If you love Girl Scout Cookies, you will adore these Keto Samoa Donuts, topped with sugar-free coconut caramel and chocolate. Made with coconut flour, they are completely nut-free and sugar-free.
Here in keto-land, we’re fighting off the temptation of Girl Scout cookies one recipe at a time. And Keto Samoa Donuts are part of our all important arsenal in warding off temptation. These tender coconut flour donuts are the perfect vehicle for getting all of that delicious coconut, caramel, and chocolate to your mouth.
Real Samoas, or rather Caramel deLites as they are now called, are a thing of the past. Make peace with that fact as quickly as you can. The sooner you accept this, the sooner you can move on to discovering all the delicious alternatives the keto diet has to offer.
And trust me, friends, there is no end to all of the sweet keto treats that can be made with the flavors of Girl Scout Cookies. This is not my only Keto Samoas recipe. I also have some wonderful keto samoa bars, a low carb samoa layer cake, and I even had a samoa bundt cake recipe coming soon!
What are Samoa Cookies?
In the off-chance that you are not from the US and are wondering what Samoas are, let me enlighten you. Because I was also scratching my head back in the day, when I’d moved here from Canada.
Every year for a month or so, the Girl Scouts stand outside virtually every store in the country with boxes upon boxes of cookies, in order to raise money for their troops. They have many wonderful varieties, including the ever popular Thin Mints, Tagalongs, and Samoas.
Everyone has their favorites but the Samoas always ranked high on my list. They are round circles of shortbread cookie, topped with toasted coconut and caramel, and dipped in chocolate on the bottom. And with a chocolate drizzle over top.
I won’t lie, the original is truly delicious, although I am no longer even tempted to take a bite. I’ve found that it’s so easy to recreate those same flavors in far healthier options, without the sugar, grains, and hydrogenated oils of the real Samoa Cookies.
How to make Keto Samoa Donuts
These look like super fancy donuts, but they are incredibly easy to make. In under an hour, you can be enjoying your keto samoa donuts with a cup of coffee, and feeling good about your life!
The donuts:
For the base, I chose to use my coconut flour donuts to keep these completely nut-free. I really like the texture of donuts made with coconut flour, as they are light and puffy, and they hold together very well. If you’d prefer an almond flour based recipe, try my keto cinnamon donuts and just skip the added cinnamon.
The sweeteners:
When I first created this keto donut recipe, I used some coconut sugar in the topping to give it more caramel color and to keep it from re-crystallizing. Thankfully, two wonderful advancements in the world of keto baking have allowed me to ditch the coconut sugar for good.
Swerve Brown gives the best flavor and color for these donuts, and a bit of BochaSweet, allulose, or xylitol can make the topping more gooey. You can use all Swerve, if you prefer, but do know that your topping will solidify more upon cooling.
The protein powder:
Yes, it is a critical part of the recipe. Gluten is a protein and in its absence, another dry protein helps the baked goods rise properly and hold together better. You can skip it, but just expect a more crumbly donut. You can also replace it with egg white protein or hemp protein.
The chocolate drizzle:
You have so many options for keto chocolate nowadays, just use your favorite. I always recommend melting the chocolate with a little bit of cocoa butter or coconut oil to help it melt more smoothly. And always, always melt it double-boiler style to avoid any seizing.
FYI, as I write this, the ChocZero Dark Chocolate Chips are currently on sale on their website. Only $4.79 a bag and if you use code FOODDREAMER at checkout, you get 10% off.
Want more Keto Girl Scout Cookie Recipes?
Keto Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies
Low Carb Samoa Donuts
Ingredients
Donuts:
- 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp coconut flour
- 6 tbsp Swerve Sweetener
- 2 tbsp whey protein powder
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 5 large eggs
- 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
- 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk or water
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Topping:
- 3/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- 3 tbsp butter
- 1/4 cup Swerve Brown
- 1 tbsp Bocha Sweet, (or allulose or xylitol)
- 1/3 cup whipping cream
- 1/4 tsp xanthan gum
- Pinch salt
Chocolate Drizzle:
- 1/2 tbsp coconut oil
- 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips, sugar-free
Instructions
Donuts:
- Preheat oven to 325F and grease a donut pan well.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the coconut flour, sweetener, whey protein powder, baking powder and salt, breaking up any clumps with the back of a fork.
