Perfect for the holiday season (or anytime!), these vegan baked peppermint donuts are just like eating a candy cane, only softer and more delicious – and each donut costs only 62 cents.
Baked donuts. Perhaps you’ve heard of them. They’re liked fried donuts, only they’re baked. It’s cake, really. Just shaped like a donut.
Traditional fried donuts are made with yeast. Cake donuts are not, although they are typically still fried. However, you can bake cake donuts and get… well, baked donuts.
And if you’ve never had a vegan donut, I promise they’re just as delicious, not to mention lighter, compared to non-vegan donuts.
Basically, you could have a couple of these for breakfast.
For this recipe, I wanted to create something festive and winter-like. I’m one of those weirdos who actually likes winter. Especially when it comes to food.
Like baked peppermint donuts.
WHY THIS RECIPE ONLY MAKES 4 DONUTS
If you’re like me, in that you love donuts and are single, you might occasionally crave a home-baked donut. You search for recipes online and find all sorts of delicious-looking donut recipes that call for 8 or 12 or 16 donuts. But you don’t want 8 or 12 or 16 donuts. You don’t even know 16 people, let alone know what the heck to do with 16 donuts.
You just want one donut. But really, it would be best to have, like, four donuts. That would be ideal. Maybe you have two today, two tomorrow. Live a little!
So, my recipe makes four donuts. If you’d like more, simply double or triple the recipe!
INGREDIENTS
Exact amounts are in the recipe at the end of this post.
DONUT
- all-purpose flour
- sugar
- baking powder
- salt
- milk (of your choice)
- appplesauce
- coconut oil
- vanilla extract
- peppermint extract
GLAZE
- powdered sugar
- milk (of your choice)
- coconut oil
- vanilla extract
Finally, I topped my donuts with crushed peppermint candies and sugar sprinkles. Toppings are optional, but go crazy if you want and top these with anything you’d like.
INSTRUCTIONS
Additional instructions are in the recipe at the end of this post.
After preheating the oven, combine the dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately.
It’s important that the coconut oil is melted. If coconut oil comes in contact with anything cold – for instance, the milk from your fridge – it will start to solidify and get lumpy. To counter cold temps, I warm the liquid ingredients together in a pot on very low heat. You do not want this to be hot. Just not cold. This might only require 10-15 seconds on a very low flame, and stirring constantly.
Once your oven is hot, combine the ingredients and stir until just combined.
USING A PIPING BAG
For donut batter, I find a piping bag easier than a spoon. If you don’t have a piping bag, you can snip off a corner of a food storage bag.
Place the bag upright inside a tall cup, with the end of the bag (with the snipped hole) sticking up so the batter doesn’t run out of it. Spread open the bag around the cup.
Use a spoon or rubber spatula to put the batter into the bag.
This may depend on your donut pan, but I grease mine with coconut oil.
I use a silicone pan. When I first got it, I assumed it didn’t need greasing, but my donuts kept sticking. So I started greasing it with a little coconut oil and haven’t had a problem since. (Well, I’ve had some problems, just not ones involving donuts sticking to pans.)
As evenly as you can, squeeze the batter from the bag into each of the four cavities you are filling.
I like to smooth the top of the batter with a butter knife. Note that the top of the batter will be the bottom of the donut. Smoothing isn’t entirely necessary – it just ensures the donut will lie flat on a plate. If you’re a neatnik like me, you’ll enjoy this step.
Bake for 15-20 minutes. I baked my batch for 18 minutes. The time may depend on your oven. If unsure, stick a toothpick into a donut after 15 minutes. If it comes out clean, they’re done.
After they’ve cooled for a few minutes, place a small wire rack on top of the pan and flip it over. Assuming the pan has been greased, it should lift right off the donuts.
Let the donuts cool on the rack. I like to put the rack on a tin to put some air beneath the donuts.
DIPPING IN THE GLAZE
This step is optional, but who doesn’t love a nice glaze? This will also create a way to put toppings on your donuts – just add the toppings soon after dipping so they stick!
Do this once the donuts are completely cooled.
