Doughnut Muffins (Gluten-Free & Vegan)
Aug 13, 2010 tagged Dairy-free, Egg-free, Gluten-free, Vegan 
Remember last weekend I attended The Big Summer Potluck—a foodblogger gathering in PA? Today I’m featuring a recipe that stole the show that day.
I didn’t really tell you much about the abundance of good food that was served so let’s talk about it a little before we get to the muffins.
Although Jeanne (Four Chickens) and I were the only gluten-free foodies at The Big Summer Potluck we didn’t starve. We looked longingly at the lovely selection of goodies that were gluten-filled but we had more than enough of our own treats and foods to be pleasantly full throughout the day.
We ate Cinnamon Cream Scones for our breakfast and Chocolate Crumb Cake for an afternoon snack. Our wonderful friend, Amber (Bluebonnets and Brownies), made a marvelous Gluten-Free Goddess dish—Chicken Tropicale. It was fabulous! Thanks to Amber, Jeanne and I had a filling and delicious lunch!
There were many naturally gluten-free snacks, some of which I didn’t have a chance to taste—chips and salsa (another Amber creation) and some pretty amazing goat cheeses and spreads. It was a food lover’s paradise.
Wonderful baked treats, from the kitchens of some of your favorite bloggers, were scattered across the table looking like they were staged for a professional photo shoot. There were beautifully ornamented sugar cookies made by Jen (My Kitchen Addiction). My son’s girlfriend assures me they tasted as good as they looked. There were perfect—and I mean bakery perfect—Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes from Tara (Smells Like Home). There were cookies, cookies, more cookies, and some beautiful crab cakes (Souffle Bombay). Then there were these. They’re Doughnut Muffins courtesy of Jen from How to: Simplify. These made the crowd go wild. Wild. The room was abuzz (yes, I said abuzz) about these muffins. And, all I was able to do is look at them adoringly from afar.
Before I get to the big reveal you need to go ahead and take a minute to click those links so you can see the goodies. Go ahead. I know there’s quite a few. I can wait. (Insert Jeopardy thinking music here.)
Done? Weren’t they awesome?? I know. I know…they weren’t gluten-free. Well, I like to admire them anyway. I need to do more than admire those Doughnut Muffins, though. I need to have them. And, have them I did.
Not two days after I returned from the Big Summer Potluck I was whipping up a batch of those babies—gluten-free, egg-free, and dairy-free. Let me tell you what, I made a simple sub for each ingredient I couldn’t have and they were good. Authentic Foods Multi-Grain Flour Blend for the flour. EnerG Egg Replacer for the egg. Earth Balance for the butter. Very simple. I didn’t even wait until they had cooled before popping one of those bad boys in my mouth.
It’s such a great feeling to realize we can have some of what we think we’re missing by being gluten-free. It isn’t always going to be that a new recipe needs to be created just for us—although that’s fun, too. Sometimes we can simply sub in gluten-free flour for regular flour and have the end result be something that’s delicious. It’s worth a try, don’t you think?
It worked with these babies so I’m giving them “Two Yums Up”!
Check out Gluten Free Gigi’s variation on these muffins—Jelly Doughnut Muffins!! Beautiful.
Doughnut Muffins
Adapted from How to: Simplify, Doughnut Muffins
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease the muffin tin because you’re not going to use liners for these babies.
Mix together in a small bowl until frothy and set aside to use later:
1 1/2 teaspoon EnerG Egg Replacer
1 tablespoon warm water
Combine in a medium bowl:
1 3/4 cup gluten-free flour blend (I used Authentic Foods MultiBlend Flour)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
In a separate large bowl stir together:
1/3 cup oil (grapeseed, canola or light olive oil will work well)
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg replacer you made earlier
3/4 cup hemp (or other) milk
Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir by hand only to combine. My batter was a little lumpy but it worked just fine.
Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.
While muffins are baking, melt and place in a small bowl:
1/4 - 1/2 cup Earth Balance
In another small bowl, combine:
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
Shake muffins out of the muffin tin while they’re still hot.
Dip the hot muffins in the melted butter and then into the sugar and cinnamon mixture. Place on a wire rack and allow to cool.
Note: I thought the Earth Balance was a little too thick for my preferences. Next time I will brush the Earth Balance over the top half of the muffin and dredge that in the cinnamon sugar mix. Either way these will be delicious!
