That magical combination of salty and sweet in a gluten-free, dairy-free mini donut. Enjoy these little gems guilt-free!

I hope people clicking through to this recipe won’t become annoyed at the title because Healthy Salted Caramel Mini Donuts don’t contain caramel. Instead they contain something that is a great healthy substitute for caramel – Peanut Butter Cookie Lara Bars (Lara Bar is the product/brand name and Peanut Butter Cookie is the flavor). Believe it or not, when you purée dates and peanuts together, which is all that a Peanut Butter Cookie Lara Bar is, you get something that tastes remarkably like caramel and not at all like peanut butter. These bars are not as chewy and gooey as caramel but they are intensely sweet, and the flavor is about as close to caramel as the combination of any two all natural, whole foods could possibly be, which is why I knew they would work perfectly in a healthy version of mini salted caramel donuts.  (more…)