'doughnut' holes - a foray into the raw food movement

my entire stove unit stopped working last week. oven, burners, everything.
'how on earth am i supposed to blog now?' was all i could think about.

luckily, a quick visit from the electrician solved the problem, and i once again have a fully-functioning oven and four useful stovetop burners. but in the interim between the breakdown and the fixup, i went looking for some good non-cook recipes.
i had cut out a very interesting recipe from the 'denver post' a few months ago. they had done a story on doughtnuts (in honor of the upcoming simpsons movie) and provided two non-doughnut-but-doughnut-ish recipes. one happened to be a raw doughnut hole concoction. what better time to go 'raw' than when your oven doesn't work? and even though i technically could cook by the time i got around to making these, i was already so enticed by the idea of these uncooked doughnuts that i had to give them a go.

(i halved the recipe. that's why the measurements might seem a bit odd)

raw doughnut holes
from ani's raw food kitchen, reprinted by the denver post

• 7/8 cups almonds
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup dried pineapple, soaked until soft, chopped
• 1 cup dried pitted dates, chopped
• 1/6 cup plus 1/8 cup shredded coconut

1) place almonds and salt in food processor. process into a fine powder
2) add vanilla, pineapple, and dates. mix well. place mixture in a large bowl
3) mix in 1/6 cup coconut
4) with a cookie dough scoop, scoop the mixture into 'holes' and roll each ball in the remaining coconut
5) serve or refrigerate for up to a week

and there they are. at least in the SHAPE of doughnut holes.

the above picture being after i'd taken a bite . . .

these were pretty tasty. very simple. the coconut flavor was VERY dominant. so i suppose when the recipe says they taste doughnut-ish, they're probably referring to doughnuts covered in coconut. which is all well and good, because i happen to love coconut doughnuts. i happen to love pretty much any doughnut except those filled with jelly. i'm pretty easy in that department.
i saved some of the mixture prior to the final step of rolling it all in coconut. so i gave it a taste test against the post-rolling balls. i definitely liked the extra coconut flavor better, but i wanted to see if i could discern a doughnut taste without all of that extra sweetness. it's kind of stretching it, but if you REALLY put your mind to it, it does indeed resemble the flavor of a plain cake doughnut. and when i say REALLY, i mean it's almost not worth the effort. might as well just enjoy it for the sweet, raw, not-needing-an-oven dessert that it is.

these are healthier than doughnuts. that is definitely a fact. but my advice is that if you want a doughnut that badly, just get a doughnut. these will not leave you satisfied and are a fairly poor substitution.