Current status: Drinking a Guinness in self-isolation. The world is in an unfortunate state right now, but I’m doing my best to make the most of my time alone at home, especially today – St. Patrick’s Day! Hopefully, in one year’s time, when you are searching for a St. Paddy’s Day recipe and (maybe, if I’m lucky) stumble across this one, COVID-19 will be a distant memory. But for now, I say you make these doughnuts, grab a beer and enjoy the time off of work.

I’ve never been enticed by Guinness – maybe because of it’s dark colour and malty reputation. However, when I think of St. Patrick’s Day, Guiness is the first thing that pops into my head and so I thought I would try my hand at using it in some sorta way. What better way then doughnuts? No better way.

And, since these doughnuts do not require an entire can, I was forced to drink the rest of it, and may I say, it’s not too shabby. I actually kind of enjoyed it. One thing to note if you are new to this particular stout as I am – they put a little plastic ball inside the can, called a “widget.” The widget is filled with nitrogen, and when the can is opened, it releases bubbles to give it more of a draught-like experience. When I had finished the can and heard something shaking around in there, I was extremely perplexed. I had to contact all of my stout-drinking friends to ask them if something was slipped into my drink, or if this was normal. Luckily, I have a friend in Dublin, who told me all about the widget…and who would know better than him?! In summation, Guinness is good. Doughnuts are amazing. Drink beer, eat doughnuts, thank St. Patrick.

I originally made vanilla doughnuts for this recipe and, although they were tasty, they weren’t exactly what I was looking for. I wanted something darker and more decadent, to match the beer. So I revamped the recipe and made chocolate doughnuts instead. I think it pairs better with the coffee notes of the Guinness and they also imitate that dark colour of the stout. In the vanilla doughnut, I only used 1/4 cup of Guinness and then when I was taste-testing them, I thought, “These are Guinness doughnuts…I need to be more aggressive with the Guinness!” And that I did. With this recipe, I doubled the amount of beer and you can definitely taste it. What’s the point of having a Guinness doughnut if you aren’t going to taste the beer? Amirite?!?

The glaze – Because St. Patrick’s Day is known for green ‘errr thang, I wanted to make a green glaze. And if you follow my blog, you know I don’t love using food colouring, but am more of a get-colour-from-natural-things-kinda-girl. Therefore, I used spirulina to get that forest-green kind of hue. You can definitely use food colouring though. Your doughnuts, your call.

When considering flavourings for the glaze, I thought about the colour green and thought about green foods and obviously limes were the first to pop up in my head. Immediately, I knew I had to make a lime glaze because I thought the acidity would play well with the creaminess of the stout. And then I thought…HONEY LIME. Just another wanted dimension that bumps these babies up to the next level. This doughnut is not for the basic.

Well my dudes, I know you all have the 20 minutes it takes to make this recipe, so use your quarantine time wisely and celebrate St. Paddy’s day in the most appropriate way possible! With Guinness doughnuts. You won’t regret it. And even if you do, isn’t that what this day is about…all the regrets?! Only the morning will tell.

Well that brings me to the end of this blog post, so here’s health to your enemies’ enemies! Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Chocolate Guinness Doughnuts with a Honey Lime Glaze

Serving size: Makes 10 doughnuts

Prep time: 8-10 minutes

Cook time: 7 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup full fat coconut milk
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar (or white vinegar)
• 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup Guinness (or another dark stout beer)
• 2 tbsp coconut oil, melted

For the glaze:

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 tsp spirulina powder (or a few drops of food colouring)
• 1 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1 tsp honey
• water
• lime zest (optional)

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees fahrenheit and spray a doughnut pan with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Mix the coconut milk and vinegar together and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, sugar, vanilla, Guinness and the coconut milk/vinegar mixture until combined. Slowly drizzle in the melted coconut oil while whisking at the same time.
5. Make a well in the flour mixture and pour the wet ingredients into it. Using a spatula, carefully fold together the ingredients until just combined. Do not overmix.
6. Add your ingredients to a piping bag and pipe into the doughnut pan, filling about 3/4 of the way up each mold. You can also use a spoon to scoop the batter in, or fill a Ziploc Bag and cut the tip off and pipe.
7. Bake for 7 minutes, or until the doughnut springs back when you touch it with your finger. Remove from oven and let cool in the pan for two minutes. Turn them out onto a wire rack to cool completely before glazing.

For the glaze:

1. Whisk the powdered sugar, spirulina (or food colouring), lime juice and honey together. Slowly (1/2 tsp at a time), add water until consistency is thin enough to drizzle over the doughnuts. You may also dip the doughnuts into the glaze to coat one side. Sprinkle some lime zest on top of each doughnut to finish. Leave the doughnuts to absorb the glaze for about ten minutes before eating.

TIP: If you would like a thicker, more opaque glaze, double the glaze recipe, dip once, let harden/dry, and then dip again.