All these posts about treats just make me want more! Here’s another favorite of mine that ended up being a daily affair, and a staple in my diet. Two good things at once? It almost seems too good to be true – but it’s not. These chocolate donuts seriously pack a punch in taste, nutrition, and the guilt. Made from protein powder, you’d expect a consistency to that of a piece of cardboard but it’s the secret of egg whites that really take it to a whole new level. Each bite you take will actually make you cringe from THINKING you are cheating, but in reality you’re definitely not!
I prefer to wait until they have cooled until I start to ice them, but if you really dug yourself into the hole of temptation – use the icing as a dipping sauce on those warm donuts! Â They’re great warm or cold, iced or not. If you don’t have a donut pan, you can always use a cupcake tin or even a bread pan. If you use that, then they won’t exactly be donuts (rather they’ll be cake) but it’s still one hell of a treat. Just make sure you are rationing them out because they’re seriously addictive. The recipe will yield about 8 donuts, and they each have 3.65g net carbs.
Breakfast, afternoon snack, it even stacks enough protein to be a post workout meal – it can be anything you want. It’s versatile, and if you’re thinking what I’m thinking, it can be made into an evil-ly tasty bacon and cheese donut sandwich.
Time to get down to business, let’s start up the donut factory and crank these suckers out!
Yields 8 servings of Delicious Chocolate Donuts
The Preparation
- 3 large egg
- 1/2 cup stevia/erythritol blend
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
- 1/2 cup almond flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 31 grams low-carb chocolate protein powder, vegetarian
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
The Execution
1. Preheat over to 350°F.
2. Whip egg whites until they have stiff peaks (this is the most important part, and will ensure you get a great fluffy consistency.)
3. Combine the egg yolks, Splenda, vanilla, and butter in a separate bowl then whisk until well mixed.
4. Combine almond meal, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and cocoa powder in a third mixing bowl.
5. Gently (really gently) fold the wet ingredients into the whipped egg whites.
6. Slowly add the bowl of mixed dry ingredients to the wet mixture while continuing to mix.
7. Fill the donut pan ¾ of the way full on each mold.
8. Bake for 15 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
9. In a separate bowl, combine casein powder and heavy cream until it is thick and forms the icing.
10. Pour the icing over the donuts when they have cooled down a bit.
This makes a total of 8 servings of Delicious Chocolate Donuts. Each serving comes out to be 128 calories, 9.7g fats, 1.6g net carbs, and 7.2g protein.
| NUTRITION | CALORIES | FAT | CARBS | FIBER | NET CARBS | PROTEIN |
| 3 large egg | 236 | 15.7 | 1.2 | 0 | 1.2 | 20.7 |
| 1/2 cup stevia/erythritol blend | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 teaspoon vanilla extract | 12 | 0 | 0.6 | 0 | 0.6 | 0 |
| 2 tablespoon butter | 203 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.2 |
| 1/2 cup almond flour | 324 | 28 | 12.3 | 7.3 | 5 | 11.8 |
| 1/4 teaspoon salt | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1/4 teaspoon baking powder | 1 | 0 | 0.3 | 0 | 0.3 | 0 |
| 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon | 2 | 0 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0 |
| 2 tablespoon cocoa powder | 41 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| 31 gram low-carb chocolate protein powder | 109 | 0.5 | 1.9 | 1 | 1 | 24.2 |
| 2 tablespoon heavy cream | 101 | 10.7 | 0.8 | 0 | 0.8 | 0.8 |
| Totals | 1049 | 78.9 | 23.7 | 10.6 | 13.1 | 59.8 |
| Per Serving (/8) | 131 | 9.9 | 3 | 1.3 | 1.6 | 7.5 |
Delicious Chocolate Donuts
Ingredients
- 3 large egg
- ½ cup stevia/erythritol blend
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoon butter melted
- ½ cup almond flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 tablespoon cocoa powder
- 31 gram low-carb chocolate protein powder vegetarian
- 2 tablespoon heavy cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Whip egg whites until they have stiff peaks (this is the most important part and will ensure you get a great fluffy consistency).
- Combine the egg yolks, sweetener, vanilla, and butter in a separate bowl, then whisk until well mixed.
- Combine almond meal, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and cocoa powder in a third mixing bowl.
- Gently (really gently) fold the wet ingredients into the whipped egg whites.
