Saturday, 27 September 2008

Vegan Doughnuts

vegan donuts doughnuts
Ok.....now my life is complete.... turning vegan just after discovering Krispy Kreme wasn't the best move ever but who cares?? Look at those! I wanted a selection as opposed to just glazed so made 6 rings with maple glaze and chocolate glaze, and 6 jam filled with powdered topping and cinnamon sugar topping. The choco sprinkle one was for Finn and maple glaze my absolute favorite doughnut flavour.They are very yummy too, my first time ever making doughnuts, vegan or not, so all a big test but I wouldn't change much. Mostly they are quite large, I personally would like them a little smaller. I didn't have a doughnut cutter so used a wine glass for the outer and the cap from a vodka bottle for the inner hole (doesn't everyone?) Altogether very happy with these, I'll see how they fare tomorrow and the next day as I did use egg replacer in them and I have found when I use it the product is always the best not only on the day of making but right after making, so we'll see! *edit* still good the next day! This slightly adapted recipe came from here .



Makes 12 large doughnuts:

2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast (not fast action)
1 cup lukewarm water
1/4 cup vegetable fat (shortening)
1/2 cup caster sugar (or granulated)
80ml dairy free milk
40g egg replacer
500g plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
vegetable oil for deep frying

Add 1/2 cup of the water in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Add the fat and sugar and stir until melted. Pour into a bowl and allow to cool to lukewarm - mix in the milk. Dissolve the yeast in the other 1/2 cup of warm water and allow it to stand for 5 minutes. Give it a good mix with a fork then add it to the fat mixture - whisk well.

Mix in the salt and egg replacer into half of the flour. Add this to the liquid and stir with a wooden spoon. Slowly add the rest of the flour a little at a time until a soft dough forms. I didn't need quite all the flour but did use it all whilst kneading. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes or until soft and elastic - shape into a large ball. Grease a large warm bowl and place the dough in, turning once. Cover with cling film and leave to rise in a warm place for about 1 hour or until doubled in volume.

Punch the dough down then roll out on a floured surface till about 1/2 inch thick. Cut out desired shapes, re- rolling the scraps as you go. Place cut shapes onto baking sheets lined with baking paper. When done, cover with a tea towel and let rise for about another hour.

When time to cook make sure you make your glazes first and set aside then heat up the oil. Drop doughnuts into the hot oil (not too hot, if you have a thermometer it's supposed to be 370F. I didn't have one and had to guess, they should sizzle when they go in but not rolling about. Cook for about 2 minutes a side, you want them nice and golden. Remove and let rest on paper towels to drain.

When they are still hot but you can touch them fill the jam ones with some seedless raspberry jam in a piping bag fitted with a long slotted nozzle - just jam it in the side and squeeze some in. While they are still warm dip them in the glaze of your choice. After they are dipped in the glaze leave them on the baking paper lined trays to cool some more. Very good eaten warm.


Maple Glaze:
25 g vegan margarine
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 tsp maple extract
1 Tbsp water.

Heat the margarine in a saucepan until melted, add everything else and whisk very well until all incorporated. I didn't add all the water as I found it was the right consistency earlier, just add more icing sugar or less water to get it right, you want it runny enough to dip the doughnuts in and thick enough to coat. **edit - I have just made these again and this glaze didn't work, it separated and wouldn't coat the doughnuts, it worked the first time so don't know what's going on, just to warn you! I'll work on it....I like experimenting with making more doughnuts!**

Chocolate Glaze:
1 Tbsp vegan margarine
1/2 cup icing sugar
1/8 tsp vanilla
20ml hot water
50g vegan chocolate

Place everything into a bowl set over a saucepan with about an inch or two of water. Stir over medium heat until chocolate is all melted then whisk well. Again you want the consistency like the maple glaze.

The other toppings I used were just sifted icing sugar for the jam filled and a mixture of sugar and cinnamon for the jam filled as well.

Photo Update: I also used this recipe to make plain vanilla glazed doughnuts. I dipped them entirely in the glaze I used to make my apple fritters and they are stunning!


...and don't forget to cook the holes!



16 comments:

  1. Hiya! Your husband linked to your blog from the Vegan Forum! I love it, esp. these donuts.

    Is your Crisco/fat a liquid or solid? We have vegetable shortening (solid) here or vegan margarine (soft solid) or could I use oil?

    Thanks! I cannot wait to make these :)

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  2. Hi!! Thanks very much, I love your blog too!! I used a solid vegetable shortening for these, you do melt it with some water and the sugar so perhaps veg oil would work, but I'm not sure. Hope they work out for you, they are best right after they are made, they get dry as the days go on but 10 seconds in the microwave does help. Also the glaze used for the apple fritters are really nice on these too!

