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Samoa Donuts

Adapted from The Urban Poser and Top With Cinnamon
A delicious take on the girl scouts' samoa cookies.
Course Breakfast/Brunch

Ingredients
  

For the Donuts

  • 1 cup flour
  • 3/4 tsp active dry yeast
  • 3/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • pinch of baking soda
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 6 tbsp sugar
  • 1 small egg
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tbsp yogurt
  • 1/4 cup milk

For the Coconut Caramel Topping

  • 1 can full-fat coconut milk about 1½ cups
  • ½ cup mild flavored honey or maple syrup
  • A pinch of sea salt I used kosher salt
  • 1 rounded tablespoon butter
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • ¼ cup finely shredded coconut plus 2 more tablespoons for garnishing

For the Dipping Chocolate

  • 1/2 bag of good chocolate chips

Instructions
 

For the Donuts

  • Stir together the flour, yeast, baking powder, salt and baking soda in a small bowl, set aside.
  • Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and grease a donut pan (6 regular sized donuts or 12 mini donuts)
  • In a medium bowl, cream the butter and sugar together.
  • Beat in the egg, vanilla and yogurt.
  • Stir in 1/3 of the flour mixture, then mix in half the milk. Repeat this until you've added all of the flour mixture and the milk.
  • Pipe the mixture (or use a spoon) into the prepared donut pan (each should be filled about 2/3-3/4 of the way up) and let rest for 5 minutes.
  • Bake the donuts for 10-15 minutes until puffy and golden brown.
  • Let rest for 5 minutes then remove them from the pan and let cool completely.

For the Coconut Caramel

  • In a small-medium sauce pan, bring the coconut milk, honey and salt to a boil over medium high heat, being sure that they are well combined. Reduce to a medium heat, and let the mixture boil down for about 35-40 minutes.
  • Add the butter and vanilla, stirring it in till well incorporated. Continue cooking for another 5-15 minutes or as long as needed until it is a deep caramel color. Don’t rush the process. Depending on how hot your burner is this process could be faster or slower. Stir often toward the end to keep the bottom from burning too much. A little burning is fine as long as you are stirring it in to the mixture. It will give it a darker flavor.
  • Remove from heat, transfer to a bowl and let cool for 5 minutes then stir vigorously until it’s creamy, shiny and smooth.
  • While the caramel is cooking, spread the coconut out on an ungreased cookie sheet and toast it in a 325 degree oven. Stir often till golden, about 5-10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool.
  • Mix the toasted coconut into the caramel, reserving a tablespoon or so for garnishing later. Use coconut caramel while still warm for best spreading results.

For finishing the donuts

  • Carefully dip the top of each donut in the coconut caramel mixture and place on parchment paper
  • Sprinkle with the toasted coconut
  • While that is cooling, heat chocolate chips in the microwave 10-20 seconds at a time, stirring each time, until smooth. Alternately, you can use a double boiler if you're feeling fancy pants.
  • Once your chocolate is melted, carefully dip the bottom of each donut in the chocolate, returning to the parchment paper to harden.
  • Carefully spoon leftover chocolate into a pastry bag (or ziplock bag and cut a tiny hole in the corner). If the chocolate has cooled too much, you can put it back in the microwave before spooning it into the bag. Pipe the chocolate over the donuts in whatever pattern you wish!

Notes

If you're gluten free, vegan, paleo, or avoiding refined sugars, head over to PaleOMG where Jenni from The Urban Poser has shared all sorts of alternative ingredients to make these donuts friendly to all!