Chocolate Glazed Spiced Pumpkin Donuts - Low Carb & Luscious

I am excited to share my new donut recipe with you this evening, as promised. I really love pumpkin...almost as much as I love cranberries...and that's a LOT! I decided that a pumpkin donut recipe was in order to ring in the "can't get here soon enough" upcoming fall season. These donuts just scream FALL! They are moist, pumpkiny, cake-style donuts that are spiced like a pumpkin pie. I decided there was only one logical way to adorn these beauties and that was with a "not too sweet" dark chocolate, luscious glaze. Besides the fact that it's a CHOCOLATE glaze...the dark black chocolate color gives these orange colored donuts a Halloween-like color scheme. Oh, did I also mention that I absolutely love these?

Glazes are usually pretty easy to whip up...but I assure you that nothing could be easier than this one! I kept it very simple by using a different type of baking chocolate that I picked up recently at Sprouts. Guittard chocolate has been around for years (about 145 years to be exact)...but my regular grocery stores don't carry Guittard baking chocolate, only their chocolate chips. Sprouts had several different varieties of Guittard baking bars to choose from. I picked up their 70% bittersweet bars (they come with three 2-ounce bars to a box). I'm so happy I gave these a try because when they are melted, they have a much thicker and richer consistency than melting other types of dark chocolate bars I've used before, which tend to get a bit thin when melted. 

I simply broke up 2-ounce bar into a small glass custard cup and heated it in the microwave for a minute or two (you can also melt it on the stove top instead if preferred), and then spooned and drizzled the thick melted chocolate over top of my cooled donuts. I sprinkled some of the donuts with chopped pecans after glazing. The combination of the pure dark chocolate on top of the moist spiced pumpkin donuts was amazing! It was even better than I could have imagined. I may never make another traditional glaze again...certainly not another traditional chocolate glaze! Even though dark chocolate does add a tiny bit of sugar (depending on what type you use and how much)...you could also melt sugar free chocolate (like Lily's chocolate that's sweetened with stevia) if you wanted, or simply use a higher percentage cacao chocolate (like 85-90%) for very low sugar. I am not going to lie...I had 2 donuts as my lunch today! LOL Yup...they are THAT good! 

This recipe makes about one dozen donuts. To experiment a bit, I made 6 donuts and 6 muffin tops to test how they worked that way, too. My donuts took 17 minutes to bake and the muffin tops took 15 minutes to bake. If chocolate isn't your thing, you could easily whip up a delicious little sweetened cream cheese frosting (beat softened cream cheese with sweetener, to taste, along with a few splashes of heavy cream and a touch of cinnamon). That would be delicious on these, too. I hope you enjoy these as much as I do. I will definitely be making these again...and soon (maybe tomorrow)...LOL. I snapped a few photos for you to see below as well as the recipe as promised. Enjoy!  

Chocolate Glazed Spiced Pumpkin Donuts

Ingredients:

1-1/2 cups blanched almond flour
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup ground chia seeds
3/4 cup confectioners style Swerve (or other powdered sweetener of choice)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup 100% pure pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
1/4 cup buttermilk
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons coconut oil (or melted butter)
1 teaspoon pure maple flavor, optional
1/2 teaspoon liquid stevia (or to taste), optional
2 to 3 ounces dark chocolate bar (preferably 70% to 90% cacao)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly spray or grease a 6-cavity donut mold pan with either coconut or olive oil spray and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the almond flour, coconut flour, ground chia, powdered sweetener, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves. 

In a separate bowl, whisk together pumpkin, buttermilk, eggs, vinegar, coconut oil and maple extract. Add wet mixture to dry mixture and combine until a thick batter is formed. If a little additional sweetness is desired, add stevia, to taste.

Spoon batter into prepared donut pan and fill almost to the top. Use fingertips lightly moistened with water to smooth and even out batter. Bake for approximately 16 to 18 minutes or until done. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes. Flip onto wire rack and allow to cool completely. 

To glaze donuts, break chocolate into chunks and place in a small microwave safe bowl and heat in microwave on high for 20-30 second intervals, stirring after each until melted, about 1 to 2 minutes; stir until smooth (or melt chocolate on stove top in a double boiler). Drizzle or spoon melted chocolate over donuts and let set (allow chocolate to cool slightly to thicken up a bit to keep from running off when spooned or drizzled). If desired, sprinkle glazed donuts with chopped nuts before chocolate sets completely. Makes approximately 10 to 12 donuts.