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  3. I can't wait to try this recipe, it looks amazing!

    For the egg replacer, is this 40g of the egg replacer powder, and then prepared?

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  4. Hi Erin :-) the 40g dry egg replacer powder is mixed into the flour. This was due to my brand egg replacer not being the kind you mix with water first. It stated you must always mix it with flour first and add the liquid last. Other brands may differ but that's how I used this.

    I have recently blogged cinnamon rolls that turned out beautifully, with no egg replacer at all. I haven't tried using the dough to make doughnuts yet but know it would make really good ones. Just another option for you to try if you like.

    http://www.maplespice.com/2011/01/cinnamon-buns-with-vanilla-glaze.html

    That being said, these doughnuts are super delicious too! Hope you like them! ♥

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  5. My egg replacer requires that it is mixed with water. How many prepared "eggs" would you recommend using?

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  6. 40g egg replacer was the equivalent of 2 eggs. Not sure if you'll have to reduce the water a little bit with 'wet' eggs mind you. Probably won't make much difference. Good luck!

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  7. HI
    tried these donuts and found they tasted really yeasty. is there somthing i'm doing wrong? i followed the reciepe as its written.

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  8. Hmmm, well, as you followed the recipe as written it wouldn't sound like you've done anything wrong here. I have never found them overly yeasty but that could just be down to personal taste.

    Only thing I could suggest is that lately I have been using my new updated recipe for cinnamon buns to make doughnuts and find they turn out beautifully. The recipe has no egg replacer in it (something I have been fazing out altogether) and less yeast so it may be more to your liking.

    http://www.maplespice.com/2011/01/cinnamon-buns-with-vanilla-glaze.html

    I just follow that recipe up till rolling out then cut out with a doughnut cutter and proceed with these instructions.

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  9. yeah i just tried the cinnamon recipe yesterday and the donuts turned out better and was really awesome to at last give donuts to my daughter who has a dairy allergy. they are just slightly dry for me, would like them a bit moister though (just a personal thing). i just wanted to know in your doughnut recipe it says 2 1/4 tsps of yeast is that correct (two and a quater tsps?). also with the cinnamon bun recipe i cut out the donut shapes and then let them rise too before i fried them, do i need to do that, or is it better not to? (also thanks for getting back to me so quickly with the last comment, i wish all customer services were so good!) sorry to ask soo many questions but i just found your blog recently and i love it!

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  10. Hi! So glad you tried the cinnamon bun version and they turned out better. If you found them a bit dry I would add a bit more of the soya pudding perhaps and make sure not too add too much flour while kneading maybe.

    As for the yeast in the original recipe, I based it on another recipe calling for 1 sachet which I couldn't get. A search online stated that 1 sachet is 2 1/4 tsp of yeast but maybe sachet's are different? If you can get active dry yeast in sachets where you are that might solve the yeasty mystery! :-)

    You should let the cut/shaped doughnuts rise a second time alright, about 1/2 hour to an hour until they are puffy. Do make sure to cover them loosely at this stage though, preferably with oiled cling film so they don't dry out.

    So glad you found the blog and like it, hope we can get these working for you - your daughter should definitely have some yummy doughnuts! Feel free to ask questions, I don't mind at all :-)

    -Deb ♥

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  11. Hi Debbie! I'm wondering if I can make this dough on a Saturday night and fry them in the morning? I want them to be crispy Sunday morning but I don't want to wake up early Sunday to go through the process

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  12. Hi! You can do although I should stress that I haven't tried this myself...Just follow the recipe up until you have made the dough but instead of rising in a warm place for an hour, cover the bowl with oiled cling film and place in the fridge to slow rise overnight. Then in the morning shape into doughnuts, place on a board, lightly cover with a tea towel and leave somewhere warm for a second rise, you don't need another hour here, 20 minutes will do, just leave them to rise while you bring the oil to heat and make the glazes. Then carry on frying as per instructions. Hope they work out for you!

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    Replies
    1. They worked out great! I did that with the apple fritters and they couldn't have turned out better.

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    2. Yay! Thanks for letting me know :-)

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  13. made this recipe the other day and turned out amazing!
    was curious if i could bake them instead of frying them?

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    1. Glad you liked them! I haven't tried baking them myself but I don't see why not, I would try at 180C / 350F for maybe 15-20 minutes, or until golden and puffy, but that's at a guess :-)

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