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Easy Dairy Free Glazed Doughnuts

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Easy Dairy Free Glazed Doughnuts and glazed doughnut holes are simpler to make than you might expect. They are made without milk, but are oh so delicious. Just good, old-fashioned goodness.

Dairy Free Doughnuts Glazed and doughnut holes on a cooling rack

Easy Dairy Free Glazed Doughnuts and glazed doughnut holes are great for any occasion. Have as a snack or even on the run.

Have with coffee, tea, milk, or alone.

Dip…or don’t.

Freeze and eat later.

The possibilities are endless!

While the instructions may look daunting, and the recipe is a bit time consuming, the recipe is actually very simple. The hardest part, in my opinion, is waiting for them to rise!

Don’t want glaze? Try these: Easy Plain Dairy Free Doughnuts

If I can bake, anyone can

I am the type who hates paying more for something than I feel it’s worth and and loathe paying a lot for something I can bake at home.

So, paying a lot of money for a cake similar to one I can bake on my own just doesn’t work for me.

My problem was that I couldn’t really make a layer cake. I could make one in a 9″ x 13″ pan, but not one that could be used for a birthday or celebration.

For years, I tried, failed, and gave up. Then again, tried, failed and gave up.

It normally wasn’t the taste that was the problem, it was other things such as density or lopsidedness.

One day, I decided that no matter what, I would learn to make a decent looking cake (I wasn’t even aiming for good-looking, just decent).

One day, my daughter Elissa came into the kitchen during one of my “I will learn to do this” phases and stopped.

“You are NOT really measuring oil in the palm of your hand!”

I wasn’t sure what the problem was. I couldn’t be bothered to stop what I was doing to get the measuring spoons and I certainly know what a tablespoon of oil should look like…

“You can’t bake the way you cook,” she informed me (I often cook by “it looks right” or “it tastes right”, not by directions – which I often find people make unnecessarily complicated).

Finally, I decided OK, I am going to follow directions. I will measure properly and that will be it. So, I did.

The cake came out tasting really good, but it was really heavy.

I complained to Elissa.

“I followed the directions and even measured and look at it!”

We decided that she would try the recipe to see what was wrong (she is great at following exact measurements and was tired of my complaining).

I read the instructions to her (off a very highly reviewed recipe) and was very gratified when it came out heavy for her too. Ha!

She insisted we go over the instructions again and she also wanted to see the original recipe. I gladly showed her.

“You doubled the recipe,” she accused me. “Why?”

“Because I wanted a higher cake.”

“That is NOT considered following directions. The recipe is for two pans and you put double in each pan, so it couldn’t rise.”

Oh. I took back my “ha” and never did that again.

After a while, I finally gave in. Now, I follow directions, measure properly, and use the proper tools.

Not surprising, everything I bake comes out as it should (of course…as long as I don’t forget to remove from the oven…!).

Baking Pantry Essentials

I never know when someone in my family is going to want a dessert at home, to bring to a friend’s house or need for an event, so I like to make sure I can bake anything with very short notice.  To that end, I keep a variety of supplies and ingredients in the house that will allow me to do just that. 

I can’t tell you how many times I was glad to have whatever I needed within reach for the last minute visitor or for when one of my kids went to a friend or had a school event without much prior notice.

I have slowly collected things over the years as I needed them (or if I found a good sale) and like to keep more than one of the smaller items, in case I don’t want to wash dishes in the middle of baking.

My basic “equipment” includes:

  • a stand mixer, which I use mostly for dough and, sometimes whipping
  • a hand mixer (for things that aren’t dough and I don’t want to mix manually)
  • a small scale
  • different sizes and shapes of baking pans, including loaf pans
  • mixing bowls (or just large bowls – I have plastic, glass, and metal)
  • cookie sheets 
  • pie dishes
  • dry measuring cups
  • liquid measuring cups
  • whisks
  • rubber spatulas (really good for when you don’t want to leave anything in the bowl)
  • rolling pins
  • a baking mat for rolling out dough
  • baking strips
  • a good supply of baking (or parchment) paper (also round for layer cakes)

I can certainly get by without a lot of the above, but it makes baking so much simpler when I just have whatever I need at my fingertips.

