Rawbits!

Canadians love their doughnuts. So much so, they have become part of our culture. Timbits, the brand name of bite-sized doughnut balls sold at the popular coffee shop franchise Tim Hortons, has become a generic term for what the United States and other parts of the world call “donut holes.” They were first introduced in 1976 and come in various flavours like chocolate glazed, honey dip, jelly-filled, sour cream glazed and apple fritter.

I haven’t had a Timbit in over 15 years, so I thought it was about time I created my own version in the form of rawbits. This recipe came about after Lisa showed me a raw bread technique using a particular ingredient that helps obtain a soft and spongy bread-like texture. I thought this would be a fabulous way to create raw doughnuts, so I started playing with different flours, flavours and sweeteners in order to come up with a version that has a similar doughy texture and is as tasty as the real thing.

These are nothing like the popular raw truffle balls, dense and flavourful in their own right, or even anything like Ani Phyo’s version. These babies make use of Irish moss, an incredible ingredient often used in raw desserts to create a thick, gelatinous consistency, and then they’re dehydrated overnight to form a soft “cooked” texture, and then covered in a sweet, shiny glaze.

You’d never know these are raw. Or good for you.

While I’m on the subject of raw treats, I should remind you that you have 8 days left to enter the Raw Cake Pop Challenge! I’m really looking forward to seeing what you come up with. Read this post for more details. [Update: This challenge is now over.]

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Chocolate rawbits

Yield: one dozen

Ingredients:

Rawbits:

• 1 1/2 cups almond meal
• 3/4 cup coconut flakes, ground
• 1/3 cup flax meal
• 1/2 cup raw cacao powder
• 1/2 tsp vanilla powder (or seeds of 1 vanilla bean)
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
• 1/4 cup chopped dates, soaked until soft
• 3 tbsp Irish moss paste (see instructions here)

Chocolate glaze:

• 3 tbsp coconut oil, melted
• 3 tbsp pure maple syrup
• 1 tbsp raw cacao powder, sifted

Directions:

Rawbits:

1. In a food processor, pulse the almond meal, ground coconut, flax meal, cacao powder, vanilla powder, cinnamon and salt to combine.
2. Add the maple syrup, chopped dates and Irish moss and process until the mixture forms into sticky dough. Put the mixture in the fridge for about 20 minutes to allow it to firm up.
3. Remove the dough from the fridge and roll small balls with your hands, about 1 tablespoon each. Place the balls on a dehydrator tray and dehydrate overnight. The balls should be slightly firm on the outside and no longer sticky.
4. Dip the balls in the chocolate glaze and place on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Refrigerate for about an hour to dry. Store rawbits in a covered container in the fridge.

Chocolate glaze:

1. Whisk together all ingredients in a small bowl. Keep at room temperature until ready to use.