Vegan And Gluten Free Donuts

    Happy Tuesday everybody!! As always, I hope everybody had a great weekend! This week, I decided to go down the similar vegan route, but I also want to talk about another lifestyle: Gluten-free. FThe gluten-free diet consists of omitting gluten, which is a protein found in wheat, grains, barley, and rye. Usually, people who follow this diet, are people with Celiac Disease. Celiac Disease is when your body cannot break down and absorb the proper nutrients in gluten, and as a result, does damage to the small intestines.

     A list of products that people cannot have while on the gluten-free diet are as follows: Wheat, Barley, Rye, Bulgur, Couscous, Farina, Semolina, Spelt, and All Purpose Flour. Most foods that have gluten are soups, bouillon cubes, French fries, processed cheeses, mayo, ketchup, and processed packaged foods (TV Dinners), etc. 

     Now that we have grasped what a gluten-free diet is, and what is 'allowed' or what the body doesn't tolerate, let's discuss how we are going to make doughnuts. Vegan AND gluten-free!
So for a typical doughnut, the ingredients that we will be substituting are as follows: bread flour, egg yolks, and sugar. (Surprisingly, not a lot needs to be altered which is fantastic!).



First, we will start with the vegan substitutes.
Egg yolks: use egg substitutes. Some brands are also gluten-free like Energ-G Egg Replacer. It uses potato and tapioca starch as main leavening agents. , I used applesauce, but you can always add water instead.

Sugar: You can use just about any alternative. I personally used Monk Fruit sweetener. It makes it REALLY sweet and I highly recommend that sweetener for any sorts of baking. 

    Now for the gluten-free portion. For the flours, you can actually buy gluten free bread flour, or gluten free all purpose flour. Others use potato starch, tapioca starch, or brown rice flour. I prefer brown rice flour when it comes to donuts. Always keep in mind that when you're using an alternative, that it will change the taste or texture.

I had a great time making these donuts, but there was a lot to learn. I made some with holes and without holes. Just as a heads up, the donuts with the holes tasted a lot better. For me, I really enjoyed making (and eating the donuts). But if you stick with the gluten-free recipe, also keep in mind that it may come out slightly more dense than a typical donut. Again, this factors of what type of flour you use, and how much of it you use. I really hope you guys enjoy this recipe!!!

Ingredients

• 1 cup brown rice flour
• 1 1/2 tsp sorghum powder
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1 Tbsp flax meal mixed with 2 cups water
• 2 Tbsp maple syrup
• 1 Tbsp Monk fruit sweetener
• 1 tsp molasses

Directions

• Mix all the dry ingredients together in one bowl
• Mix all the wet ingredients in a separate bowl
• Fold dry ingredients into wet ingredients until fully incorporated
• Lay out the dough on a cutting board (not fully flat, but spread out)
• Take a circular cookie cutter and start cutting out your donuts (if you have a mini circular cutter as well, you can use that to cut out the center hole, otherwise don't worry about that).
• Lay out your donuts on a pan and cover it. Since most homes don't have proofers, what I do is isolate the product in a room (so the bathroom for example), and then I will turn on the heater and let it proof for 10-20 minutes. (it may take longer, but always check to make sure they're not proofing for too long). 
• Your donuts are ready to be made! Go ahead and fill it 1/3 full of vegetable oil. Turn on the temp on medium heat. Wait until you see the vegetable oil start to bubble.
• Start dropping your donuts in the pot, frying the donut for about 5-7 minutes on each side. 
• Take out your donuts and lay them on a cookie rack so that the vegetable oil can drain. 
• You can eat them as is, or roll them in some cinnamon or powdered sugar! Or glaze them. (Use rice milk, and vanilla extract, heat it up until almost boiling, then just spoon it over the donuts).

Enjoy!