- Slowly add the bowl of mixed dry ingredients to the wet mixture while continuing to mix.
- Fill the donut pan ¾ of the way full on each mold.
- Bake for 15 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. In a separate bowl, combine casein powder and heavy cream until it is thick and forms the icing.
- Pour the icing over the donuts when they have cooled down a bit.
have you tried with other protein powders other than casein? and were the results the same?
Marsha,
Yeah I have done it with both casein and whey powder and they both turned out pretty similar. I usually have whey on hand nowadays, so I mainly use it over casein. No big deal to me 🙂
Craig,
First, these were the first “homemade” donuts that i’ve ever made, and
Second, these were the first low carb donuts i’ve ever made.
Thirdly, I’m not a chocolate fan. I know, i know. How is that possible? Well, sorry. It is… Anyway, I have to tell you that they surpassed my every expectation! With my ingredients and calculations ( 9 donuts were made) my net carb count was 0.9 per donut! DOUBLE BONUS! Due to my non-chocolatiness, I used a vanilla whey protein powder for the glaze. I did have to add more heavy cream to the mixture and some water, but the end result was awesomeness! They were easier to make than what I originally thought. Overall, I’m rating them an 8/10. Thanks again for the recipe! Will be making more of these trying different flavor combos and making other of your recipes!
Marsha, glad you liked them! They’re really good – I can barely even remember how they taste anymore since it’s been a while from when I made them 😛 I will have to make them again!
As always, I love your feedback and love hearing how your cooking experiments go 🙂
I looked up casein powder on Amazon but there are so many brands. Which is your favorite?
Laura, I use Optimum Nutrition Casein – ON is my favorite brand (and they come up great in the tests of actual protein content).
Also, do you use regular Splenda out a baking blend?
I used granulated splenda for these, just the regular type.
Hi Craig!
Fat Thursday is coming, so I wanted to cook those up 🙂 One question from me. The ingredients list 2 Tbsp of Whey Protein.
Is it just for the glaze, or should I divide it evenly between dry ingredients and glaze ingredients… or was it 2 Tbsp for the donuts, and some more for the glaze?
Hey! It’s just for the glaze – you could alternatively use cocoa powder and a little xanthan gum instead if you’d like to 🙂
Perfect, thank you for the swift advice – it was the only thing I was lacking (well, besides donut mold, but I will get it on time 🙂
Awesome, enjoy!
grr I hate when bloggers use the term “scoop”. We don’t all use the same products 😉
How many GRAMS or cups of casein powder do you use? (…AND it could be substituted with whey protein powder?)
Thanks! I look forward to making these…they look FANtastic 🙂
Sophie, 99% of protein that I’ve used has a universal scoop which is 28g. I’ve used many different brands of protein powders, whey or casein, and they are all 28g scoops. I think that it’s pretty common to use that term now, it’s similar to saying 1/2 cup of almond flour.
Casein tends to have a thicker property to it, so while you could sub whey powder, you may need to add a tiny bit of xanthan gum to help with the consistency.
Enjoy!
I realize this post is old but 28g is not the standard protein scoop. They can vary so it would be more helpful to list how many grams/cups of protein powder used versus “scoop”. I am using Cellucor protein powder and mine is 35g per scoop. I can’t wait to try these. They are baking as we speak! By the way my dad loved the keto coffee cake and he absolutely hates anything that doesn’t have real sugar. He actually said “I can do this!” And proceeded to eat 2 servings. 🙂
Sara, I typically use ON protein and the serving size is still 28g on my container. Thanks!
Sorry for the silly questions… is that 1/2 cup almonds, then grind them or 1/2 cup of flour after grinding them? And, were they blanched or raw, or would it even make a difference? Also, can you use liquid splenda instead of the powdered, or would it change the consistency of the batter too much? Thanks!
No problem Mama Owl! It’s 1/2 cup of the almonds after you grind them. Just raw almonds were used in this recipe (this recipe is from a long time ago). If you used the liquid splenda, it might make the batter a bit runny, so you may have to add something to bulk it up slightly if you wanted to use liquid. Hope that helps!
Hey,
I gave these a try and they turned out great! I did want to note that for me it took a lot more than two tbsp of heavy bream to get an icing like consistency. With some try and error it seemed to take me about a half cup for a 30g scoop. Regardless of my icing trouble, they were absolutely delicious.
Glad to hear it Daniel!
