Today on Valentine’s Day, the reddest and pinkest of days, I give you orange.
Clearly I was not baking with Cupid in mind. That was yesterday, complete with plenty of pink.
Today is about using oranges to their fullest potential: inside donuts.
I had spare oranges and bananas I wanted to use, and it would have been tot easy to simply just eat them.
So instead, I started combining ingredients in a bowl, hoping that the finished product would be a productive use of my extra produce (product-productive, use-produce; there’s a rhyme there or something if I wasn’t sleep-deprived, but I digress).
Thankfully everything worked out and these little donuts brightened up the gray days we had over the weekend.
If you don’t have a donut pan (and I recommend springing the whopping $8 bucks for one if you haven’t already), you can make muffins rather than donuts with the batter. Or pour the batter into a standard bread loaf pan and make banana-orange bread instead.
Or make donuts just so you can drink the glaze make a glaze.
Anytime I smell bananas baking I am transported back to my childhood and the scent of my grandma’s banana bread baking which is such a comforting memory.
Your cold, wintery, dark house will feel like a tropical island with the scent of coconut, bananas, and oranges wafting through it while the donuts are baking.
As donuts go, I’d call these “healthy” because they’re baked, not fried.
They contain bananas and oranges, and ust think of all that potassium and Vitamin C you’re getting when you’re eating dessert.
Rationalization is a beautiful thing.
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Baked Orange Coconut Banana Donuts with Orange Coconut Vanilla Cream Cheese Glaze (Inspired by Baked Cinnamon Bun Donuts with Vanilla Cream Cheese Glaze and Baked Vanilla Donuts with Vanilla Glaze)
Makes 8 donuts in this Wilton doughtnut pan
1/4 cup banana, mashed (about 1/3 of a large banana)
1 tablespoon butter or margarine, melted
1 tablespoon orange zest
1/3 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup buttermilk (you could use 1/2 cup regular milk/cream/nut/soy milk + 1/2 teaspoon vinegar to mimic buttermilk if you don’t keep buttermilk on hand)
1 egg (or flax/chia egg or other egg replacer)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup coconut flakes (I used Tropical Traditions unsweetened shredded coconut. They are unsweetened and very fine flakes. If using Baker’s or grocery-store brand shredded coconut, increase to 3/4 cup)
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup + all-purpose flour* (Note: depending on the type of coconut flakes used and how “runny” your mashed banana is, you may need to add more flour. Batter should be fairly thick. Thicker than pancake or waffle batter, not as thick as cookie dough. Add enough flour to reach a fairly thick batter, possibly 1/4 cup more)
Pre-heat oven to 325F and spray the donut pan with cooking spray, very well. In a microwave-safe bowl, mash the banana and add the butter. Microwave the banana and butter for 20 seconds, or until butter begins to melt, and stir to combine. Add orange zest, sugars, cinnamon, buttermilk, egg, and vanilla and stir to combine. Add the coconut flakes, baking powder, and flour and stir until just combined. Neatly spoon batter into donut cavities (or pour batter into a Ziploc bag and cut the corner off and then pipe the batter into donut pan). Bake 15 to 18 minutes, or until dough is set and spring back when touched. Watch for signs of browning as coconut flakes tend to burn easily and baking times will vary. Allow donuts to cool for at least 5 minutes before removing them from the pan.
Orange Coconut Vanilla Cream Cheese Glaze
1 teaspoon+ orange zest (increase if you like more orange flavor)
1/2 cup+ powdered sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons cream cheese, softened
1/2 teaspoon+ vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon+ shredded coconut
1 to 2 tablespoons milk or cream
While donuts are baking and cooling, make the frosting by combining all ingredients except for the cream. Note: All amounts are suggestions and add more or less of certain flavors, to taste and based on how thick or thin you prefer the glaze. Add cream slowly, whisking or stirring, until desired consistency is achieved. Spoon the glaze over cooled donuts or dip them in the glaze bowl. If you glaze the donuts while they are hot, the glaze will run more, and that’s okay, too. Add a final dusting of coconut flakes, orange zest, cinnamon-sugar mixture; sprinkles, or other extras over the top of the glazed donuts, if desired.
