It’s National Doughnut Day and that’s not a day too soon for these Caramel-Glazed Baked Donuts adorned with melted dark chocolate. If that’s not a way to celebrate this national day of doughnuts, I don’t know what is.
It’s the first Friday of the month of June. That makes it National Doughnut Day. It’s a day worthy of celebration, if you ask me. Which I know you didn’t, but I just feel the need to tell you anyway.
And since I’m telling you things, I guess I should tell you this too. I have never been one for doughnuts.
I remember a job I had after my freshmen year in college. Everyone used to contribute money to a fund throughout the week and someone would go out on Friday mornings and bring in doughnuts.
It’s not that I never contributed and participated in the eating. I just wasn’t happy about it.
And on the days I didn’t participate in that doughnut fund? I would eye the box sitting on the break room counter. With that shiny coat of glaze dancing in the light from the break room window, those doughnuts seemed almost magical.
“Come have one,” they would call to me like my own personal siren call. Homer had beautiful maidens. I have doughnuts. Go figure.
“Nope. I can’t,” I would respond. To myself of course. I didn’t want anyone thinking I was crazy.
“We’re soooo good…”
“Oh, I know you are. I surely do.”
But I’m no fool to the allure of doughnuts. They sing a lovely song but they offer me nothing but immediate and long-lasting discomfort. I feel plain awful after I eat them.
Too bad chocolate doesn’t have that kind of impact on me. And peanut butter for that matter. I’d be as skinny as a rake!
I figured out over the years that it was the combination of the grease and sugar that did me in.
That’s why I was so excited to buy this special doughnut pan. The kind that lets you bake the doughnuts. Whoever thought of that was surely a genius. Well, maybe that’s a bit of a stretch. But whoever it was, they’re good as gold in my book.
So, now I get to celebrate National Doughnut Day with the rest of the world. You can’t see me, but I’m doing a little happy jig in the kitchen. It’s a great day!
I stay away from gluten these days as well so I’ve provided a gluten-free option too. No one puts a gluten-free baby in a corner!
So, Happy National Doughnut Day.
How to Make Caramel-Glazed Baked Donuts
It’s easy to make Caramel- Glazed Baked Donuts! First, Preheat your oven to 350F and coat a baked donut pan with vegetable spray.
Then place flour, yeast, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl, stir and set aside.
In a small bowl combine the cornstarch, ground flax, and water. Stir until the ingredients are combined and set aside for the ingredients to thicken.
In a food processor add the vegan butter and sugar. Pulse a few seconds until they’re mixed together. Then add the cornstarch mixture and pulse again until combined. Then add the milk and vanilla and pulse again until everything is combined. Combination is key!
Now add your flour mixture to the food processor and pulse a few more seconds until your dough is formed. It should be a thin, sticky kind of dough. Is that the best kind or what!
Now you’re going to want to pour the batter into each doughnut mold in your prepared pan. I used a tablespoon and measured out 3 tablespoons for each doughnut mold. I used a spatula to spread it out a little while trying to keep everything nice and neat.
Let the batter sit in the pan for a minute or two so the yeast can start to get kind of full of itself. Then bake the doughnuts for 15 – 18 minutes. You’ll know they’re done when they get a nice golden color. Remove them from the oven and cool.
Add the Caramel Glaze Frosting (recipe below) to each doughnut and drizzle with Chocolate Topping (recipe below).
Caramel-Glazed Baked Donuts
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon instant yeast
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
- 3 tablespoons water
- 6 tablespoons granulated sugar
- ¼ cup vegan butter
- ½ cup plant-based milk
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Caramel Glaze Frosting
- ¼ cup vegan butter
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
Chocolate Topping
- ¼ cup dairy free chocolate chips
- 1 teaspoon agave nectar
- ½ tablespoon plant-based milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F and coat a baked donut pan with vegetable spray.
- Place flour, yeast, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl, stir, and set aside.
- In a small bowl combine the cornstarch, flax, and water. Stir until the ingredients are combined and set aside for the ingredients to thicken.
- In a food processor add the vegan butter and sugar. Pulse a few seconds until they’re mixed together. Then add the cornstarch mixture and pulse again until combined. Then add the milk and vanilla and pulse again until everything is combined.
- Now add the flour mixture to the food processor and pulse a few more seconds until your dough is formed. It should be a thin and sticky.
- Use a tablespoon to measure out about 3 tablespoons for each donut mold in the pan.
- Bake the doughnuts for 15 – 18 minutes. You’ll know they’re done when they get a nice golden color. Remove them from the oven and cool.
- Top each donut with the Caramel Glaze Frosting followed by a drizzle of Chocolate Topping.
Carmel Glaze Frosting
- In a small saucepan, heat vegan butter and brown sugar over medium-high heat until it comes to a boil. Stir and boil for a minute or so. When it achieves a deep, rich color, it's ready.
- Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Allow it to cool for about 5 minutes then add the powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring between each addition.
Chocolate Topping
- Place chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl and add the agave nectar. Cook in 10-second increments until the chocolate chips are melted. Stir the melted chocolate and agave together until a nice, thick consistency is achieved. Add the milk and stir until everything is smooth and creamy.
Notes
Enjoy!
That caramel glaze looks amazing! I completely agree with you- Regular ol’ fried donuts just don’t do my body good (it does not do well with greasy foods). I’ve found that I actually like donuts more now that I bake them.
Have yourself a happy, happy national donut day! 🙂
It’s nice to know others feel the same way. I’m hardly even tempted by doughnuts or any kind of fried bread for that matter. Although I will confess to loving the smell of them!
That’s right! No one puts GF Baby in a corner! hahah….those look OUTRAGEOUS!!! im drooling all over my keyboard! 🙂 thanks for sharing! happy donut day:)
Oh no! We should create some kind of keyboard bib. I need one too!
These look fabulous!! I had a cupcake for breakfast, I decided it counts as a celebration for donut day 😉
I absolutely agree. Cupcake? Donuts? What’s the difference!
Oh Marly.. Just WoW!
Thank ya, Miss Paula!
Hahaha! Love that last line–you go gluten-free Francis!! The donuts look wonderful. 🙂
I should have offered a prize to the first person to get the reference and guess her real name right. If I had of, you would have won!!
Whoa! These look fabulous!
Thanks, Robyn!
I’m dying to get a doughnut pan, but I fear it would be a dangerous purchase! These look yummy.
These look great, going to do them with the kids at the weekend!
Ooh, fun! Let me know how it goes!
These look super yummy! But, I’m new to all of this – can you make soy buttermilk the same way you can make regular buttermilk using vinegar?
Hi Sarah – yes, you simply add a little apple cider vinegar to soy milk and let it sit for a bit. I hope you love these as much as we did!
I can’t wait to make these. I miss eating doughnuts, they were always my weakness. One question. In the directions, it says to add flour,yeast and salt, but I don’t see salt in the list. How much salt would I need? Thanks
Donuts are the best! Thanks for that catch! I edited the recipe to include 1/4 teaspoon of salt.
These look so good! I actually got one of those donut pans for Christmas last year and haven’t even used it yet! Shameful, but these might make me get into the kitchen and put it to good use!
I have a few dishes like that as well. Maybe you’re just waiting for the right recipe to get it started. I love baked donuts – can’t imagine them any other way now!
I just made these: the donuts are yummy and fluffy but the frosting didn’t work 🙁 I made straight-up caramel, and I tried it twice. I don’t know what I did wrong. It is far too hard to spread so I’ll have to make a glaze and just eat this caramel as a snack.