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Soft, fluffy, baked vegan doughnuts flavoured with warm cinnamon and nutmeg. They're also coated with a layer of cinnamon and sugar. Doesn't that sound perfect? And one more thing...you can also make them gluten free! I've included instructions on how to make them both ways below.
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These beauties are the latest addition to my collection of vegan doughnuts. And like all the others, with this recipe you can choose to make cinnamon sugar vegan doughnuts OR cinnamon sugar vegan gluten free doughnuts.
These doughnuts remind me of my cake doughnut mini muffins recipe. They also remind me a little of churros (vegan churro doughnuts?) because of the cinnamon and sugar mix. Either way, they're delicious and a favourite. I hope you like them as much as I do, too!
To come up with this recipe, I went back to my chai doughnuts recipe and used it as a base for this one, removing a few ingredients, and swapping a few others.
So let's go through all the info you'll need to successfully make this vegan doughnut recipe, shall we?
How to Make Them
(Note: I’ve outlined the step-by-step on how to make this recipe here, but find the full recipe, ingredients, and directions at the end of this post.)
Like all of my other doughnut recipes, this one is also very easy since they're baked and not fried.
First, you'll mix together the dry ingredients in one bowl, mix the wet ingredients in another, combine the two and then mix.
Next, you'll spoon or pipe the batter into your doughnut pan (<-- that's an Amazon Link), smooth the tops, if needed, and then bake.
Once the doughnuts have finished baking, let them sit in the pan for a few minutes and then remove and place on a cooling rack. While they're cooling, make the cinnamon sugar mix.
Once fully cooled, one by one, you'll lightly brush the tops with a little melted coconut oil, and then dunk each doughnut top into the cinnamon sugar.
I like to brush the tops of the doughnuts rather than dipping them in the oil. This way, less oil is used and absorbed into the doughnut. You really only need a light coat for the cinnamon sugar to stick well.
After you've followed all the steps, they're ready! See? Easy!
Oh, and if you want to coat both sides of the doughnuts in cinnamon sugar, double the cinnamon sugar mixture and dunk both sides in!
How Do I Make Them Gluten-Free?
You swap the all purpose flour for the recommended gluten free flour blend, that's it! All of the info is below in the recipe. And note, I use the Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free bland in the blue bag.
Note that if you make the vegan gluten free doughnuts, your batter will be thick, that's okay, that's how it's supposed to be. The result for this version will be a little more dense than the non gluten-free version. But they'll be just as delicious, so not to worry about that!
What is the Texture Like?
Fluffy, soft, and perfect. A baked doughnut is never going to be like a fried doughnut, the texture will always be different. A baked doughnut is more like cake. Doughnut shaped cake 🙂 And of course, they contain no yeast, so the texture is also going to be different from a yeast doughnut.
Below, you can see the inside of the vegan doughnut on the right and the vegan gluten free doughnut on the left.
You'll also notice that the one on the left is a little darker inside, that was when I was testing how much cinnamon to add to the recipe, so that one contained a little more cinnamon than the other.
What If I Don't Have a Doughnut Pan?
That's okay. If you're looking to buy a doughnut pan, this is the one I have and I love it. I highly recommend it.
If you aren't ready to buy one just yet, I have had readers tell me (I have not tested these myself) that they have made my other doughnut recipes in regular muffin pans, mini muffin pans, and even in mini bundt pans with success.
(If baking in a regular muffin pan or a mini bundt pan, you may get less than 6 and baking time will roughly be around 20 minutes. If baking in a mini muffin pan, baking time will remain the same and you will end up with more than 6.)
Can I Freeze Them?
Yes, however, they are best when they're enjoyed fresh, but if you need to make them ahead of time, don't add the cinnamon sugar topping until after they have thawed.
So bake the doughnuts, cool, and freeze. When ready, fully thaw and when they've reached room temperature, you can move ahead with adding the cinnamon sugar topping.
If you make them, please share a pic with me on Instagram!