- Stir in the eggs, coconut oil, almond milk and vanilla extract until well combined and batter is smooth.
- Fill the wells of the donut pan 2/3 full and bake 12 to 15 minutes, or until set and edges are just golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool 5 minutes in pan, then flip out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Depending on the size of your pan, you will get 12 to 15 donuts and will need to work in batches.
Topping:
- In a medium skill over medium heat, spread shredded coconut and toast, stirring frequently, until golden brown. Remove from heat and let cool.
- Meanwhile, in a large saucepan over medium heat, combine butter, Swerve Brown, and BochaSweet. Stir until butter is melted and sweetener is dissolved. Bring to a boil and cook 3 to 5 minutes, watching carefully so it doesn't burn.
- Remove from heat and add cream. Mixture will bubble vigorously. Sprinkle with xanthan gum and whisk well to combine. Add salt and stir.
- Add toasted coconut and stir well to combine. Let mixture come to room temperature so it is spreadable and not too goopy. Spread the top of each donut with coconut caramel mixture and let set.
Chocolate Drizzle:
- In a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water, melted coconut oil and chocolate together until smooth. Drizzle over cooled donuts.
Nutrition
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I made these today and they turned out perfect! Thank you for your recipes!
Another winner! It is so exciting to have something surprise you how good it is when you take that first bite!! 🙂
I really loved these, my husband thought they were very tasty also.
Thanks for sharing.
They are completely nut-free and sugar-free.
Can’t wait to try these!
LOVED! The second time, we used this topping on top of your keto chocolate donut. Amazing!
Delicious! I made 2 batches of donuts… your chocolate donuts with the samoa topping, and made your cinnamon donuts but instead of cinnamon I used salted caramel protein powder and made a glaze of butter, swerve, cream and vanilla. I love being able to mix and match with your donut recipes! I also used silicone pans and had no issues at all with sticking, I oiled them well and the donuts just popped out. Pure LOOOOVE! As far as cookbooks go, my all time favorite and my “go to” for the “science” of cooking is The Food Lab by Kenji Lopez. It’s a great coffee table book but mine gets a lot of use. I love to understand the science behind cooking/baking. I think once you know the science, you can alter recipes much easier. As far as Keto goes, I love your Ultimate Guide to Keto Baking… it is like The Food Lab but for Keto!! Thank you for always sharing your methods and most importantly, why those methods/tricks are used. I truly do wish you would get a show!! Doing Keto 10+ years ago, I struggled finding ways to stay on the wagon but you have changed that for thousands upon thousands… with so many more people doing Keto, a TV show dedicated to it is definitely warranted!! When people hear I’m doing Keto they say things like, “don’t you miss pizza, desserts, potatoes, bread, etc??” Um no, because I haven’t had to miss them, I just ketofy them lol!! Would love to see you on something like “Next Food Network Star” so you could show the world how you Ketofy 🙂
Is there a substitute for the whey protein’s properties? Like pea protein? I have a “kale shake powder” from dr berg that is mostly pea protein.
I love this recipe. I was wondering what is the best way for me to store the donuts.
They are fine on the counter for 2 days but should probably be refrigerated after that.
You just made my diabetic self oh-so-happy! These are bomb.
I do have a LOT of cookbooks. It would be really hard for me to pick a favorite, but right now its your Ketogenic Kitchen one, lol. Other than that I have a big collection from “the old days” of Cooking Light cookbooks with so many ear marked pages and sticky tabs from recipes I made over and over that became family favorites. I still reference those recipes and just make them “not light” and “not carby”, lol. 🙂
I made these yesterday and absolutely love them! What a treat. Next time I might put a little more sweetener in the cake part. Thanks, Carolyn.