Donut with a chocolate glaze is one dessert that can be made delicious and healthy when baked without butter. Like this variety chocolate glazed donut plate, where some are jammed… as in raspberry jam.
Chocolate and raspberry are a decadent pairing and can be made healthy (with dark cacao and low-sugar). Raw cacao and organic raspberries are loaded with polyphenols that are anti-inflammatory good. And baked in with no butter in this recipe, you can stick with the healthy theme.
Chocolate pairs well with almost any flavor like coconut, and many of them are healthy like nuts, fruits, and spices.
And in our flavor choices… once upon a time, I ate my last Boston cream filling donut (…well, that was not healthy)…
And the donut showed up on my arm the next day. 😀
I don’t think I’ve had a store-bought Boston cream donut since. Even though I love how shiny cute they look and glossy glazed. And don’t get me started about the fresh bakery scent trail it leaves. 🍩
…But kidding aside, I found other store-bought ways to get the sweet taste without the fried-ness in traditional donuts. …because like high sugar, fried foods are addictive.
You can’t have JUST ONE and be satisfied. If you’re like, you fight willpower.
…So if you eat smaller bites and healthy sweets, then there’s no guilt.. and there’s NO “eat now, pay later” after-effect.
Those are all heathy moves.
And when there’s an emergency donut sugar craving 😊… (for a sweet tooth, that’s often)… low-sugar snacks like this healthy baked dark chocolate glazed donut do the trick.
Oh, and there’s no butter in this recipe. Healthy fat foods like a little coconut oil (that’s minimal) is a good alternative. You can also use a light olive oil that has minimal savory tastes.
And if you’re someone who likes variety, you can zhugh and flavor each baked donut with different looks and tastes.
Like rose and rosewater, pistachio, unsweetened shredded coconut and other plant-based foods. 🌹🥥🌱
They’re good healthy food substitutes. And if you’re looking for a good sweet food substitute, give this baked coconut donut a GO-GO! 🥥
Baked Chocolate Glazed Donut - Healthy Donut Alternative
A healthier donut baked with gluten-free flour with a shiny chocolate glaze top and healthy toppings.
Course Breakfast, Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 4donuts
Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets
Ingredients
1cupcoconut flour (or gluten-free flour)
3/4cup all purpose flour
2tspcoconut oil (or neutral oil)
1tspyeast
1egg
3/4cupmilk of choice
pistachio bits and shredded coconut (zhugh)
1/4cupdark chocolate, melted (zhugh)
low-sugar raspberry jam (optional)
Instructions
Combine donut cake ingredients by hand. Use enough milk to get the consistency closest to a cake batter (not too liquid and not too dense). Grease your pan with coconut oil and pour batter into the pan. Bake on 350°F/180°C until top looks baked and a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool. Cut out with round cookie cutter (easier to do before completely cooled).
After cooled, to add (oozing) raspberry jam to centers, poke a food skewer through the middle side of the donut to make a hollow tunnel in the donut. Use a food syringe or a squeezable jam bottle to insert jam into the tunnel.
Make melted chocolate glaze and dip donut top side in glaze.
Zhugh with coconuts and pistachio bits while glaze is still wet.
Keep the donuts out in a cool spot for 2 days or for longer lasting, refrigerate in a covered container.
Rumination is something I know a lot about. It’s a form of overthinking and worry that can come from deep-rooted fears.
Feeling fear is an opportunity for your (subconscious) ego to get a hold of your thoughts and mind.
…That can keep you playing small in your precious life that you’re the star in 🌟and uniquely play out.
Opposing efforts are the ego fears showing up that are the opposite of love. …And loving thoughts and actions.
…So cutting them out is a good personal growth mission.
And that’s not something you would likely have learned in school or in your work life. And actually, probably picked up more ego behaviors along the way than pushed them aside.
But when you get to the bottom of your fears and you’re aware in conscious living in your life journey, that can help you conquer fears.
…That lets you have more love to give. And when you love yourself (first), then that invites in more love you can offer to the world in abundant ways and mindset.
Sometimes you end up going down unproductive storyline rabbit trails that turn into a negative spiral loop. That’s when you want to reset… or else risk staying stuck.
Resetting our minds by taking a walk, getting on a yoga mat, journaling, flipping the script, replacing thoughts, or doing other productive exercises are healthy intentional steps.
Because bad thoughts are usually counterproductive in some way. And negative (unloving) thoughts always hurt.
