Chocolate Doughnut Cookies - With PB Frosting

In my attempts to do some recipe re-vamps from my old blog that were non-vegan-friendly, I started my afternoon a few days back with the cocoa Irish Oat Cakes. When I made these originally, they had eggs and honey (both of which are not "vegan").
So this time around, I wanted to see what happened if I changed it up a bit. Instead, I completely changed the recipe - so something else happened. These little cookies that tasted like cake-textured doughnuts. So I went with it, and frosted them. Happily.
The recipe made 10 cookies altogether, and I was only able to save 4 for the man to "taste test"... And his 4 cookies didn't last very long either... So I think it's safe to say that these pass the test! :)

The new recipe is short and sweet, but sugar-free! (Unless you frost them... Then there's sugar...)
I feel strange calling them Oat Cakes now though, because the texture was completely different, so I'll name them:

Chocolate Doughnut Cookies (with PB Frosting)

Ingredients:

• 12 small pitted dates
• 3/4 cup vanilla almond millk
• 2 tbsp chia seeds
• 1/2 cup oats
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 3 tbsp coconut flour
• 3 tbsp shredded coconut
• 1 tbsp almond flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• pinch sea salt

Method:

• Pre-heat oven to320, and use coconut oil to prepare a cookie sheet, or just use parchment paper - your call!
• Blend the dates, almond milk, and chia seeds until smooth. 
• Add all of the dry ingredients, and stir/blend just until combined.
• Take about 2 tbsp of the batter per cookie, and flatten to about 1/4" thick. Really, you can shape this however you want, but I used a "muffin top" cookie sheet. This works so well for cookies! 
• Once all of the cookies are in place, bake for about 20 minutes. Check the bottoms of the cookies - if they're dark, take them out. If the cookies are still super soft, allow to bake for another 5-10 minutes. This really depends on your oven, as I've baked in different ovens at different altitudes during different times of year, and used a consistent recipe - but had different results. But use your best judgement here - you want the bottoms to be slightly darker than the rest of the cookie, and you want to be able to pick it up without it being mushy and falling apart. The texture of these cookies will be somewhat cake-like, but a bit on the firm/dry side. 
• Remove from oven, and allow to cool on a parchment paper lined plate (or a cooling rack - but I don't have one of those...) 
• Frost if you like, and allow to set in the fridge! I've included my recipe for a simple peanut butter frosting below: 

Peanut Butter Frosting

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup icing sugar
• 1/4 cup vanilla almond milk
• 2 tbsp PB2 (powdered peanut butter)

Method:

• Mix all together until smooth. You can adjust the consistency by adding more icing sugar or almond milk!