Yummy Baked Vegan Donuts & Donut Holes

July 18, 2008 at 3:29 am (Recipes)
Tags: Baked, Donuts, Doughnut Holes, Doughnuts, Vegan, Vegan Doughnuts

I used to love doughnuts before my vegan days. A good glazed doughnut was always a huge treat now and then. Since it is nearly impossible for find vegan doughnuts to buy (unless you count doughnuts you can order online and receive in smushed pieces), I have found my craving for a good doughnut growing and growing. I have tried other vegan doughnut recipes before and none have come out quite the way I like. So I decided to take the doughnuts into my own hands. I wasn’t sure how they would come out, especially since it was my first attempt at creating my own doughnut recipe, but I must say that the recipe I created is quite good—especially for doughnut holes!!! I must warn you, the directions may seem overwhelming but most of the work is waiting for dough to rise or things to cool!

Nikki’s Baked Vegan Doughnuts

*I prefer organic ingredients*

2 cups vanilla soymilk (or very vanilla)

1/2 cup white cane sugar

1/3 cup canola oil

1/4 cup agave nectar (just for a touch of extra sweetness)

2 1/2 tsp yeast

4 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking powder (aluminum-free best!)

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 Tbsp salt

Bake at 350 Degrees, 10-12 minutes

You want to begin by bringing the soymilk, sugar, canola oil and agave nectar to a boil. As soon as it boils, remove it from the heat and let it cool until it is about 110 degrees Farhenheit (it can take about an hour). It is important to remain patient to bring it down to 110 degrees as the next step is to add the yeast to the mixture and let sit for 5-10 minutes. (Yeast has a higher tolerability range than 110 degrees but I prefer to be safe).

After the 5-10 minutes, add 4 cups of flour and mix until fully incorporated. Let the dough rise to about double the size (or about an hour). Once the dough has risen, add the remaining 1/2 cup flour and the baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix completely and let rest for at least 10 minutes. The dough will be somewhat sticky but this is what we want.

If you want to make doughnuts simply take small amounts of dough and work it into about a 6 inch rope. The width of the dough “rope” depends entirely on how large you wish the doughnuts to be. Remember that the dough will expand to at least double the size it is at this point. When you have determined the size of doughnuts you want, simply attach the two ends of the “rope” (this is where sticky dough comes in handy) and make sure to adjust the hole of the doughnut to the size you want. Place it on a silicon baking mat on a cookie sheet or a greased cookie sheet. Repeat until all the dough is used.

Then place towels or aluminum foil over the cookie sheets and place in your fridge overnight. Remove the trays in the morning and let sit for at least an hour to be brought to room temperature and so the doughnuts can rise some more. Before you put them in the oven you may wish to adjust the doughnut centers if they have been overcome by expanding dough! **Alternatively, you can let the dough rise for about 30 more minutes then place them in the oven directly after making the doughnuts, but I think that placing them in the refrigerator overnight makes them taste just THAT much better….afterall, good things come to those that wait! =)

To make the doughnut holes, you can do one of two things. Simply grab very small amounts of dough and work them into doughnut holes (about an inch at the most) until all of the dough is consumed. You can also make more “dough ropes” and cut about every inch and form those pieces into balls. Depends entirely on your preferred style. Everything else is the same for doughnut holes.

Once the doughnuts or doughnut holes come out of the oven they will look more like dinner roll consistency than doughnuts, but have no fear! Remove the doughnuts from the cookie sheets immediately to a cooling rack. While the doughnuts are cooling mix the glaze:

Glaze

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

3 Tbsp soymilk

I personally used a silicone basting brush to coat each donut entirely, but you could easily dunk each doughnut or doughnut hole into the mixture. The glaze, especially when the doughnuts are still warm, soaks into the dough just a bit and gives it an extra kick when you enjoy the doughnuts later! I preferred the doughnuts just with the glaze but you can also add additional frostings to the doughnuts. Some of the doughnuts received a chocolate icing, which I made this way:

Chocolate Icing

1 cup powdered sugar

1/3 cup cocoa powder

2 1/2 Tbsp soymilk (or less depending on thickness you want)

Makes about 12 large doughnuts and about 80 doughnut holes.

Best stored in a cool place in a sealed container.

Hope you enjoy!!!

**There is an updated donut recipe for anyone interested, available here.**

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