But taking a few mindful present thought moments can help the reset. When you pause and take a deep breather… you have a small window to make a positive micro shift adjustment in your day.
Because deep breathing in and out sends fresh oxygen to the mind, resets the body, and helps clean out the cobwebs from growing in the soul… 💨
The soul is at the seat of your mind, will (choices), and emotions that are deep within the body.
You can invite in your spirit to help lighten the load.
But not all of us do.
You get to exercise that right (choice).
Taking deep breaths is a good habit, reminder, and first step.
It’s also a natural cure for uncontrollable heart palpitations that can come from anxiety.
If you’re a natural Vata body (Ayurvedic dosha), you know exactly how that feels in you as you’ve lived it throughout your life. And those around you with similar bodies, have too.
And when you do deep breathing exercises like 4-7-8 breathing, counting is even easier than yoga or meditating.
It’s an empowering habit you can do anytime and anywhere.
And that helps to counteract triggered rumination thoughts that appear in your day out of nowhere…
That’s this life… where at any moment when life is in play, anything can happen.
And this article may be useful to add more calm in your life by making aware of your ruminating thoughts occupying daily space.
You can tell them to take a hike and make them go away sooner. 😊
…Because it is up to you!
And that should feel good.
Even if and especially if you’re naturally more of a thinker and you like to analyze situations.
You’re often impacted more by rumination thoughts because you tend to get inside your head.
…It’s not your fault or anyone’s fault for how you were naturally built.
That’s what sets you and I apart from animals and our plant-based world we nicely co-exist with.
And to use our higher and super powers to rule our planet for good, we need healthy mindset practices.
So that for unsettled situations, our minds will search for better answers.
We can bypass the rabbit trails and potential misery.
Because unawareness = unconsciousness… and awareness = consciousness.
And connecting the dots… unconsciousnesss means our subconscious takes the wheel and that’s where the harmful ego can rear its ugly head.
Turning thoughts into incessant rumination that can affect our entire day and outlook beyond.
Until we stop them dead in their tracks.
Because naturally they don’t stop on their own in a cycle.
The ego protection (that you don’t need most the time) wants you to believe in make-believe. And in its harmful destruction, ego wants you to hold onto bad and unloving thoughts… or else something bad will happen.
That’s hardly the truth.
The opposite will happen…
Where losing rumination, you’ll get your healthy day back and bypass your misery.
When I was growing up, we listened to cassette tapes. And sometimes the tapes got stuck in the player, and then would play the same riff over and over again.
…Until we stepped in and did something about it. We had to turn off the tape player temporarily and fix the problem.
The problem was usually that the playing tape got wrapped around wrong. And when we’re aware, we’d take a pen and roll back the tape around until it was back in line inside the cassette… that would be a good thing to do with our triggered thoughts. 💭
And if the cassette was too damaged, then we could do small repairs like cutting the tape out (…remember that? Those were the days 😊).
We’d tape the good parts together and have a new restored tape.
If successfully done, the tape would be missing the cut out music tape parts that never was as noticeably dramatic as we thought.
And that’s how our thoughts can be. If we cut out bad parts, we’re fixing our bad tapes playing repetitive, non-productive rumination messsages in our heads.
Simple fixes and exercises take seconds to restore back to the healthy.
Where changing thoughts is healthy self-help. 🎉
You’re then no longer a prisoner to your thoughts… unless you allow thoughts to take you captive.
No one in this life comes out with perfect thoughts or are unscathed in this life… but the more practice in changing thoughts, the better you get at it.
And the sooner you feel better, the sooner you learn contentment and joy from happiness within that you’re in control of.
…NOT controlled by external daily situations that life serves up.
It’s your loving lens and perceptions that make the difference… and how you will get more outta this life!
Ego is the wildcard we have no control over.
Except when we’re conscious, then we can kick our subconscious (ego) to the curb.
We can turn to LOVE and our self-serving thoughts (positive thoughts).
So now that that’s clear, BE on close guard.
ALWAYS.
Even if you’re busy, don’t let your guard down.
Slow your life down.
And specifically slow your thoughts down.
Pause.
Don’t react.
And practice saying, “let me think (or pray) about that.”
This is language that your ego hates as this doesn’t let you knee-jerk react (or in some cases if we’re honest, act like a jerk).
If you choose love, you won’t mess up.
Always choose love.
That’s always easier. You don’t have to discern or figure out what you should do in life’s many gray areas and situation you’re part of.