To make Gluten Free: Use a gluten-free flour blend. To make Vegan: Replace the buttermilk with full fat coconut milk or almond milk and add 1 teaspoon vinegar as noted in the recipe to mimic buttermilk; increase the amount of baking powder to 1.5 teaspoons. Use melted margarine or Earth Balance, use a flax/chia egg or other egg replacer rather than regular egg, use Tofutti instead of regular cream cheese.
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These donuts are sweet, fruity, tropical-tasting, and the citrus burst from the orange zest really came through. I typically find that bananas, or coconut, tend to dominate the flavor in recipes when they’re used, but that’s not the case here.
Orange is the most pronounced flavor and although the banana and coconut flavors are still present, orange takes the cake takes the donut.
The sweet orange glaze really soaked into each bite and doubled up the orange oomph, too.
Slightly warm donut bites, that are soft, incredibly moist, and soaked with orange glaze-infused make me very happy.
I never met a Vitamin C + dessert pairing I didn’t like:
Your RDA of Vitamin C can also come from Mango and White Chocolate Chip Cookies
Orange PushUp Smoothies remind me of the Orange PushUps I used to devour as a kid and still love.
Pineapple Banana & Coconut Cream Smoothie is packed with Vitamin C and fairly healthy, until you add the rum and turn it into a Valentine’s Day evening pina colada.
Do you like oranges?
Pineapple is my fave citrus fruit and then comes oranges. Mango is my favorite orange-colored fruit. Cantaloupe is my least. I hate it.
Do you bake with fruit?
I do and here are a few ideas:
Peanut Butter Banana Bread (vegan, gluten-free). I love baked bananas and pair them with peanut butter, even better.
Or dehydrated banana chips are a fun and easy snack.
Banana Nut Muffins (vegan, GF). A one bowl, mix-by-hand and 15 minutes later you have muffins kind of recipe.
Mixed Berry Clafoutis. Baked berries ‘n cream is as easy as making pancake batter and pouring it into a pan and baking, and with a little red in it, Cupid will be happy.
Last chance for the Cookbook Giveaway
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Averie thanx hun , these are so special donuts they’re heavenly and delicious! From the pictures I judge you must like warm summer months and heavenly beaches just like me . :)
I can’t wait to make these (unfortunately it’s really late and I don’t think my eyes would stay open long enough to enjoy them). What a lovely mix of flavours and they look so tasty!
Averie, I made a gluten-free version of your Baked Orange Coconut Banana Doughnuts last Sunday, 10 June. My family loved them. Thank you for creating such an awesome recipe!
Glad you were able to make them GF and loved them!
I hate how these recipes are written with the cup thing, I don’t have a cup. You make so many interesting recipes. I would love to make them but i am afraid that I will mess up the portions. :(
Ok, so I made these donuts for my knitting group. We call ourselves Knit, Sip and Rip, because we knit, drink and then rip out what we knitted! (Due to the fact that knitting and drinking don’t usually mix). We laugh a lot and try out different treats every week. So this week it was your yummy donuts! They were a huge hit. I am officially a obsessed fan of your! Tomorrow I head back to work (at the Police Department) and I have received two requests for more of your Mango and White Chocolate chip cookies, so I will be whipping up a batch later. OH and one more reason I’m obsessed with you, I am heading off to Bed, Bath and Beyond and can’t stop thinking about all the fun tools you have that you get there. I am sure that I will be picking up a few. Thanks for sharing so much.
Too funny, I just re-posted these donuts minutes ago on my Instagram feed, which then goes to Twitter. And bam, your comment about them came. So happy to hear you liked them and they were a hit with the kitting group. Crafty gals are usually great cooks so I take it as high praise that you ladies liked them. And the story about the cops and the mango white chocolate chip cookies..I told my husband about that after your last comment & glad to hear they all want…more! Again, high praise coming from the P.D. :)
BB&B is my little playground…I could spend a lifetime, and a fortune, in there :)
Have fun and if you make other things, LMK! I have a quick bread recipe coming up in about 2 weeks that I think you’re going to love…I can’t post it til then but stand by.