In addition to the equipment, there are the baking ingredients that I try to keep in the house at all times: 

  • flour
  • white granulated sugar
  • brown sugar (light/dark – I usually keep dark)
  • confectioners sugar(powdered sugar)
  • salt
  • baking powder
  • baking soda 
  • cocoa powder
  • ground cinnamon
  • ground nutmeg
  • ground ginger
  • ground cloves
  • baking chocolate
  • chocolate chips
  • instant dry yeast
  • vanilla and/or vanilla sugar
  • cooking oil/cooking spray
  • margarine or butter
  • eggs
  • honey
  • instant coffee
  • various extracts (real or imitation)

I also make sure that I have the following on hand to be able to make a variety of fillings, frostings, and toppings:

  • whipping cream
  • powdered pudding mix
  • powdered sugar
  • a good chocolate spread

Then, there is the following to make last-minute quick desserts:

  • packaged pie dough or ready-made pie crusts
  • puff pastry dough

Lastly, it’s not a bad idea to keep fun toppings, such as chopped walnuts, raisins, and the oh-so-important container of sprinkles.

Yield: 12 doughnuts and 12 doughnut holes

Easy Dairy Free Glazed Doughnuts

Dairy Free Doughnuts Glazed and glazed doughnut holes on a cooling rack

Delicious and soft dairy free glazed doughnuts and glazed doughnut holes.

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Additional Time 2 hours 30 minutes
Total Time 2 hours 50 minutes

Ingredients

  • For the Doughnuts
  • 5 cups all purpose flour (and a little more for dusting your work surface).
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast (or two packages)
  • 1/4 cup white granulated sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 cup warm water or oat milk or other non-dairy substitute
  • 1/4 cup oil
  • more oil for frying
  • For the Glaze
  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • 6 tablespoons water or oat milk or other non-dairy substitute
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract or imitation vanilla extract

Instructions

  1. Combine 4 1/2 cups of the flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl.
  2. Mix in eggs and oil, and warm water (or other liquid) and knead for around 5 minutes. (The dough should have the consistancy of slightly sticky Play-dough. If It is too sticky, slowly add in more flour, a little at a time, until it does.)
  3. Cover the dough (with plastic wrap or a clean hand towel or something similar and let it sit to rise until it has approximately doubled in size (it doesn't have to be exact and the time it takes will depend on how warm the place is - the warmer, the less time it will take - but count on a couple of hours or so).
  4. When ready, take the dough out of the bowl and roll it out into a rectangle shape (doesn't have to be perfect) on to a clean and flour-dusted surface. The dough should be around 3/4 inch thick.
  5. Prepare a baking sheet with baking (parchment) paper to set the doughnuts on after you have cut them out.
  6. Take a doughnut cutter or two round cookie cutters (one 3 inches in diameter for the doughnut and a smaller 1 inch one for the hole) and cut out doughnuts. There should be 12 of them. Of course, if you make larger doughnuts, there will be less and if you make smaller ones, there will be more. You can make more doughnuts out of the scraps if you want, but leave a little aside to check the heat of the oil.
  7. Place the doughnuts and the holes on the baking sheet and let sit to rise until they have again approximately doubled in size (this should take less time than before since the dough is not one large clump).
  8. When the dough looks almost at double size, pour around 2 inches of oil into a pot or pan and heat on medium until a piece of dough dropped in begins to fry (or, if you prefer, until the oil reaches 350°F on a deep-fry thermometer)
  9. Carefully take the doughnuts, one at a time, and drop them in the hot oil. Be careful not to crowd the pot.
  10. Fry on one side until golden brown and then flip with a fork or tongs or something similar.
  11. Remove when ready and place on a paper towel lined baking sheet or wire rack to cool.
  12. Repeat until all the doughnuts are done and then carefully place the doughnut holes into the hot oil.
  13. Stir them in the oil until they are golden brown and remove to cool.
  14. While they are cooling, prepare the glaze by mixing the sugar, water or other dairy free liquid, and vanilla in a bowl until smooth.
  15. Dip each doughnut and doughnut hole into the glaze separately and place on baking paper lined baking sheet or wire rack to set.
  16. In a medium bowl, whisk together powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla until smooth. Dip warm donuts and donut holes into the glaze and return to the write rack to set.

Notes

* If you are not sure that your yeast is fresh, then proof it first by pouring the yeast into a bowl along with the warm liquid and around a tablespoon of the sugar and let sit for around 10 minutes to get bubbly, then add it to the flour and the rest. If it doesn't become bubbly, your yeast is not good and your dough will not rise.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

12

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 435Total Fat: 9gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 33mgSodium: 121mgCarbohydrates: 82gFiber: 2gSugar: 38gProtein: 8g

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