If it feels loving and positive, then you know you’re headed in the right direction somehow, even if you’re not certain how.
It doesn’t matter who or where you are! This works with the love from above. And pays off on earth.
Mental Health Awareness Month is a reminder in May that health is not just physical, it’s mental too… and it especially matters in the deep mind-body connection.
Each and every day is an opportunity for growth toward living better wellness and gaining mental health awareness that stems from our deeper insides.
Mental health is spiritual and linked to our spiritual well being that completes the mind-body-spirit in us.
If you grow your spiritual sides, you’re exercising and growing mental health.
…Like lifting weights or your heart rate for your physical body health.
The heart and mind are closely related and getting quiet time allows you to tap into those spiritual feeling-thought areas that make up our daily mental health.
You can think of your spirit as your heart that often refers to your gut feelings (that aren’t actually in the gut). The effect is a gut-heart connection.
We already know there’s a stomach gut-mind connection as most of our happy hormones are made in the gut that affect how we feel and think.
Essentially when we exercise our right to re-route our negative thoughts and flip them to positive and loving ones, we do ourselves a world of good.
We bypass bad thoughts and feelings resulting in some form of misery that’s unessential for us to grow.
Mental health awareness (wellness) allows us to see and observe that they’re related and happening inside us.
It’s deep and not easy to see what our own minds are thinking and even more obscure to see what our hearts are thinking at any moment…
And it’s even more challenging with mental health disorder filters or if temporary inflicted by common states like anxiety.
These ways cloud views, so keeping up wellness and living balanced is what I’m passionate about.
And bringing our awareness to present moments helps us process what’s going on at any time.
Also relationships make great mirrors in what we communicate verbally and non-verbally. 🪞
We can find out what’s going on with us.
And make happy mental health changes, so we’re free to live our most fulfilled lives!
Happiness was not talked about when I was growing up. And wellness was not something mentioned in the Corporate America jobs I held for decades.
So Mental Health Awareness Month is one of the several recognized events throughout the year to keep a reminder going… and to recognize how far we’ve come.
It’s a way to celebrate strides and not go back to our darker ways and pasts.
In the past, so many of us kept our mental health sides quiet and hidden. And generations before, even more so.
We’re a much more aware society, open to growth.
That’s something to healthy celebrate! 🎉
In the end, it’s our personal health that dictates what we can and can’t do…
And if you don’t know why you’ve suffered in relationships that are mirrors reflecting back, you probably have some hidden areas that need healing.
They’re hidden so you’ve never seen them and how getting them into view can change your mental health.
That’s what my journey taught me…
I didn’t know what I didn’t know. I saw a bright future forward and ahead, and never thought to look backward.
Until I was stuck. And I reaped opportunities to be in company with healers.
They made me realize forgiveness could bridge the gap to my wholeness.
That removed the subconscious blocks and made them conscious for healing.
Without wholeness that comes from healing, a person is never free from their imperfect past (that we all have no matter how much we enjoyed our childhood).
And if there is a current triggered situation in life, that can be an opportunity to clear out the past cobwebs.
And remove being a prisoner to the ego mind that’ll subconsciously make the situation worse.
That robs joy and happiness.
…In the one life you and I get.
…We’re here to evolve and get better and whole.
And that’s up to each of us.
Best remedies any of us can apply in mental health awareness is self-care that can include: yoga, meditation, nature walks, church, connectedness and all of the above.
And in those moments, you can gather answers to:
Are you healed from your past? Or do you still carry burdens?
…And maybe a current life problem is helping you to get to root causes.
Mental health awareness blockages means there’s some healing needed.
Some signs to look for:
You can’t talk about your past, sob deeply, or get defensive about certain triggering situations or people.
Witness the words you use and say, and if they are being defensive or blaming others.
Have you forgiven those who hurt you? It doesn’t matter if they knew what they did to you or not… OR whether or not they can apologize today. Those would be good if they restored the peace, but usually we’re in situations where we can’t get that closure.
But you can get forgiveness so you can heal and move healthy and happy on.
Doing this in a retreat or healing session with others is good because then you know for certain it happened as you have an event to remember and wasn’t just a few thoughts you had.
Also, do you ruminate on the same past thoughts?
If you do, you have to get closure or clarity, or you’ll always be carrying the burden of feeling stuck.
Clarity feels like peace and maybe even being able to laugh at some of the things that happened that were so traumatic before. They helped you grow to your wholeness and maybe even help others going through similar challenges.
