Vegan Gluten-free Lemon Donuts. Grain-free Baked Vegan Doughnuts – 1 Bowl

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I keep trying gluten-free baking on and off. Some recipes that I try from cookbooks turn out ok to a mess. Doughnuts are a difficult baking task esp if made gluten-free, as they are supposed to be soft, moist, airy and a bit chewy. These baked doughnuts come very close. And the best part is that they use a few ingredients(flour lemon, leavening, flavor), no xanthan gum, no rice flour, no oats, no grain!

I looked again to my Indian roots to make these doughnuts. Chickpea flour/besan makes a great dhokla, which is a steamed savory cake. It uses just 1 ingredient, chickpea flour and spices and some leavening and boom, you have a soft, moist cakey bread. I used a similar batter, added a bit of starch to hold the shape better, and some almond flour for texture and volume. You can easily make these without the almond flour. Just add more flour.

These doughnuts come out better with besan. Chickpea flour makes a stronger flavor and slightly less moist version. Yes they are not the same flour. Besan is flour of skinless brown chickpeas or chana dal and chickpea flour in the US is generally white chickpea /garbanzo bean flour. Besan is available online on amazonor in Indian stores(its very cheap in Indian stores). If you use chickpea flour, add more zest and dont store the donught longer than a few hours. The chickpea flour flavor gets more prominent. Lets get to these lemony bites!
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I used simple sugar glaze on these. Add some chia or poppy seeds on top. or use a cream cheese style frosting. These are good by themselves too. I generally add a drizzle of the glaze rather than dip the entire doughtnut in it. Just a bit of glaze is enough to add the moisture and sweetness.

Fore regular flour Yeasted Classic Doughnuts, see these.

More gluten-free vegan bakes from the blog.

• Zucchini Bread Loaf. GF Gum-free Yeast-free
• Pumpkin Banana Cranberry Bread – GFYeast-free
• Almond Butter Blondies GF
• Banana Walnut Loaf – GF Gum-free Yeast-free
• Coconut Flour Brownies GF Gum-free
• Lentil Sandwich Bread – GF Gum-free Yeast-free

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So Soft! These take just 1 Bowl or a blender to make! Add a glaze or frosting of choice.

The batter is a thin pancake like batter that is blended and poured into a doughnut pan. The pan is kept on a baking sheet to reduce browning and hence drying of the doughnut surface. Then another baking sheet is kept on top of the pan to trap the moisture during baking, just like steaming a dhokla. This is an essential step so that the baked result is soft and not dry. Almost 3 gm of protein per doughnut, there are pretty filling.
Besan or chickpea flour can be an acquired flavor. The lemon masks a lot of it in these doughnuts. Bake 1 doughnut or a muffin to check how you like the flavor and if the batter is working well. Then adjust the flavor by adding more vanilla, more nutmeg.

If you make these, do let me know how they worked out in terms of flavor, texture. Feedback, suggestions, or anything else, comment on this post and rate the recipe!

Troubleshoot: 

Bake 1 doughnut to check the texture and bake time. If the doughnut is a bit gummy, its probably either because it didnt bake through in time, so increase bake time, Or the batter needs more flour (depends on how the flour is packed, other wet measurements, sugar etc). Add a tbsp or so more besan and mix into the batter.