For some, gifting a kitchen item for a birthday or Christmas is a cardinal sin. We've all heard stories about the hapless husband who comes home with beautifully wrapped box containing ... cue ominous music ... a blender. And the poor clueless fella is booted back out that door faster than you can say "margarita."
Me, if my guy showed up with a Vitamix, there would be happy dancing and fridge-to-couch beer deliveries for a week. At least.
So when one of the presents under the tree this past Christmas was a doughnut pan, I was thrilled.
Not that it was much of a surprise - I specifically asked for one. I asked for an ice cream scoop, too, and I got two.
It was a good Christmas.
As a result, I've had fun playing with baked doughnut recipes these past few months. There's been vanilla, chocolate, lemon, coconut, glazes galore, and sprinkles like you've never seen (my toddler must always help with the sprinkles). And! You know where I'm going with this--we've also enjoyed these Vegan Coconut Lemon Baked Doughnuts. A lot.
My go-to baked doughnut recipe calls for an egg, so one morning when I was out, I thought I'd try replacing that single egg with a "flax egg." If you haven't heard of flax eggs, well, they're easier (and more awesome) than they sound. For every egg called for in a traditional baking recipe, you mix together 1 tablespoon flaxseed meal with 3 tablespoons water. Let it sit for about 5 minutes, and it thickens into a perfect egg substitute.
Other than the telltale flecks, I can rarely tell the difference between flax eggs and chicken eggs.
After I replaced the egg with flax, I thought I'd go all the way and replace the dairy with vegan-friendly substitutes instead. Coconut oil stands in for butter; canned coconut milk replaces the cow's milk.
And, honestly? I actually like these vegan baked doughnuts a smidge better than the original. They're super, duper tender, with a nice, large, cakey crumb.
This version adds lemon to the mix, both in the doughnut batter and in a zesty, moist glaze that's then topped generously with sweetened flaked coconut.
These are my most popular baked doughnuts to date among taste testers (um, family and friends) - vegan or otherwise. Hmmm ... if I bake enough for everyone, maybe one of them will show up to my house with a blender!
Dare to dream.
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
Doughnuts:
- 1 tablespoon flaxseed meal
- 3 tablespoons water
- ⅓ cup white sugar (organic for vegan-friendly)
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest, from approximately 2 small lemons
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons solid coconut oil
- ½ cup canned lite coconut milk
- 1 tablespoon freshly-squeezed lemon juice
Glaze:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons fresh-squeezed lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon canned lite coconut milk
Topping:
- ½ cup sweetened flaked coconut
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease a six-count non-stick doughnut pan with coconut oil or an oil mister.
- In a small bowl, mix together the flaxseed meal and water. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, mix together the sugar and lemon zest, using your fingers to rub the zest with the sugar to release the oils. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt, stirring together with a whisk until combined.
- Drop the coconut oil into the flour mixture. Use a pastry blender or your clean fingers to distribute the coconut oil throughout the mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs.
- Add the coconut milk and lemon juice to the small bowl with the flaxseed mixture. Stir.
- Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Stir with a wooden spoon just until incorporated.
- Scoop batter into a large zipper bag and squeeze the contents toward one of the bottom corners. Snip off the corner and use the bag to pipe the dough into each doughnut cup. Divide dough evenly between each cup--I usually go around each cup once or twice, then if I have any batter left over, I go back and add to each cup. You can also use a pastry bag affixed with a plain round tip.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until doughnuts are puffed and spring back when gently poked.
- Allow the doughnuts to cool in the pan for five minutes, then use a butter knife to gently loosen the edges. Invert the doughnuts onto a baking rack set over a rimmed baking sheet and let cool completely.
- To make the glaze, place the powdered sugar, lemon zest, and coconut milk into a small bowl and beat with a fork until it forms a liquid about the consistency of molasses. Dip each doughnut in the glaze and set glaze-side-up back on the baking rack. Sprinkle doughnuts with coconut.
Hannah says
Made these tonight and could not keep my hands off of them! Super delicious. I doubled the recipe and it was enough for one dozen regular sized doughnuts plus enough left to full my mini doughnut pan. Cooking time was a smidge longer for me - about 14 min to get them to pull away from the sides of the pan and have a hint of gold on the bottom. Thanks for sharing this - they may make an appearance at my family's Easter dinner get-together!
Erin @ Texanerin Baking says
A sweets recipe on Oh My Veggies?! Weeeee! They look awesome. I'm impressed that you did it egg-free. So many of my recipes would be vegan if it weren't for the darn eggs. They do such nice things to baked goods. 🙁
I love getting kitchen stuff as presents! And I love giving it, too. For my husband's birthday last month, I gave him a George Foreman grill. Haha. It's mostly me using it. And for Christmas I got him an expensive knife (which, wow, I also happen to use! ;))
The Peace Patch says
yumziddyyumziddyyum! These little lemon gems look so squealingly good! You could use your ice cream scoop to top off a lemon doughnut with vegan ice cream...maybe vanilla or blueberry or coconut instead of the coconut shavings. Thanks so much for posting this! 🙂
Brenda Reynolds says
These are absolutely fabulous! My stepson is vegan and he loves these!! Thanks for a great recipe!
Melissa says
Would this work with a doughnut maker? The kind that are like the George Foreman Grills for doughnuts 🙂
Trish says
Wow these doughnuts look awesome! I wonder if there would be any way that you could replace the sugar with pure maple syrup as I am trying really hard not to consume any processed sugar..I have an awesome vegan chocolate cupcake recipe that uses only maple syrup and it always turns out great. Any thoughts on that? Also is there a specific reason you use canned coconut milk or do you think rice milk would work just the same? This recipe is too cool and love the website.
Andrea says
Quick question could you substitute gluten free baking flour blend for regular flour, just curious because when I bake , my gluten free fam & friends get kinda left out. This sounds too good to leave anyone out lol!
Honey Anne says
I made these last night. They were delicious and my housemates loved them!
They did need to bake much longer than the recipe called for, though, about 20 minutes!
Mady says
These look so good! I don't own a donut pan, and am afraid to buy one (I will just bake donuts for every meal!)
Anything else I can use?
Nat says
Oh wow! I so need to try these!
Shawndra says
I baked these this morning and they are absolutely delicious! I made them for my kids but have already ate more of them than they have. I doubled the recipe which made 12 doughnuts and I modified the recipe a tad.. using 2/3 cup of coconut flour in place of regular gluten free flour totaling still to 2 cups of flour (because I doubled the recipe) and in place of 2 tbsp of flax seed and water I used 2 eggs. They are fabulous I will be adding this to the family favorites and making on a regular basis. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! 🙂