Remember the saying, “What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.”
And feeling sorry for those who don’t know any better helps you have compassion for others.
Often it’s mental health that becomes the barrier to do better.
Because hurt people, hurt people.
And when you’re healed, you can see that clearly.
That goes beyond your past, processing, and forgiving and creating a new way to look at the past.
Then you can be the answer to people around you needing answers to their problems.
…And when you do, you can realize how far you’ve come! 🙌
Sugar cookies can be tasty and healthy cookies with honey as the sweetness. And this recipe uses 4 ingredients and is one-bowl easy.
And with strawberry (or any berry), that’s berry good! 🍓 Like this plate of cookies is made low-sugar, gluten-free… and tasty good. Recipe below 👇
How this low-sugar sugar cookie recipe is different and can be cookie controversial is that there is no white sugar (or sugar crystal substitutes like Stevia that alters tastes).
With an optional light strawberry chocolate glaze at the end, you can keep this naturally low-sugar without missing a sugar beat! 🎉
Think of the strawberry seeds as sugar seeds 😊 And the gluten-free cookie crumbly bits falling off as sugar bits to please your sweet cravings.
This is a cookie challenge because with sugar in the name, NO table sugar doesn’t make sense… but if you’re like me, you’re up for the low-sugar challenge for your healthy body!
It’s a good balance FOR sweet taste buds with a healthy mix so there’s NO compromise.
And this is an EASY challenge because there are only 3 wholesome ingredients needed for these one-bowl sugar cookies to come together. And white table sugar is not one of them.
It’s 1/2 teaspoon of natural honey sugar per regular-size cookie cutter cookie. And you can substitute butter that’s usually in cookies with coconut oil if you would like to make your sugar cookies more healthy.
But it was not easy to come up with this on my end…
This was a journey… because I remember the crunchy hard sugar cookie vividly with sugar crystals on top shaped in dainty flowers with a whole in the middle that I once happily dreamed about. 🧒🏻
I had a sweet relationship with sugar.
…Never in my wildest dreams did I think making and eating my own cookies would be a typical Day in the Life that I’m happy about.
…And I never thought I’d graduate to making my own sugar cookie… without sugar crystals.
Maybe you get it because you too ate spoonfuls of sugar (and enjoyed every sugary food thing out there) like those of us who have a sweet tooth (or a full set of sweet teeth 😊)?
Thankfully for us who also aspire to healthy… the less sugar we eat, the less we crave and the fewer sweet taste buds as we get older.
That helps us align happy and healthy living.
Happy living is good for mental health.
And so if you want to add a glaze top to cookies and desserts, you can balance the healthy and happy ways (…and that’s what pleases my healthy and ex-catering self 😊).
Here on this plate I use a melted chocolate. I chose strawberry chocolate, but white or dark chocolate would work great too.
But in reality, most people use powdered sugar with a flavored liquid for a quick sweet glaze.
And that’s where sugar amounts can be over the top (in more ways than one!). ☹️
Because powdered sugar glazes are using another form of potent table sugar and even more white sugar, that’s not good and can tip the scales.
…AND you need a-lottta powdered sugar to make very little glaze. About 1-3/4 cup of powdered sugar is needed to replace 1 cup of granulated sugar… UGH!
So finding healthier ways like melting real chocolate is a smart and sweet tasty idea…
And you can happily smear the melted chocolate glaze on tops as you anticipate your cookie plate.
That’s one glaze that will go far! A mere 2 oz. of chocolate with a teaspoon of coconut oil will give the shine and get the job done for half-a-dozen cookies.
…You can make this no-guilt, low-sugar cookie batch in minutes when you get the sweet hankering!
Mental health matters as part of our spiritual earthly existence.
Every day matters. And every morning when we start the day matters.
A good mental health morning exercise can be watching sunrise.
The meaning and feelings we carry into our day determine how the day will go in our situations… like on this eventful sunrise morning I watched on the day that the new Pope was announced. 🌅
The day before, I didn’t know why the live event I was planning to go to near me was cancelled.
…Other than the obvious that the speaker had an event conflict.
…But I know in this miracle spiritual existence that there was more to it. There’s a part two in life, and that’s not a coincidence.
Situations playing out are NOT random.
And that’s important to know.
That it’s not just about the earthy situations that play out.
There’s something bigger going on above us.