Averie, I’m in love with these donuts! The sugary glaze and the texture of the donuts – and that these are BAKED – is amazing… I have featured this post in today’s Friday Food Fetish roundup. Let me know if you have any objections and thanks for the inspiration
I Love this! We just posted our 2nd Kitchen Fun and Crafty Friday Link Party today and would love for you to share this! http://kitchenfunwithmy3sons.blogspot.com/2012/02/kitchen-fun-and-crafty-friday-link_16.html
You are becoming the donut queen, Averie!
These look fantastic! Thanks for sharing!
aren’t those the most stunning donuts ever!
wow. what great color.
great photos my dear.
love that tropical photo too. you know I can never get enough tropical photos
When I posted them I actually thought of you! They are sort of tropical and sunny looking I thought…and hopefully brightened up any grayness on your coast. But then again, that last round of bark/toffee amazingness you created would be brightening my world for sure! Saw it on Tasteologie, too. Congrats :)
A perfect tropical treat…with the mix of banana and coconut flavors, I can feel like I am on a summer Asian tour. These donuts are so delicious! The color is unique indeed for Vday!
your donuts look absolutely fabulous, love the flavors…yummy. Ok I’m really hungry now :)
I love oranges but I rarely bake with fruit. Those look really fresh and tasty! Happy Valentine’s Day to you!
I’m telling ya…I could just look at your donut pics for fun! My favs are the donut and bar recipes. YUM!
My boys love oranges and eat 2 of those cutie oranges every day in their school lunches. I am sure they would love these!
Fruit is a big thing in our home, in terms of baking. I bake banana bread, blueberry muffins and pancakes, cherry muffins and scones and others as well.
Happy Valentine’s Day, Averie! :-) xoxo
These look fantastic! I love orange anything and making them into a donut is perfect!!! Super yum!!! I haven’t stopped dreaming of your snickerdoodle blondies! :) Happy Valentine’s Day!!!
Love all the citrus flavors in this post. The smoothies look delicious and I am going to try one tomorrow!
yum, this sounds like a tropical paradise ;)
These look JUST like old-fashioned glazed cake donuts I used to get when I lived in Texas. I love your flavor additions!
Meh I’d take orange any day over pink or red! These look fabulous!
WOW!!! Averie, these look incredible. The photos are outstanding. You honestly come up with the BEST combinations! :)
Happy Valentine’s Day to you! I haven’t made donuts but your recipe is tempting, especially with the thought of adding fruits into the mix. I don’t cook with fruit enough, this would be a great place to start!
I love to cook with fruit, especially bananas!
this combination of flavours sounds like tropical bliss! I love oranges and cooking with other fruits. I actually include lots of fruit and veggies in my baking to make things nice and moist. Btw i made ur frittata for dinner the other night and it was so simple and delicious. Just what I needed :)
I love oranges! Those look so good!
Your first picture is absolutely beautiful Averie! It makes me want to spin over to BB&B and get a doughnut pan. I bet the husband wouldn’t mine.
These look so yummy!!!! I love baking with fruit. Your pb banana bread is one of my favorites! I made a gluten free version of your white chocolate snickerdoodles this weekend. They ROCKED my world!!!! I would have never thought to combine those two flavors! Thanks :) Happy Valentines day too!!!
I haven’t been loving the fruit lately. the weather here isn’t really fruit type weather, and the stores have terrible looking stuff, and all imported from who knows where. I’m loving on the cruciferous veggies though. Maybe I’ll make a kale donut. That’s some HLB recipe creating for you!
HI AVERIE!
Thank you for this because I am all pinked out!
haha
MISS YA. I’m still around just going thru a major life thing but googled you to see what you were up to these days!
hope you are well and HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!
xoxo
Happy Valentine’s Day to you, too, Cindy! Hope you and the family are well :)
xo
:( no doughnut pan here, I will have to be OK with the muffins, but I will still make the glaze with it.
Enjoy!
I was just thinking, I don’t see nearly enough orange flavored baked treats. And here you come with something that looks fantastic!
Gosh I was seeing a whole bunch about 2-3 weeks ago, specifically blood oranges, but I kept it basic and just used regular oranges for these since I am betting most folks don’t have blood oranges very commonly.
I could use one of these today–it is grey and snowy here (and not the pretty kind of snow!). Happy Valentine’s Day Averie!
You, too!