Also, if you can use eggs and butter go ahead and do it. Use the same measurements—1 egg and 1/4-1/2 cup butter. Live large!
Nancy Kohler
One ingredient— 3/4 cup milk —was inadvertently left out when the recipe was transposed to the post. The recipe has been corrected to include that ingredient.
Reader Comments (32)
Oh my goodness, these look and sound amazing! I love that you found a way to make them work for you. This recipe would totally work for us too. I bet my babes would LOVE them! Thanks for the modifications.
Two Yums Up! HAHAH I love it. It was a great day, Nancy. Thanks so much for your link love.
They turned out wonderful!!
I'm glad you were able to experience these cracktastic treats. Who says gluten free has to be boring?
Maggie - These are so easy and so good. You're going to love them. Thanks for visiting.
Amber - Hehehe. And, you're very welcome wonderful lady. Thanks for making a such delicious lunch for Jeanne and me.
Tracy - Yay. It was an easy conversion. I just love when that happens.
Wendi - Cracktastic. I totally forgot. Should've weaved that into the post somehow. Love it.
YEAH, HUUULO! I'll be over to eat the rest of these up! Gonna try 'em for sure! Nice work!!
I made these, with a few modifications, and they are wonderful! Thank you for sharing this recipe! I am a gluten free gal, but also have severe iron deficiency anemia, so avoid foods that inhibit iron absorption, which means eggs and dairy, so this was a fantastic recipe for me to try! I do work to craft my GF recipes with a lower fat content for those who prefer to watch fats in their diet, so I made a modification there, and also took liberties with the sugar content, as well, as this can affect iron uptake. I posted a photo on my blog at http://www.glutenfreegigi.com/blog.html, and also posted the modified recipe there, with credit to you for the original, of course! Thanks, again!
Gigi - Love that you modified these to suit your dietary needs and style of baking. Yours look fabulous. Thanks for linking back and leaving a comment.
Is this batter super-thick? I had trouble mixing it. I am 99% sure I got everything right. They smell great so here's hoping I didn't do something wrong.
@Johnna: my batter was thick, but note that I made quite a few modifications to the original recipe. But these are oh, so good!
They turned out great and are delicious. Have six kids. Will need to double next time. Hopefully I will have one for my GFCF 5yo to take in his lunch tomorrow. He sure will love me when he gets off that bus today and this is waiting for him. THANKS!
They look so delicious! I can imagine topping them with coconut too. Yum!
Johnna & Gigi - I checked the original recipe from How to: Simplify and noticed I omitted 3/4 cups of milk (this can be regular milk or any alternate - I used hemp). The recipe is corrected. Interesting that they turned out great without the milk so it's your call if you want to add it next time.
Jessica - I love coconut in almost anything and these muffins would be no exception!
Wow, do those EVER sound good!
Hey Nancy! We just gobbled ours down :). Made them in one of those doughnut tins, so when flipped over, they came out looking like real cake doughnuts. And I will agree that brushing earth balance on would make them a little less rich. The texture is great and probably would have been better if I had used white sugar (which I don't stock in my kitchen) rather than coconut sugar. Fun recipe to make for a special back-to-school breakfast. Thanks for this post.
Ricki - Almost as good as black bean brownies!
Lexie - Using doughnut tins is a great idea!! It's nice to have home made GF doughnuts that aren't fried--as a special treat. Glad they worked for you.
These look completely fabulous...nice work on making the necessary changes to the recipe, because the final product looks flawless! Also, The Big Summer Potluck sounds like a complete success!!
Thank you, Nancy, for linking back to the Jelly Filled version. I did discover that these freeze well...for 1 day. Hey, there were a few left over on Sunday morning, so I froze them thinking it would be a while...a while, in our house, was 25 hours later. Oh, happy Monday morning! :-)
These. Look. Heavenly. This recipe definitely goes on my list! Donuts are one thing I haven't taken the time to recreate a gluten, dairy, egg, cane sugar free version of... but now is there really a need with this wonderful recipe?!!? Can't wait to try it. Thanks so much!
Hi, sounds like we have a lot in common! I am gluten and lactose free, but can tolerate sheep and goat products, haven't tried buffalo. I can't eat buckwheat either- I react worse than wheat. I do miss donuts sometimes, so I'll have to give these a go. Drop by my blog sometime and say hello!