Hi! Instead of Splenda can I use erythritol? Plan on using this with my new donut maker you recommended! Can’t wait!
All in due time. I’m actually in the process of re-shooting all of the older posts, so hopefully within ~1 years time, all of the recipes will use the same format and have updated photos 🙂
I just love your site! It has some of the most innovative and creative recipes for Low Carbers! I hope this is not a silly question. 🙂 But…can simple Almond Flour/meal be used instead of grinding raw almonds? I ask because it seems every time I want to make a recipe there’s always some ingredient I don’t have.
You can make almond flour from almonds – it’s just a slightly more involved process. Thanks so much for the kind feedback!
Craig, my wife and I just started keto last week and also just stumbled on to your site. I think you have come up with amazing recipes that I can live with. Can’t wait to try the keto donuts! Only need to lose about 15 or 20 lbs but have already lost 8 in the first week. Look forward to spending many hours on your site trying recipes and learning more. Thank you for making it so complete!
Really hope you like them all – thanks so much for the kind comment!
Craig, these look so good! I want to make these but seems silly to buy a whole tub of protein powder for two scoops. Is the protein powder really necessary? If not, what can I substitute it with? Thanks!
Hi Michelle, I will ask Craig about this but I did find a place where you can purchase a few sample packs instead of the full tub. (https://bbcom.me/2hTScjq)
I REALLY want to make these, but all I have is whey protein powder. Will that work in this recipe?
So annoying; when you said combine all dry ingredients, i added the casein powder (its dry right)? I guess that’s why one should read the ENTIRE recipe before proceeding. Grr. Also when do you add the vanilla?? I hope they turn out.
Hi Faith, I’m so sorry about the confusion. This recipe is a lot older. I will get this updated today so that it’s a lot more clear. Hopefully it will just make them extra chocolatey. Vanilla should go in when you cream the eggs and butter, but could be added last as well.
Does it have to be casein protein? I use gold standard 100% whey protein.
Casein is better for baking, whey might be too dry. If you try it please let me know if it works!
It was fine! Also in the method it doesn’t mention when and where to mix the vanilla extract or the cinnamon.
But as far as I can tell, the protein powder is not in the donut dough. Is this incorrect?
Ah! I messed up. For the icing it’s just thickening up the cream. I think the kind of protein powder wouldn’t matter for the icing.
Hi,
I dont have casein powder can I replace it for egg whites portein powder? If no, what can I replace it with?
Sorry, I’m not sure if it would work.
Can you substitute more cocoa for the protein powder if you don’t have any?
I’ve tried that and they came out super flat and eggy 🙁
but isn’t the protein powder just in the icing (and not actually in the donut mix)?
Ahhhh! Sorry, I’m thinking of a different donut recipe. (I was clearly traumatized lol.) You can make a simple icing with swerve confectioners (or erythritol ground up in a spice grinder), some cocoa powder, and water or heavy cream. You could do all cocoa but that might be a little bitter…
These look great. I would just make a thin ganache for the icing: 90% Lindt bar, cream, stevia and vanilla.
Hello i am having trouble making the icing it just clumps up on me seems like too much powder for the cream
If it’s too thick try slowly adding in more cream until it’s the right consistency. If it’s so clumpy that it won’t take liquid – then blend in a food processor or blender. You might have to make it a larger batch to get enough icing in the machine to blend though.
Is the cinnamon necessary? I’m not a fan of cinnamon with chocolate.
Spices typically aren’t necessary in a recipe for the texture, so you should be fine!
Can we use some other sweetener instead of splenda in this recipe? What would be the amount to use?
You can definitely use other sweeteners in place of Splenda. We tend to stay away from Splenda nowadays but this is quite an old recipe. You can see more about sweetener subs here: https://www.ruled.me/comprehensive-guide-to-keto-sweetener-substitutions/
You can definitely use other sweeteners in place of Splenda. We tend to stay away from Splenda nowadays but this is quite an old recipe. You can see more about sweetener subs here: https://www.ruled.me/compre…
If you’re shying away from Splenda, could you please replace it in the recipe with a better substitute? Your Sweetener page doesn’t appear to provide much information on converting splenda to monk or erythritol.
I’d replace it with the same amount of erythritol personally. Or if you have a popular mix like Swerve or Lakanto, it would work in the same measurement as well.
Made these today. Absolutely delicious!!