June 5th was National Doughnut Day. Apparently, it’s celebrated the first Friday in June. So many people were talking about, tweeting about, and eating doughnuts, that I got a huge craving for them. Of course, because I’m gluten-free, that means I had to make my own. And I did. And they were yum.
I have two gluten-free recipes in my repertoire–these are both for “cake” doughnuts–not the yeasted risen doughnuts. One is for plain cake doughnuts (you can play with the spices if you want) and the other is for pumpkin cake doughnuts. Both are delicious!
Recipe 1. Plain Doughnuts (cake-type), Gluten-Free
Ingredients
4 cups (580g) Jeanne’s Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour Mix
4 teaspoon aluminum-free double-acting baking powder
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
2 large or extra-large eggs
1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter (or butter substitute) melted and cooled
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (240 ml) milk (or milk substitute)
Oil for frying
Optional: Confectioner’s sugar, granulated sugar, and/or cinnamon mixed w/sugar for dusting
In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, nutmeg, and salt.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together eggs and sugar until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add melted butter, beat another minute. Add vanilla, beat until combined.
Add flour mixture and milk in alternating turns, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Cover with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator for about 30 minutes to 1 hour or until dough has firmed up.
When you’re ready to make the doughnuts, place 4 inches of oil into a heavy-bottomed saucepan and heat until the temperature reaches about 360 degrees F. Use a candy or oil thermometer to track temperature.
While oil is heating, prepare to roll out the doughnuts. Remove the dough from the refrigerator. Divide dough into 3 pieces. Place one piece between two pieces of plastic wrap. Cover and place the remaining dough back into the refrigerator.
With your rolling pin, roll out the dough to 3/4” to 1/2″ thickness (be sure it’s not too thin).
Cut out doughnuts with bigger biscuit cutter and doughnut holes with smaller biscuit cutter. Or you can just use the smaller one and cut out a bunch of doughnut holes (because they are fun and easy to eat!). You can also use a special doughnut cutter. You may need to dip the cutters in tapioca flour before each cut to stop the dough from sticking to the cutters.
When oil has reached 360 degrees F, it is ready to fry the doughnuts. Carefully drop cut doughnuts and doughnut holes into the oil. Make sure there is enough space between each doughnut/hole so that it can fry all the way around. Monitor your oil temperature—don’t let it get higher than about 365 degrees. Any higher and your donuts will burn before they cook through.
The oil around the doughnuts will immediately start to foam—this means that the doughnuts are cooking. After 20-30 seconds, they will rise to the surface.
Once they rise to the surface, carefully turn them in the oil to make sure they are being cooked evenly. Cook until they are golden brown, turning every 30 seconds, about 3 minutes total. When they are golden brown, carefully take doughnuts out of oil and drain on a plate covered w/paper towels. You’ll see that the doughnuts won’t have absorbed that much oil.
Repeat the rolling, cutting, and frying procedure until all the dough is used.
They are delicious plain, rolled in powdered sugar, or dusted with cinnamon sugar.
Enjoy!
Note: If you use a different gluten-free flour mix, alter the amount of or eliminate the xanthan gum or use a different gluten-replacer, use dairy-free or egg-free substitutes, or change any other ingredients in this recipe, your results may not match my results.
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Recipe 2. Pumpkin Doughnuts (cake-style), Gluten-Free
Ingredients
4 cups (580 g) Jeanne’s Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour Mix
2 teaspoons salt
4 teaspoons aluminum-free double-acting baking powder
1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
2 extra-large eggs, beaten
1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
2 tablespoons neutral flavored oil
1 cup (240 ml) pumpkin puree
1/2 cup (120ml) buttermilk (or milk/milk substitute with 1 teaspoon vinegar added)
Oil for frying
Optional: extra cinnamon and granulated sugar for top of doughnuts
Mix together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and spices in a medium bowl.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat eggs and sugar together until fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add oil, beat until combined. Add pumpkin puree, beat until combined.
Add the flour mixture and buttermilk alternately, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Cover bowl and put in refrigerator for 30 mins-1 hour (or until dough has firmed up a bit).
When you’re ready to make the doughnuts, place 4 inches of oil into a heavy-bottomed saucepan and heat until the temperature reaches 360 degrees F. Use a candy or oil thermometer to track temperature.
While oil is heating, prepare to roll out the doughnuts. Remove the dough from the refrigerator. Divide dough into 3 pieces. Place one piece between two pieces of plastic wrap. Cover and place the remaining dough back into the refrigerator.
With your rolling pin, roll out the dough that between two pieces of plastic wrap to 3/4” to 1/2″ thickness (be sure it’s not too thin).
Cut out doughnuts with bigger biscuit cutter and doughnut holes with smaller biscuit cutter. Or you can just use the smaller one and cut out a bunch of doughnut holes (because they are fun and easy to eat!). You can also use a special doughnut cutter.
