Chocolate Coconut Doughnuts

I've had doughnuts on the brain lately. With Suzy Q's opening up around the corner from my place, and the endless Twitter chatter about their delicious doughnuts, they seem to be constantly in the back of my mind these days. 

For a long time, I've been intending to recreate Tim Horton's elusive toasted coconut timbit (or doughnut hole for those unfamiliar with Tim's) for a friend. A chocolate timbit covered in glaze and toasted coconut. They're very tasty but it's rare to come across them anymore. I'm not even sure how many times she's told me how much she loves those things. This weekend's get together seemed to be as good a time as any to surprise her with them. I pieced together a couple of different recipes in my attempt to recreate these treats. 

Baked Chocolate Doughnuts

from Milk & Honey

makes 10 to 12 doughnuts

• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup dutch-process cocoa
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
  
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 4 tablespoons canola oil

Preheat the oven to 450F and coat two doughnut pans liberally with cooking spray.

Stir together flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Add the egg, vanilla, and milk and stir together for 1 minute. Add the oil and continue to whisk until just combined. 

Fill each cavity in the pan almost to the top with batter. Bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until the donuts spring back when lightly touched. Cool completely before glazing.

Honey Sugar Glaze

adapted from Not So Humble Pie

enough to dip 10-12 doughnuts

• 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2-4 tablespoons milk or water

Mix sugar and honey with just enough milk or water to get the consistency you want. With this kind of glaze, it's always better to start with less liquid. Once you get too thin, it's hard to get it back to where you want it to be.

Dip the doughnuts in the glaze, place on a rack (if you have one) to let the excess glaze drip off, and immediately top with toasted coconut. Let them sit at least an hour to set up before storing.

 

 

I think I got these to turn out just the way I wanted them to. The glaze ensured the coconut  stuck to the doughnut without turning them too sweet. I was happy to see that the glaze actually got crusty and wasn't sticky. Sounds gross but that was exactly what I was looking for it to do. It made handling and transporting them that much easier. 

I don't think I'll be putting Suzy's or Tim's out of business anytime soon but these are a good, easy to make, substitute in between. 

Do you spell it doughnut or donut?