Every Canadian knows about Tim Hortons. It’s a glorious place that serves coffee, donuts, Timbits (aka donut holes), pastries, bagels and more… I go down to the USA occasionally but I have never found a Tim Hortons equivalent. Only in Canada, eh?
*insert crazy Canadian stereotypes here*
On Monday I posted these Iced Capps, a copycat recipe from Tim Hortons. I’m not sure why I’m on such a Tim Hortons kick, but I really am, so today I give you these donut holes, or Timbits, as they’re called up here in Canada.
Since I have an insane sweet tooth it’s natural to assume that my favourite types of donuts are the extra glazed, cream-filled, sprinkled ones. Oddly enough, they’re not! I do love a sweet donut, but growing up, my absolute favourite Tim Hortons donut was chocolate covered in flakes of toasted coconut. Not too sweet, not glazed, just fluffy, chocolate dough with coconut. So, so good. I made my own version at home, in donut-hole form, because everything is better bite-sized. It’s true.
Technically, these aren’t classic donut holes. They’re baked (not fried!), they’re not completely round (I baked them in mini muffin tins so the bottoms are slightly flat) they’re yeast-free, and they’re not glazed. One might go so far as to say they’re a ‘healthier’ version. Don’t quote me on that, though, since they’re definitely not healthy. Just healthier.
I did try glazing these at first, but they just seemed too heavy and not quite what I was looking for. I wanted something a little less sweet (very rare for me!) that wouldn’t take away from the coconut flavour while still being ‘sticky’ enough to hold the coconut flakes. After a couple failed experiments I ended up dipping them in melted coconut oil – perfect!
The coconut oil coats the donut hole and the coconut flakes stick to it perfectly. And when the oil cools it slightly congeals, so they don’t taste oily and the coconut flakes stay on while eating.
I will warn you, these things are addicting. I kept mine in the fridge and snacked on them often, having one for breakfast, one for second breakfasts, one for a snack, one for dessert… They’re miniature, too, which means you pretty much need to have at least two every time, amiright?
| Chocolate & Toasted Coconut Donut Holes | Print |
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- ¾ cups milk
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 3 Tbsp butter, melted
- 1 Tbsp instant coffee, mixed with 1 Tbsp water
- 1 cup coconut oil, melted
- 1¾ cups toasted coconut flakes
- Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a mini-muffin pan; set aside.
- In a medium bowl, mix together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat together eggs, milk, vanilla, butter and coffee mixture. Slowly add in dry ingredients in three batches, mixing until just combined after each addition.
- Spoon tablspoon-sized balls of batter into the mini muffin pan. They should each be about ¾ full. Bake 10-12 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool in pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Dunk each donut ball into melted coconut oil, then roll in coconut flakes. Cover the entire ball, then place on back on wire rack to cool. Repeat for each ball.
*Donut batter recipe is modified from Sally's Baking Addiction.
instead of chocolate easter bunnies we got these as treats 🙂 yummmmylicious.. want get enough of them. so good. yum
That’s awesome, Fränzi! Happy Easter!