Donuts, Cookies & More: Delicious Grain-Free Desserts

Last updated on September 28th, 2021 at 01:36 pm

Several years ago, I decided to eat a paleo diet in order to help manage my Lupus symptoms. Paleo allows for all kinds of artificial sweeteners, and I refused to do artificial sweeteners, so for a while I ate no desserts. I quickly began to miss desserts and started a quest to find desserts without refined sugars or artificial sweeteners. Some recipes were real duds, but also some were real winners! I started entering some of my favorites in our office holiday dessert competition and I’ve won 3 of the past 4 years (the year I lost, I had recently brought my infant twins home). I’m passing these recipes on to you to bring cheer to your home whether it be at the holidays or year-round.

Over time, I’ve tweaked my diet to match what my body needs to stay healthy. The evolution has resulted in simply no-grains, no-refined sugars, and no artificial sweeteners. I use a lot of fruit or honey for sweetness and I try to use fresh ingredients when possible. My diet ends up usually being Paleo and Whole 30 compliant and some of my favorite recipes are Keto as well.

Things to note about grain-free baking: almost everything bakes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, including all the recipes in this article. Nothing rises or spreads that much. You can fill a bread pan nearly all the way to the top and you want to shape your cookies to the shape you want them to be when the cookies are done.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD FREE PRINTABLE RECIPES

Donuts, Cookies & More: Delicious Grain-Free Desserts

Pecan Cookie Tarts

Ingredients

1.25 cups Almond meal/flour
3 tablespoons ghee or organic unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup raw honey
½ cup pecans, crunch majority into pieces but leave a handful whole or halved.
Approx 12 medjool dates pitted and cut into halves
Approx 1 tablespoon water

Materials

Mini muffin pan
Food processor

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Rub oil of your choice (avocado oil, olive oil, coconut oil) to each muffin space of your muffin pan to prevent sticking.
In a medium sized bowl, mix almond meal, butter, and honey until a nice dough forms.
Press approximately a ½ tablespoon of dough into each space of the muffin pan. Use a small (approx. ½ or ¼) round measuring spoon to press a depression in the middle of the dough. Bake for approximately 10 minutes.
While the base of the tart is baking, combine pecan pieces and medjool dates in food processor. Pulse until a consistent texture. If the mixture is not processing well, add water in teaspoon increments until able to process.
Remove from oven and spoon a mounded heap of date mixture on top of dough. Press a whole pecan on top. Bake another 3-5 minutes.
Remove from oven and allow to cool at least ½ hour.

Trail Mix Cookies

Ingredients

1.25 cups almond flour
3 tablespoons ghee or organic unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup raw honey
1/2 cup chopped dried cherries or cranberries
3.5 oz 72% dark chocolate bar, chopped into small chunks
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
2 tablespoons unsalted sunflower seeds

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix all ingredients. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat. Place about a tablespoon of cookie mix in a ball on the baking sheet. Press down each ball until it is flatter and cookie shaped.
Cook for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Cool at least 15 minutes.

Many variations of this recipe are possible. You can use whatever you might find in trail mix. So you can try other nut flours or other dried fruits like raisins.

Chai Spiced Banana Bread

Ingredients

4 bananas
4 eggs
½ cup almond butter
4 tablespoons butter, melted
½ cup coconut flour
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 pinch of salt
¾ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp cloves
1 tsp ground cardamom
½ teaspoon ginger

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a bread pan with parchment paper.
Combine your bananas, eggs, nut butter and butter in your food processor.
Once all of your ingredients are blended, add in coconut flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, vanilla, salt and spices and process.
Pour your batter into your prepared bread pan. Spread evenly.
Place in preheated oven and bake for 55-60 minutes until a toothpick entered into the center comes out clean.
Remove from oven, let cool 10 minutes. Then remove to a cooling rack to finish cooling.

Slice and serve.

Cinnamon Pancake Donuts

Ingredients

3 ounces cream cheese, very soft
3 large eggs
4 tablespoons almond flour
1 tablespoon coconut flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup raw honey, plus additional honey for drizzling
1 teaspoon cinnamon, plus additional cinnamon for topping

Materials

Donut pan

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Apply oil of your choice (avocado oil, olive oil, coconut oil) to each donut space of your donut pan to prevent sticking.
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Make sure your cream cheese is very soft or it will not mix evenly. Pour batter into donut pans. Each donut space can be nearly full, but do not fill all the way.
Bake about 12-18 minutes until toothpick entered into the center of a donut comes out clean.
Allow to cool at least 15 minutes.
Drizzle a little honey over each donut and dust a little cinnamon over each one.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD FREE PRINTABLE RECIPES

Maya Mason lives in the Twin Cities, MN and works as a Juvenile Probation Officer. Maya is the mom of 6-month-old boy/girl twins named Theo and Teia who were born at 24 weeks. Maya has Lupus and this diagnosis has led her to become passionate about natural health and wellness. Maya loves to spend time with her family, play volleyball and travel. She also is an avid writer and is in the process of writing a teen fiction series.