Nothing screams holidays like candy cane. From traditional candy cane sticks to candy cane ice cream and candy cane sugar cookies – and everything in between —  peppermint is one of my favourite signature flavours of the holiday season.  Since I’ve already shared a few of our family’s favourite festive cookie recipes I decided to turn my attention to a more unconventional sweet treat for the holidays: donuts. T’was the beginning of the perfect holiday treat: Chocolate Candy Cane-Dipped Donuts.

Truth be told, the donut pan came before the idea for this recipe. Since Janik and I discovered an incredible houseware retailer in Vancouver’s East Side (check out The Gourmet Warehouse) we’ll stop by once every few months on our way downtown (only a slight detour 😊).  About two months ago when we were in the bakeware section Janik noticed a donut pan and immediately exclaimed “people love donuts!” He didn’t have to say any more….the seed was planted and I let the ideas begin to percolate.

Today’s post for Chocolate Candy Cane-dipped Donuts is a Thermomix-adapted version of My Darling Vegan’s recipe for Double Chocolate Donuts with a festive twist: a chocolate donut dipped in chocolate-candy cane frosting. There are a few prep steps involved, namely making your own vegan heavy cream and home-style apple sauce and of course the smashing of candy canes (very cathartic I might add, lol), but the end result is well worth the effort. These donuts are deliciously moist , not too sweet and the ode to peppermint vis-à-vis the chocolate-candy cane frosting adds a delightfully festive flair.

Watch out Christmas cookies – there’s a new sweet in town 😉

Enjoy~

Recipe Preparation

1/Make one batch of vegan heavy cream (see Recipe Notes below)
2/Prepare one batch of home-style apple sauce (see Recipe Notes below)
3/Preheat oven to 350F
4/Grease a donut pan (I recommend spraying with Canola oil or similar)

Ingredients: Chocolate Donuts

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup cane sugar
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup apple sauce (see Recipe Notes below)
• 1/4 cup soy milk
• 3 Tbsp canola oil
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Ingredients: Donut Topping

• 1/4 cup vegan heavy cream (see Recipe Notes below)
• 4 oz dairy-free chocolate chips (130g)
• Candy canes, crushed

Instructions: Chocolate Donuts

• 1/Add dry ingredients (flour, cane sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt) to your Thermomix mixing bowl.Mix 30 sec/Speed 1.
• 2/Add apple sauce, soy milk, canola oil and vanilla extract to the TM bowl. Mix 1 min/Speed 3.
• 3/Spoon or pipe batter into donut pan. Bake at 350F for 12-15 minutes or until donuts spring back when pressed.
• 4/While donuts are baking, prepare the chocolate donut topping:
     Important: Before making the topping, insert the butterfly whisk attachment to the Thermomix mixing blade.
  First, add prepared heavy cream to your Thermomix mixing bowl. Stir 2 min/100C/Speed 1.5.
  Secondly, add chocolate chips to the TM bowl. Blend 1 min/100C/Speed 2.
     Note: Remove the butterfly whisk attachment from the Thermomix mixing blade before starting Step 5.
• 5/Once baked, transfer donuts to a cooling rack and let cool for a few minutes. Dip each donut in the chocolate topping. Let the topping set for a few minutes. Sprinkle crushed candy canes pieces over the chocolate.

***Recipe Notes***
Home-style Apple Sauce Ingredients

• 4 tart apples (such as Granny Smith), peeled, cored & quartered
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 60 g water
• 1 pinch cinnamon

Apple Sauce Instructions

• 1/Place water, apples and lemon juice in your Thermomix mixing bowl. Blend 30 sec/speed 7. Using a spatula, scrape down sides of bowl.
• 2/Add cinnamon to the TM bowl. Cook  10 min/90C/Speed 1

Vegan Heavy Cream Ingredients

• 1/2 cup soy milk, unsweetened
• 1 cups canola oil (Don’t substitute with any other type of oil!)
• 2 tsp apple cider vinegar

Vegan Heavy Cream Instructions

Important: Insert the butterfly whisk attachment to your Thermomix mixing blade before starting this recipe.

• 1/Pour soy milk into the Thermomix mixing bowl. With the blade set to Speed 2 slowly add in the oil until it’s blended with the milk (this should take about 3 – 3.5 minutes).
• 2/With the blade still running at Speed 2, let the mixture blend for another minute. The timer should reach the 4 – 4.5 minute mark after this step)
• 3/Add the apple cider vinegar to the mixing bowl through the opening in the lid. Blend 30 sec/Speed 3.5. The mixture should have a thick, creamy consistency.

Note: This recipe will yield 1 cup of cream. Leftover cream can be kept for up to five days in the refrigerator.

Note: This recipe was made using a Thermomix appliance, however it can easily be adapted using similar food prep tools (e.g. mutli-function processor, immersion blender etc) or using a more traditional stovetop method.

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