I used hard peppermint candies and nonpareils sugar sprinkles for my topping.
To crush the peppermint candies, I hit each one, still in their wrapper, gently with a hammer. You do not have to whack them or hit them multiple times, unless you want peppermint dust. Two or three light taps should do the trick.
COST BREAKDOWN
Donuts are fairly inexpensive to make! As always, this will depend on your ingredients, where you shop, and more. My cost breakdowns are just a guideline. For what it’s worth, I live in NYC, probably one of the more expensive places on Earth.
My ingredient cost breakdown:
DONUTS
- all-purpose flour: $0.18
- sugar: $0.27
- baking powder: $0.03
- salt: $0.01
- oat milk: $0.24
- coconut oil: $0.47
- applesauce: $0.08
- vanilla extract: $0.19
- peppermint extract: $0.09
VANILLA GLAZE
- powdered sugar: $0.45
- oat milk: $0.07
- coconut oil: $0.23
- vanilla extract: $0.10
TOPPINGS
- hard peppermint candies: $0.01
- white sprinkles: $0.01
Total cost of 4 donuts (with glaze and toppings): $2.49
Each donut (1 of 4) (with glaze and toppings): $0.62
Maybe it seems silly to include the cost of the candy toppings since they are such a small amount, but I was curious what it came out to. Fortunately, not all that much. (I also bought the peppermint candies using coupons so they were even less!)
If you’ve never tried vegan baked donuts before, this holiday season is the perfect time to start! And if you make this recipe, please let me know how it goes in the comments.
Vegan Baked Peppermint Donuts
Equipment
- donut pan
- piping bag
Ingredients
DONUTS
- 3 tablespoons coconut oil in liquid form
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour or GF substitute
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1.3 cup sugar
- 1/8 cup milk of your choice, room temp.
- 1.5 tablespoons applesauce room temp.
- .5 teaspoon vanilla extract
- .25 teaspoon peppermint extract
VANILLA GLAZE
- 3/4 cup powdered (confectioners') sugar
- 1 1/2 tablespoons coconut oil in liquid form
- 1 1/2 tablespoons milk of your choice, room temp.
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF.
- Prepare a piping bag inside a tall glass with the small end of the bag sticking up. If you don't have a piping bag, you can snip off the end of a food storage bag.
- Grease 4 cavities of donut pan with coconut oil.
- Combine dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt).
- If solid, melt the coconut oil in a pot on a very low heat until nearly liquid, then remove. Continue to stir until melted.
- If milk is not room temperature, warm along with coconut until both are room temperature.
- Combine wet ingredients (coconut oil, sugar, milk, applesauce, vanilla extract, peppermint extract).
- Combine all of the ingredients and stir until combined.
- Use a large spoon or rubber spatula to place batter into piping bag.
- Twist the top of the piping bag to seal it closed, and gently squeeze the bottom so the batter is evenly distributed around each cavity of the donut pan.
- If uneven, use a butter knife to smooth the batter.
- Place the donut pan in the oven (I place my silicone pan on a baking sheet) and bake at 350ºF for 15-20 minutes. If a toothpick comes out clean, they should be done.
- Let them sit in the pan for a few minutes to cool. Then, take a wire rack and place it on top of the donut pan. Flip the pan over so the donuts are now resting on the wire rack.
- Allow to sit for a minute, then gently lift the pan from the donuts.
- Let the donuts completely cool before dipping in glaze.
Notes
- Nutrition data is provided as a courtesy, calculated automatically, and may differ depending on your specific ingredients and amounts.
- Donut recipe adapted from Vegan Yum Yum.
- Glaze recipe adapted from Veganbaking.net.
- The vanilla glaze should be runny enough so it drips off the donut. If yours is too thick, add a bit more milk. If too liquid, add a bit more powdered sugar.
- For my recipe, I used oat milk, but any milk should work.
- Note that peppermint extract is very strong. I found that using 1/2 tsp was too much so I knocked it down to 1/4 tsp. If you don’t have it or don’t like it, you can leave it out completely and the donuts will still taste good, just more like traditional vanilla.
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