Paleo Blueberry Donut Holes

Blueberry donut holes: an absolute classic in any donut hole variety box (and one of my personal favs). This Paleo donut hole recipe is almost just as good as the “regular” ones!

Homemade Healthier Donut Holes!

Since being diagnosed with ulcerative colitis last year, I’ve been on a mission to:

1. Heal my autoimmune disease through food.
2. Create fun recipes that allow me to do this!

Even though traditional donut holes might be off the table for me to continue healing, recipes like this one are what keeps my inner foodie thriving! These donut holes are crispy on the outside, fluffy & moist in the center, and have just the right hint of fruity sweetness.

I’ve also found that these healthier, low sugar donut holes actually (yes, actually) fill me up! There’s no crazy sugar crash since each donut hole has less than one gram of sugar, and these paleo donuts are full of healthy fats from the almond flour and coconut oil.

Baking with Monk Fruit

Most of the sweetness in this healthier donut hole recipe comes from monk fruit. Monk fruit has quickly become one of my favorite paleo sweeteners to bake with. It’s not as dense or viscous as honey is, and it behaves more like granulated sugar in recipes.

I mostly use monk fruit for cakes, donuts, muffins- pretty much anything that needs to have a light & fluffy texture. Speaking from experience, using honey as a sweetener in recipes tends to weigh it down a little more than using a “dry” sweetener would.

Although monk fruit is not confirmed to be “legal” on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, I’ve found that it’s one of the Paleo foods I can eat in small amounts when I’m not in a ulcerative colitis flare! Luckily, its much sweeter than regular table sugar so you don’t have to use as much to get the same flavor. Monk fruit is also considered to be a healthier swap for sugar since it doesn’t have any effect on blood sugar/ insulin levels. Recently, its become a tried-and-true staple in my pantry for baking.

• Link: “How I Started Adding Non-SCD Foods Back into My Diet”

• Link: “My Pantry Staples”

Freeze-Dried VS. Fresh

Using freeze-dried fruit in my recipes has become one of my new favorite trick to incorporating fruity flavors into desserts. Here’s why!

• Fresh fruit is mostly water. While this is typically a good thing, it also makes fruit incredibly hard to bake with. The amount of water that will come out of the fresh fruit while it bakes is almost impossible to predict. Especially if the fresh fruit is in a cake, muffin, or donut, the LAST thing you want is a dense, soggy texture!
• Using freeze-dried fruit helps the dessert last longer. This also kind of goes bake to the idea of extra water. When a food has a greater amount of water in it, it is more prone to spoilage organisms that thrive in high moisture environments!
• Freeze-dried fruit can be more evenly distributed. Take a fruit cake for example: all of the heavier fruit pieces always seem to gather towards the bottom of the cake while its baking (hello gravity!). But I’ve found that using freeze dried fruit- which is much lighter compared to fresh fruit- stays pretty evenly distributed throughout the dough!

How to Make Paleo Donut Holes:

Step 1: Combine the almond flour, coconut flour, tapioca flour, baking soda, baking powder, monk fruit, and cinnamon. Stir well.

Step 2: Add in the egg, melted coconut oil, and vanilla extract. Mix until a thick dough forms. Then mix in the freeze-dried blueberries.

Step 3: Stir in the freeze-dried blueberries. Scoop out the dough with a tablespoon, roll each ball of dough lightly between the palms of your hands to smooth.

Step 4: Place the balls of dough on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake!

Step 5: Melt 1/3 cup coconut butter with 3 tbsp. coconut oil and a squeeze of honey to make the “glaze”. Once the donut holes have cooled slightly, carefully dunk each one into the coconut butter glaze. Place back on the parchment paper to finish cooling & enjoy!

What You’ll Need:

Print