Vegan Chocolate Coconut Doughnuts (Baked, not Fried!)

There are nights when dinner is over, and you are sitting there having this internal conversation with yourself. You know..."that was good, I won't need dessert. I'm perfectly satisfied." Five minutes later: "Hmm I wonder if that ice cream I bought last week is still in the freezer..."(just an fyi, the answer to that is always a resounding NOPE.) Five minutes later: "Well maybe I'll just look and see what we have." Five minutes after that, you realize you have nothing sweet in the house and panic mode sets in. At this point, you MUST have dessert. These doughnuts are SO easy to make, and they don't have a long baking time, so it's a win-win situation. And...you could always substitute ingredients for things that you have lying around in your pantry.  Regular sugar instead of coconut sugar.  Any non-dairy milk instead of almond milk.  Applesauce or actual eggs instead of flax eggs. You get the picture.

These are delicious, and actually not too sweet, even with the sweetened coconut! Consider panic mode over.

Dry ingredients:

2 cups cake flour

¾ cup coconut sugar

½ cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder (make sure to check for milkfat…it shouldn’t have any!)

1 tsp. baking powder 
1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp salt 

Wet ingredients:

1 cup unsweetened almond milk

2 flax eggs**

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 tbs. coconut oil or vegan butter, melted
1 tablespoon agave nectar

Cooking spray (for pan-I used Trader Joe's coconut oil spray) 

Topping:

Agave nectar

Shredded coconut, sweetened 

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 325°. 
2. Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl. 
3. Mix the wet ingredients in a medium bowl.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until combined.
5. Spray two doughnut pans with cooking spray. Fill the wells with the batter.  It may be a bit thick, but that's ok!
6. Bake for 12-14 minutes (or a bit longer depending on your oven).  Doughnuts are done when you touch them and the provide some resistance instead of poking your finger right through.
7. When the doughnuts are done, let them cool slightly. Take them out of the pan (you may need to loosen them a bit with a spoon.) Place them on a wire rack or a plate.
8. Brush the tops of the doughnuts with a little bit of agave nectar. Generously sprinkle each doughnut with coconut flakes. I practically covered the tops of them!
9. Gently press the coconut down so it sticks to the agave.  Some may fall off, but that's ok...they will still look beautiful and taste great!
 
**Flax eggs:
-Ground flax seed and warm water can act as a binder just as an egg would! Take one tablespoon of ground flax seed and mix it with three tablespoons of warm water. Let the mixture sit for five minutes until it thickens and gels together a little bit. This is equal to one large egg! It is a great way to make lots of baking recipes accessible for vegans.  And it's really fun to experiment with even if you aren't vegan, because you can just say you did it and you're awesome. :)