…I’ve been living on earth long enough spiritually with Mother Nature and Father God to know… and appreciate.
And you may too know there are spiritual forces going on in our heavenly realm that affect our life on this green earth. Thank God!
And on this particular day, the stars aligned for a good spiritual reason.
I was part of that unfolding (and so were you).
…wherever we are on this planet.
Life plays out and when we show up in the present, we get to see the happenings in 3-D motion picture.
That’s a gift. 🎁
…And a good reminder for any of us to treat each day special (…and to take frequent mental health breaks).
Life’s too short to spare any days from feeling joy.
Life is a gift in smaller miracle moments… like young children happy or happy crying, but they don’t have the older minds to express why they’re deeply moved.
…Or why you feel unexplainable chills at certain times that you know come from a connected source a million miles away.
There are some times when there’s no explanation for why something happened (or was supposed to happen but it didn’t).
As random as it can seem, it’s all so organized and planned. And that’s why life is amazing!
…And miraculous.
Miracles touch our lives and constantly shape and re-route us into change from our earlier, less mature thinking ways.
Reflecting on the past helps to remind us that we are meant to keep growing. We also celebrate how far we’ve come.
When we have good mental health, we recognize life growth and opportunities are in the ordinary experiences that life serves up… not just big events.
And it’s not just up to us.
…That’s what I used to think.
It’s more like a life dance where we make a move and then wait-and-see.
We show up and then see what happens while we play.
Life is made like a game so we don’t get bored.
While you’re doing life… as you figure out how you best fit in and keep playing your best game, finding your spiritual pieces grows you.
Awareness helps your mental health.
Because life won’t slow down and building you inner self makes everything in life more alive and better.
…And Especially because life turns out a lot different than what we hoped for.
Through our trial experiences and long waiting, we’ve grown.
And that helps our mental health.
Learning from old mindset placeholders that were not so healthy helps to transform us.
…And flexibly not sticking only to familiarity.
Those earlier ways prepared us to be shaped for new growth…
Spiritual personal growth.
Allowing yourself to change is spiritually healthy where the infinite possibilities grow.
….Today I know that when I randomly turn my head when I could be looking straight ahead, that was a purpose call to make me look at something… and not miss it!
…And maybe for others, to not miss their something (like this message).
Miracles are happening every day… and in every moment… within you.
And when you choose to flip-the-script from doubtful thoughts that can intercept and re-appear from no where, that is how you’ll appreciate your life and strengthen your mental health in the moment.
Inner spiritual growth grows your mental health.
And good mental health provides opportunity for spiritual growth.
Daily, we’re fighting with our minds against spiritual warfare running alongside miracles.
That’s a battle going on in the Universe and that shows up as a struggle in our minds that we can’t see and whether we choose to believe or not.
A spiritual intervention can save you.
On my journey, I had a divine intervention that was so loud it uprooted my life. At the time it looked like a mental health breakdown….
But it was the bridge that re-routed me to my purpose calling.
And as odd as they may be, as long as you’re not hurting others or harming yourself, inviting in unconventional divine interventions can be part of your ordinary way to live.
They help to tear down what’s holding any of us back, that we can’t see in our routine life.
They open us up to real happiness in this life… and share truth about what’s ahead.
They helped me call out my ego… and now I know the enemy I’m facing (that I was once blind to).
…It’s not people or situations in this life.
About maybe you’re wondering if you ever had a spiritual intervention or how to experience one…
You would know if you had… and to experience, you would need to open yourself to a different life than the one you live now.
And maybe you’re wondering why haven’t you felt your spirit move or intervene as people like me describe.
You probably have, but were too busy listening to and doing culture’s ways.
Your calendar was full.
And there was no spirit listening time scheduled.
Because the spirits listens to you all day and whispers to you on a quiet frequency…
And to hear, a willing heart is required.
…And good mental health is needed.
Those are the physical requirements… or you’ll likely miss it.
…And then miss your authentic life.
…And empowered happiness that’s available all the time.
Where you’re never feeling alone whether you’re single or married.
I know this deeply because this has been my spiritual and mental health growth journey.
The journey path wasn’t what I dreamt of.
…I didn’t sign up for what came my way.
But my call was to keep going and growing and that’s when personal growth showed up that required my strength and mental health.
All so I could find my missions I was born for.
…Where when you think about it, you and I won life’s lottery beating the odds when we were born.
And your mission… should you choose to accept it, is to find out what you were authentically born for.
