Baked double vanilla doughnuts
It’s time to reveal another Daring Bakers challenge! This month’s challenge was hosted by fellow Canadian Lori of Butter Me Up, who chose to keep things simple by challenging us to make a Canadian favourite: doughnuts. She used several sources for her recipes, including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Neumann and Epicurious.
Lori gave us many options for baked, yeast or deep-fried doughnuts, and I’m happy she did! I don’t think I could ever bring myself to deep-fry anything. Since I had so much fun making my baked apple cider doughnuts last month, for this challenge I made double-vanilla doughnuts using the same mini doughnut pan, and decorated them with a simple glaze and black and orange sprinkles for an upcoming Halloween party.
This recipe was inspired by Nancy Silverton’s buttermilk cake doughnuts, but I removed the yeast and eggs and let some apple cider vinegar, baking powder and a vegan egg substitute do their magic, resulting in a light doughnut with a tender crumb. I also tried making a healthier version by replacing the sugar and margarine, but it was a total flop. Sometimes you just gotta go with what tastes good!
These mini doughnuts are similar to Lolo’s mini doughnuts. If you haven’t had the pleasure of reading her blog, Vegan Yum Yum, do yourself a favour and check out her recipe archive. Her photos and recipes have been an inspiration to me since I discovered her blog a couple of years ago, but she hasn’t posted since earlier this year. She is sadly missed!
PrintBaked double vanilla doughnuts
Ingredients:
Doughnuts:
- 1 cup unbleached AP flour
- 1/2 cup organic cane sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 cup soymilk
- 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- Seeds of one vanilla bean
- Ener-G egg replacer for one egg
- 4 tbsp vegan margarine (I use Earth Balance)
Glaze with sprinkle:
- 1/2 cup vegan powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 tbsp nondairy milk
- bowl full of sprinkles
Directions:
Doughnuts:
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- In a small saucepan, combine the nondairy milk, vinegar, vanilla extract, vanilla seeds, egg replacer and margarine and heat on medium-low, stirring until margarine is melted. This mixture should not get too hot or it will burn (it should feel slightly warm to the touch).
- Allow the margarine mixture to cool for about 5 minutes. Add it to the flour mixture and mix until just combined. It should form a very soft dough.
- Spoon the dough into a mini doughnut pan, filling about 3/4 full. Smooth the top of the dough with your fingers so it's even.
- Bake the doughnuts at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a doughnut comes out clean. Allow doughnuts to cool completely before attempting to remove them from the pan.
- Decorate with glaze (recipe below) and sprinkles.
Glaze with sprinkles:
- In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and nondairy milk until smooth. Dip the top of the doughnut into the glaze, allowing some to drip off, and then dip the glaze-side down into the sprinkles.
- Set the decorated doughnuts a wire rack that is set on top of a cookie pan or parchment paper (to avoid a mess underneath). Store the doughnuts in an airtight container in the fridge.