Old Fashioned Donuts. GF. (You’d never know it!) 

Easy, baked in your own humble oven tender cozy deliciousness.


The back story.

I missed donuts- fiercely!- when I first went gluten-free, I admit. And the sad frozen offerings in the GF frozen food section do not tempt me. One bit. So I went donut-less for years until this recipe. And this donut pan. Life changing.


December is my gluten-free anniversary. And in 2018… that makes it Number 17 (!) Darling. 

So I thought I’d celebrate by sharing this fabulous donut recipe again.


And the best news- for so many of you— these are vegan. No dairy, no butter, no eggs. Believe me, they don’t need all that farm fresh moo-cow cluck-cluck business. Seriously. The flavor is just right. Not too sweet, with a kiss of nutmeg and a cinnamon or powdered sugar dusting.

These little gems rock.

Gluten-Free Cake Donuts Recipe with Powdered Sugar or Cinnamon

Originally published December 2010.

I used my 12-count mini donut pan to bake these little beauties, so this recipe will make a dozen small donuts. They bake in only 15 minutes. If you have a pan for 6 larger donuts, the recipe may take slightly longer to bake. Check your manufacturer’s instructions for guidelines in baking a bigger donut.

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

Ingredients:

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together:

1 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup millet flour or certified gluten-free oat flour
1/2 cup potato starch (not potato flour)
2 tablespoons hazelnut flour or almond flour
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Add:

1/4 cup Spectrum Organic Shortening
1/2 cup vegan sour cream (or plain vegan yogurt)
1/4 cup So Delicious Coconut Milk (or plain rice or nut milk)
Ener-G Egg Replacer for two eggs mixed with a scant 1/4 cup warm water
1 teaspoon bourbon vanilla extract


Instructions:

Add the shortening first, by spoonfuls, and use the mixer’s whisk attachment or a pastry cutter to help it distribute the shortening until the flour mix becomes sand textured.

Add in the vegan sour cream, coconut milk, egg replacer and vanilla extract, and mix until the dough forms a smooth and pliable dough. It should be slightly sticky- but not too sticky to handle. (If the dough is too wet and cannot easily form a ball when you roll it in your palms, add a bit more flour.)

Divide the dough into 12 sections and roll each piece in your palms to form a ball roughly the size of a golf ball Your hands should be slightly oily from the shortening- this is good.

Using your palms, gently roll the dough into a log shape and carefully- gently- continue to roll it into a cigar shape about 4 to 5 inches long. Drape the dough into the well of a donut pan, and slightly overlap the two ends to make a circle. Don’t get fussy yet. Just lay it in there.

Continue as above with the remaining dough balls.

Using oily or slightly wet fingers, smooth out the dough evenly. Don’t smoosh it down into the well- simply finesse it a bit so that it comes together evenly as a ring.

Bake in the center of a pre-heated oven for 15 minutes, until firm to the touch.

Mine baked at exactly 15 minutes. Don’t over bake these little babies- remember, the center of the mold is hot too, so the donut rings are baking from both sides.

Remove the pan and set it on a wire rack to cool a bit. As soon as it’s cool enough to handle, remove the donuts from the pan and place them bottom side up on a wire rack (if they stay in the hot pan too long, gluten-free goodies get soggy bottoms).

When cooled a bit, sift confectioner’s sugar or a mix of confectioner’s sugar and ground cinnamon all over the donuts.

Scarf down immediately with a hot cup of Double D coffee. Best eaten the day you bake ’em.

Cook time: 15 min

Yield: One dozen mini donuts.

Recipe Source: glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com

GFG Notes:

If you are nut-free, replace the two tablespoons of hazelnut flour with sorghum or rice flour.

If you’d rather use an egg, use 1 large free range organic egg, beaten.

I used vegan soy sour cream, but any sour cream or plain yogurt will work.

For milk subs, choose a good tasting neutral milk- the flavor of these donuts is pretty subtle. Don’t pick a strong milk like hemp. If you want to make these ahead of time, bake, cool, and freeze plain. Then thaw and dust with powdered sugar for serving.

I’m now using w-a-a-a-y less brown rice and brown rice flour, and eating fewer rice cakes, etc. Here’s why- there are elevated arsenic levels in rice.