead of using grains, I used almond meal from Trader Joes {which you could easily make at home by grounding up raw almonds with a food processor} and coconut flour. I also used almond butter and a touch of coconut oil in place of regular butter.

Dare I say this recipe is even Paleo friendly?

Regardless of classification, you would never know they are made without grains, dairy or refined sugar. The texture is thick and chewy, and they are full of chocolate, almond and coconut flavor.

Just what the doctor ordered.

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Side note: Although these were inspired by Almond Joys, they don’t have the artificial almond/coconut flavor that is characteristic to the candy. Adding 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract and 1/2 teaspoon of coconut extract in place of the vanilla would probably imitate that flavor if that’s what you prefer.

I’m off to get ready for another one day weekend, woo hoo! I have to work again on Sunday and then I am not doing another six day work week for at least another month. Thank you Jesus.

Have a great weekend y’all and I’ll see you soon!

I think something is wrong with me. Okay, I know a lot of things are wrong with me but I mean, I think something is wrong with my senses.

For some reason I have overlooked the marriage of pumpkin and chocolate until now. Whenever I would look through recipes or shop at the store, I always passed up anything with that combination. I guess I’ve always thought pumpkin was best paired with things like cinnamon, maple or cream cheese. Chocolate just didn’t fit in the pumpkin file of my brain.

Well, I don’t know what the heck I was thinking; they are incredible together!

I based this recipe off of my chocolate chip yogurt donuts and used the same flour combination but subbed the yogurt with pumpkin puree instead. There were a few comments on that recipe regarding the challenges of finding quinoa flour so I did a little experimentation and tried replacing it with brown rice flour and then sorghum flour. Both of them were no bueno. So the moral of the story is that quinoa flour is a must here. I know it’s expensive and it can be hard to find, but if you want a recipe that’s gluten-free, nutritious and doesn’t use a bunch of starches and gums, then you have to bite the bullet and gettcha some keeenwwahh flour.

Oh, and if you don’t have a donut pan then I highly recommend you invest in one of those too. There are just way too many amazing recipes for baked donuts floating around the internets these days not to have one.

I have to admit, as much as I loved these donuts, they’re not the prettiest. They’re a little holey and my chocolate drizzle is all over the place. But you know what? My pie hole thought they were gorgeous. Every last little moist, pumpkin, chocolately crumble. So I’m sharing them anyway.

Baked Pumpkin Donuts with Chocolate Icing {gluten & dairy-free}

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Ingredients

• 1/2 cup oat flour
• 1/2 cup quinoa flour
• 1/4 cup coconut flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 2 whole eggs
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
• 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate Icing

• 1/3 cup chocolate chips (use vegan chocolate for dairy-free version) + 2 tablespoons almond milk

Makes 6 donuts

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and grease the donut pan.
2. Combine dry ingredients (from oat flour to pumpkin pie spice) in a medium size bowl and sift together.
3. Combine wet ingredients (from eggs to vanilla extract) in a separate medium size bowl, adding the coconut oil last.
4. Stir half of the 1/3 of the dry mixture into the wet at a time until well combined. Stir just until combined, being careful no to over-mix.
5. Spoon the batter into the donut pan and bake in the oven for approximately 20 minutes.
6. To prepare the icing, melt chocolate with the almond milk for 30 seconds at a time, until it’s melted and thin enough to drizzle on top. Allow donuts to cool for several minutes before icing.

Similar to the chocolate chip donuts, these are dense with a cake-like texture. They can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days but they are best when eaten within twenty four hours.

I entered the ingredients MyFitnessPal to see how many calories were in one of these puppies and it came out to 231 per donut! Not too shabby. Plus, they have 7 grams of protein {as much as one egg} and only 7 grams of sugar. They’re practically guilt-free.

Okay, I think this miiiigggghhhtt be it for the pumpkin recipes. I said might.

Do you like pumpkin and chocolate together?