When oil has reached 360 degrees F, you are now ready to fry the doughnuts. Carefully drop cut doughnuts and doughnut holes into the oil. Make sure there is enough space between each doughnut so that it can fry all the way around. Monitor the temperature of your oil–you don’t want it to get above 365 degrees F. Any higher and your doughnuts will burn before cooking through.
The oil around the doughnuts will immediately start to foam—this means that the doughnuts are cooking. After a couple of minutes, they will rise to the surface
Once they rise to the surface, after about 30 seconds, carefully turn them in the oil to make sure they are being cooked evenly. Cook until they are golden brown, about 3 minutes total, turning after every 30 seconds. When they are golden brown, carefully take doughnuts out of oil and drain on a plate covered w/paper towels. The doughnuts won’t have absorbed that much oil.
Repeat the rolling, cutting, and frying procedure until all the dough is used.
They are delicious plain or dusted with cinnamon sugar.
Enjoy!
Note: If you use a different gluten-free flour mix, alter the amount of or eliminate the xanthan gum or use a different gluten-replacer, use dairy-free or egg-free substitutes, or change any other ingredients in this recipe, your results may not match my results.
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2015 Jeanne Sauvage
Thank you for sharing!! Okay, this weekend we’ll make doughnut ^_^
Yay! -Jeanne
I stumbled across your website and couldn’t be happier. I’ve been baking something different every few days to the delight of my husband (who is gluten free). The donuts (cake style) are AMAZING, the oatmeal cookies are fabulous, as is the pumpkin loaf. You brought joy back into my baking. I ordered your Gluten Free Wish List cookbook and can’t wait for it to come. Thanks for creating such wonderful recipes.
Darleen: Hooray! I’m so glad! Thanks for letting me know!
I was wondering how much chocolate cocoa powder to put in if making these a chocolate donut and any other changes that would need to be made. I was thinking a half cup and omitting the nutmeg but wanted your thoughts.
Arie: Hm, that’s a good question. I think your initial ideas are good ones to try out. I will also work on it and see what happens. Let me know how your experiments work!
How can I tweak this recipe so that I can drop the batter into hot oil with a hopper? I’d like to eliminate the rolling and cutting.
thanks!
Christie
Christie: I don’t have a hopper (not really sure what it is), but I would recommend tearing off blobs of dough and dropping them in the oil.
Hi,
Can you make these the night before and leave the dough in the refrigerator until ready to fry them the next morning?
Michele: Yes! As long as you use double-acting baking powder, you can make them the night before (the double-acting baking powder has an extra leavener that works when it comes into contact with heat–therefore it will work when you cook them).
Thanks! I cant wait to make them!!
Tasty and filling. I did sub sour cream for the milk which probably made them more dense. Filled the donut craving.
My husband’s mom makes butter horns with maple sauce each year for Christmas. Do you have an equivalent?
Destiny: Are you talking about the cookie? I don’t have a gf recipe developed but I think they would be pretty easy to adapt. Take your MIL’s recipe and use my flour mix instead of the wheat flour. Follow the directions for the cookies and bake as directed. They may need to bake an additional 5 minutes or so. Let me know how it goes!
Hi! I’ve been lurking on your site for a few months now, trying one of your recipes here and there, and I have to say they have all been amazing! I made these doughnuts tonight and they turned out so well! I never made doughnuts when I was eating gluten, so I was a little nervous to make these, but they were so easy and tasted so good. Even my non-GF eating husband liked them, and he’s picky! Just wanted to say “thanks!” for working so hard to create such amazing recipes!
Erin: Yay! I’m so glad!! Thanks for letting me know!
????? ok, i followed recipie to a T…instead of using saucepan, I put oil in my cool daddy fryer,( it has a temp setting and I broke my candy thermometer at christmas), anywho, put doughnuts in and they dissolved? any clue whats going on??? I have fell in love with most of your recipies, was going to have these with kids for bedtime snack and am sad 🙁 …keeping rest of dough in fridge for now. Thanks!
Jamie: Hm. I don’t know what happened. The thing that first came to mind is that maybe you didn’t put xanthan gum in the flour mix? That might make the doughnuts dissolve like that. When you say dissolve, what, exactly, do you mean? Let me know–thanks!
Please email your recipe for raised donuts when you have it.
Thanks,
John Newland
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Hi John: I don’t have a raised donut recipe perfected yet. I will get it up on the site when I do!! Thanks for the interest.
Jeanne, is there a way this recipe could be modified to bake them? I know, I am taking all the fat fun out of it…I still want the yummy butter in the recipe though!
Kelly: you could try baking them at 350 degrees on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. For maybe 10-20 minutes? Experiment and see. One thing to be aware of: the doughnuts don’t really soak up that much oil. When I serve them to people, they are surprised that they are fried rather than baked. There really is nothing “greasy” about them. Enjoy!!
oh yum!!!!