Vegan Banana doughnuts with Chocolate Fudge Sauce

Blogging Marathon# 54: Week 2/ Day 3

Theme: Kid's Delight -- Fruits in any form

Dish: Banana Doughnuts with Chocolate Fudge Sauce

I am not sure who liked these doughnutss better, the kids or me!!!!!! These banana beignets or mini doughnuts are just insane. They taste so good that I ate almost all of them the first time I made them, may be I gave a few to my daughter. I had to make them a second time because I just had to (no actually the first round pictures turned awful).

This will be my last post for this week's BM under the Kid's Delight -- fruits in any form theme. I saw Bobby Flay make these beignets on his 'Brunch with Bobby' cook show. They looked so good on TV that I had to make them at home right away.

Bananas are one fruit that I have on hand ALL the time and with summer they tend to ripen a little too fast. Which means I have very ripe, super ripe, almost mottled bananas all the time. I just can't catch up with their ripening pace. Well, that means more banana doughnuts for us :-)
I rarely deep fry anything, may be once or twice a month and sometimes not even that. But I wanted to indulge for once and fried up these deliciously soft & fluffy doughnuts. They taste best when served hot but the leftovers were not bad either.

Recipe adapted from here:

Ingredients: Makes 18~20 small beignets

Bananas - 2, very ripe
Sugar - 3tbsp
Light brown sugar - 1tbsp
Vanilla extract - 1tsp
All purpose flour - 1cup
Baking powder - ½tsp
Ground Cinnamon - ½tsp
Ground Nutmeg - a pinch
Salt - a pinch
Soy Milk - 2~3tbsp

Method:

• In a mixing bowl, mash bananas using a potato masher or a fork. Add vanilla extract, both the sugars and mix well.
• In another mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. 
• Add the banana mixture to the flour mixture and pour in the milk. Mix until a smooth and thick, almost like waffle batter, forms. Add more milk if needed. Refrigerate for at least 10 minutes to up to 1 hour.
• Heat oil for deep frying over medium heat. Drop the batter by heaping teaspoonfuls into the oil and fry until golden brown on both sides, turning once when the edges firm up. Drain on paper towels.
• Serve immediately or keep warm in a 200°F oven for up to 2 hours. 
• Sprinkle with powdered sugar just before serving and enjoy!!

I made some vegan chocolate fudge sauce to dunk the doughnuts in. It has just 3 ingredients -- non-dairy milk, chocolate chips and dates. Dates is an unusual ingredient in a fudge sauce -- that was my reaction when I saw this recipe. I took a chance and made it anyway and I couldn't stop licking the spoon, it was excellent.
Store the leftovers (if any), in the fridge. It gets thick when chilled and is just perfect to eat with a spoon as dessert or warm it a little and add to smoothies or anything else that calls for some chocolate.

For the Chocolate Fudge Sauce:  
Recipe from here:
Ingredients:
Dates -  ⅓cup (about 7~8 pitted dates)
Soy milk - ½cup
Chocolate Chips - 2tbsp (or use 1½tbsp cocoa powder)

Method:

• Grind/ Blend dates and soy milk until very smooth.
• Pour this date mixture into a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 5~8 minutes, while stirring continuously, until the mixture thickens.
• Turn off the heat and add the chocolate chips or cocoa powder. Stir until melted and incorporated. 
• Store in a clean glass jar in the fridge. Serve hot, warm or cold.

 

Lets check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked today for BM# 54.