Donuts! Well, donut holes at least. The fried kind. Not the baked donuts (which I do adore). I have been craving a fried donut for months. It’s not easy finding one that is gluten, dairy and egg free. I knew I would have to make them myself. As much as I hate deep frying anything, it was time to give into my donut desires
I give you my first ever, quite successful, gluten free vegan donut holes! Crispy on the outside, soft and light on the inside. Showered with cinnamon and sugar. I may have done a little happy dance in the kitchen after the first bite. Donuts are totally dance worthy.
Some of you may be thinking, “but they are fried!” Yep. They are. They are also a treat and something that should be eaten in moderation. Meaning, they should be shared with a friend or two. Your kids will also love them! My son thought it was pretty cool to shake the donut holes in the bag of cinnamon and sugar. If you’re gonna cheat, cheat with these donut holes and while you’re at it, do a little cinnamon sugar shimmy shake!
- 1 cup Sarah's gluten free flour blend
- 3 tablespoons cane sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 cup So Delicious unsweetened coconut or almond milk
- 2 tablespoons organic non hydrogenated shortening, melted
- oil for frying*
- 1/4 cup cane sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- In heavy pot or saucepan, heat 2 inches of oil over medium-high heat until oil reaches 350 degrees.
- Mix together sugar and cinnamon in brown paper lunch bag. Set aside.
- While oil is heating, prepare donut dough by sifting together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in mixing bowl. Add coconut milk and melted shortening. Stir just until dough comes together.
- Using small cookie scoop, make balls of dough and gently drop 4-5 into heated oil. Cook on each side 1-2 minutes, until golden brown.
- Remove donut holes from oil using tongs and allow to drain on paper towel lined plate.
- Immediately place donut holes into brown paper bag with cinnamon sugar mixture. Fold over top to secure and shake to coat.
- Repeat with remaining dough until donut holes are complete. Best served warm.
What a fun treat! Love cinnamon sugar <3 These are totally my childhood!
Beautiful picture Sarah, I need some of these right now!
thank you!
Beyond excited to see this recipe! The baked donuts just don’t cut it when you want an old school classic donut! It’s one of the treats I miss most since going GF, thanks Sarah!
you are most welcome! I agree, baked donuts are tasty, but fried is even better!
Fantastic, love that they are vegan too!
I love donut holes, because then I don’t feel bad eating a few 🙂
me too!
My son has a soy, coconut, and almond/tree nut allergy. Can I use ricemilk for this recipe instead?
Yes, rice milk would work great!
These donuts are AMAZING!! I made a batch this weekend and they came out fantastic! I always worry when I try recipes that are both vegan and gluten free because they normally don’t taste as good as I’d like them to, but that was not the case with these. The only thing I changed in the recipe was that I used a gluten free free baking flour mix that I bought instead of mixing the different flours myself. They taste good without putting sugar on them at the end too. Going to make another batch tonight! 🙂
Thank you! I’m glad to hear another mix worked well for you. Now I want to make a batch, it’s been awhile!
These are the best GF, DF & EF doughnut holes! I surprised my grandson with these one day and he absolutely LOVED them! It’s because they are fried and not baked, just like my grandma made. He is now asking me to make him chocolate ones with a chocolate glaze. I am new to cooking and baking for my grandson and daughter who are gluten, dairy and egg free. I’ve learned a lot but need some help with this one. Can you help me with! I assume you would add unsweetened cocoa powder to the mix instead of the spices and would I need to increase the sugar? The glaze I’m thinking I would add cocoa powder with powdered sugar and almond or coconut milk? I just need proportions on all these….. Thank you, we love your site!
Aren’t they tasty? My family loves them too! You can try replacing about 1/4 cup of the flour with 1/4 cup good quality cocoa powder in the dough. Then for the glaze, I would keep it a vanilla glaze. You can add a bit of cocoa powder to it if you’d like, or simply use melted chocolate for more of a chocolate coating.
Any substitutions for the shortening?
you could use coconut oil. enjoy!
My GF flour mix blend does not have xanthan gum in it. Is it ok to not include that or does it mess up the whole recipe? Looking forward to making these.
You will need to add the xanthan gum. You need 1/2 teaspoon per cup of flour blend.
These were the most amazing donuts I have ever had. I have had an allergy free (no gluten eggs or dairy) kitchen for over ten years and I have tried about a million recipes! This was a perfect Christmas Eve treat for my family. The dough was easy to handle and cooked up just beautifully. God bless you and your family. Merry Christmas! Thank you for sharing this recipe from your kitchen and you heart. 🙂 Shannon
Yay! So glad you enjoyed them as much as we do!
can you use a different GF flour mix?
Yes, as long as it has xanthan gum added.
Hmm how could I make these paleo??
I made these this morning. Loved them. My son has multiple allergies and the look his face when he took a bite was priceless!
These donuts were amazing! Very light on the inside and crunchy on the outside. I fried mine in coconut oil. I also made small donuts and those came out great too. I used a blend of gf flour plus about a quarter cup of almond flour for a drier dough (which made it easier to shape into mini donuts.) Thank you.