Ever since I found out I’d become lactose intolerant, I’ve been on the hunt for a lactose free doughnut recipe. It’s one of the things I really miss, and haven’t been able to buy pre-made or in a packet mix! I’ve tried cake mixes piped into doughnut tins, and while it is tasty, it still wasn’t quite “right”.

Well, I stumbled upon this recipe a few weeks ago on Pinterest, and I thought it would be perfect for my dear friend Lisa’s birthday. You see chocolate is one of her favourite food groups (along with lollies), closely followed by veggies!

Now you might be wondering what this has to do with doughnuts? Well the chocolate and lollies is easy to understand, but the vegetables? The secret ingredient is…… Kidney Beans!

I know it sounds strange but trust me it works! It’s a rich dense doughnut and you can’t taste the beans at all. Now the original recipe is vegan and it can be found here on Sina’s blog, but I’ve modified it a little to use lactose free ingredients in place of some of the ingredients that I couldn’t find here. I also substituted the hazelnut topping for hundreds and thousands (or sprinkles for those of you overseas).

Sina has very generously allowed me to repost her recipe here with my few alterations and Australian conversions:

Ingredients

• 1 420g can red kidney beans
• 1 cup almond milk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup cocoa powder
• 1 cup self-raising flour
• 1 150g bag of Sweet Williams chocolate chips (or your choice of vegan or lactose free chocolate)
• 4 tablespoons hundreds and thousands

Method

1. Rinse and drain the kidney beans. Place them into a blender together with the brown sugar, almond milk, and cacao and blend until the mixture is smooth.
2. Then transfer it to a medium bowl and stir in the flour and vanilla extract. Spray the doughnut pan with cooking spray or grease it with lactose free or vegan spread.
3. Either use a spoon to fill each doughnut or fill the batter into a Ziploc bag and cut off one edge.
4. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius and bake the donuts for 9-11 minutes. Allow to cool down in the pan for a couple of minutes, then move them to a cooling rack.
5. In the meantime, make the chocolate glaze. Melt the lactose free (or vegan) chocolate either by using a microwave or place the chocolate into a heatproof bowl and place it over a pan of barely simmering water. Once melted, cover the doughnuts with the chocolate and sprinkle with hundreds and thousands.

The birthday girl and I have enjoyed snacking on these doughnuts, the recipe made 12 doughnuts plus a few extra mini-cupcakes. Make sure you visit Sina’s page for the full and vegan version of this recipe, it’s a great site!

Happy cooking,

Meagan x