And I like your “Rachel @ Not Rachael Ray (soon to be Rachel Cooks)”– trust me, I want to sooo badly change my blog name. I love veggies and yoga, but life has moved on and so has my blog…LMK if you are seriously migrating. We need to talk…
Rationalization IS a beautiful thing ;) The dark chocolate in the brownies on my counter is good for me right? lots of antioxidants :)
I looked for a donut pan in Bed Bath this weekend and was so pissed they didn’t have one! I really wanted to finally test out donuts for V-day…oh well!
MY BB&B was sold out of them, too. I actually posted about it a couple weeks ago because I bought the last 2 whoopie pie pans and no more donut pans. I fear it was sort of a pre-Xmas winter baking “trend” with the donut pans and although they’ll probably restock them, you just never know. BB&B and TJ’s are notorious for see it today, gone tomorrow…
Love using bananas for baking–they help give muffins and quick breads nice texture or something (maybe more cake like but I can’t quite come up with a good description right now). Anyway, that recipe makes me long for a tropical vacation. I have been to Curaçao but not Aruba or Bonaire, though I have a keen interest in Aruba from reading your blog!!
Bananas give a density to the dough, a heaviness without being heavy; a fullness. At least IMO :)
Aruba is my happy place. I love it there!
Yes– density, fullness describes it perfectly!
this wonderfull .
happy valentine :)
These loon wonderful, gorgeous colors and very creative flavor combo! I adore doing anything with fruit, especially bananas! Happy Valentine’s Day!
I may be in love with these donuts. The photos are making my taste buds swoon.
Hi Averie,
These donuts sounds so yummylicious. Can’t wait to try them out. Just a quick question. Can I use same recipe (Ingredients and oven temp) for mini donuts? I have mini donuts pan, so was thinking of making in them.
Happy V-Day!
Yes but just watch them VERY closely as mini donuts cook much faster AND the coconut in these will be prone to burning so don’t leave the kitchen and keep a close eye on them!
Whoa! Now these are my kind of donut! Love it!
you’ve been a dessert queen lately and Ive been loving it!
Ahhh, I love the idea of smelling those fruits on a cold, rainy day like we’re having here. What a great idea! And I love the orange on a day or red and pink. :-)
Hope you are having a wonderful Valentine’s Day!
~Emily~
Thanks, Emily, and I hope you’re having a good one too!
Yum those look so fresh and “healthy”! I love all of the comments about RDA of vitamin C – cute!
yeah, rationalization…Vitamin C…sure :)
Ok, I have to tell you something… I made a dessert! After reading your blog (and others), I slowly overcome my fear of baking/dessert making. Yahoo! Happy Valentine’s Day, Averie and thank you. Let me know what you think, please. I owe this one to you and couple of others bloggers.
I love those berries clafoutis.
Glad you’ve started baking more and thanks for the compliments and praise and for reading my blog :)
“rationalization is a beautiful thing…” you’re too cute…plus your photos make anything look more beautiful to boot!
Ahhh, thanks, Jasper!
I’m absolutely going to try making a gluten-free version of these donuts…They are calling out my name! Love oranges, especially cara cara oranges. I bet my kids would loan me the $8 for a donut pan if they knew I’d be making these for them :-)
It should be easy..just use a GF flour as I mentioned in the recipe, i.e. Bob’s or similar, and I think you’ll be fine. LMK how they turn out!
So so interesting how you come up with all these combinations! Never would have thought of this one!
Brooke
http://www.MarvelousLoveBlog.com
Necessity is the mother of invention, i.e. needed to use up some ripe bananas.
Very tropical – great for mid February in Pittsburgh! :)
Enjoy your balmy Pittsburgh weather today with a donut :)
Haha…I love an orange post on Valentine’s Day :-) Hope you have a great one, girl!
You, too! Next year you will have Lila on Vday!!
Mmm those look and sound amazing! I love that the orange flavor is pronounced, besides, orange is the new pink (ok not really but it just felt like it worked with this post, lol).
You used an alliteration with all of the P’s; “product-productive, use-produce; there’s a rhyme there or something if I wasn’t sleep-deprived, but I digress” (alliteration refers to the repetition of a particular sound in the first syllables of a series of words or phrases).
Have a fabulous V-Day!
yes to alliteration but there’s a use-produce “rhyme” sound going on…I read to many learn-to-read and sound-it-out books lately :)