If you like this recipe, you may also like some of my other vegan doughnut recipes (they can all be made vegan only or vegan gluten free, too!):
- Baked Chocolate Doughnuts
- Baked Lemon Doughnuts
- Baked Chai-Spiced Doughnuts
- Baked Pumpkin Doughnuts
- Baked Maple Doughnuts
- Baked Chocolate Mint Doughnuts
- Baked Vegan Apple Cider Doughnuts
Vegan Cinnamon Sugar Doughnuts
Suggested Equipment:
Ingredients:
For the Doughnuts:
- 1 tablespoon ground flax seeds
- 3 tablespoons water
- 1 cup (148g) gluten free flour OR all-purpose flour (125g) (see important note about flour below)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ cup (120ml) non-dairy milk
- 2 tablespoons (30ml) melted coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the Cinnamon Sugar Topping:
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons melted coconut oil
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 375° F (190° C)
- Grease your doughnut pan (if needed).
- Prepare your flax egg by whisking together ground flax seeds and water. Set aside to thicken.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
- In a small bowl, mix the non-dairy milk, melted coconut oil, vanilla extract, and flax mixture together.
- Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix well to combine. Don't over mix.
- Using a piping bag or a large Ziploc bag (see note below), pipe the mixture into each cavity of your doughnut pan.
- Bake for 10 minutes.
- Remove from oven and let the pan sit for a few minutes before removing the doughnuts.
- Remove the doughnuts from the pan and place on a cooling rack.
While the doughnuts are cooling, make the cinnamon sugar topping:
- Add the sugar to a small bowl, add cinnamon, nutmeg and mix together.
- When the doughnuts have fully cooled, one at a time, brush the tops with a little of the melted coconut oil and dip each one into the sugar topping until the top is coated. Repeat with all the doughnuts.
Recipe Notes:
- Please read all of the helpful info above before making this recipe to ensure your doughnuts turn out perfectly.
- If you are making the vegan gluten-free version, it's important to know that every gluten-free flour blend uses different ingredients and ratios. Results will always vary when different flours are used. I have never used any other brand of flour to make these doughnuts, other than Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 Baking Flour in the blue bag, NOT the red bag, so please know that your results may not be the same as mine if you substitute with a different gluten free flour.
- Coconut flour will NOT work in this recipe.
- If you are making the vegan gluten-free version, the batter will be very thick. That's OK! Just pipe it into the pan as-is.
- Coconut sugar can be used instead of regular sugar in the doughnut batter, they will just turn out a little darker.
- A piping bag is recommended for getting the batter into the pan. If you don't have a piping bag, use a large Ziploc bag and snip off the end to stand in for a piping bag. If you don't have either, carefully spoon the batter into each doughnut cavity.
- It's best to eat the doughnuts the same day they were made. If you have leftovers, refrigerate them but know that the sugar cinnamon topping melts into the doughnuts if kept for too long.
- Nutrition info is based on 1 vegan only doughnut and is only to be used as a rough guide. Calorie count for 1 doughnut using the vegan gluten free recipe is 207 calories. Click to learn how nutrition info is calculated on this website.
Lisa says
Hi Gwen,
I’m going to try making these, and I have a question: how much do you usually fill each well in the doughnut pan? Half-full, or more? Thanks!
Gwen Leron says
Hi Lisa! I fill them about half. There is an image in the post above where you can see how I fill them if you are able to see it. If you have batter left over after filling them halfway, fill them all a little more until it's all done. Let me know if you have any further questions, I hope you love them.
El says
Can I use banana instead of flax seed? Thanks 🙂
El
Gwen Leron says
Hi El, I haven’t tried replacing banana for the flax egg in this particular recipe, so I’m not 100% sure how it would turn out. It may change the texture slightly, though. If you do experiment with it, please let me know how things turn out!
Audrey says
Mmmh so good ! I just made these with my buckwheat sourdough discard of the week (adapted the amount of flour and milk needed). It’s so fluffy I love it ! And I added a bit of ground clove because cinnamon clove and nutmeg is the power of three hahaha. Thanks !
Gwen Leron says
Oh wow, that's great that it worked so well with your sourdough discard! Good to know! And I'm glad you like the result, the addition of cloves sounds delicious 🙂 Thanks so much for your note, Audrey!