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Gluten-free Cinnamon Sugar Baked Donuts

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by 76 Comments

Thanks for sharing!

Craving donuts since you’ve gone gluten-free? I was too, so I created this recipe for gluten-free cinnamon sugar donuts. This gluten-free donut recipe is so easy and delicious!

Gluten-free Cinnamon Sugar Doughnuts Recipe. These donuts are so good! No one can tell they're #glutenfree

Doughnuts are among the top three things I’ve missed the most since having to give up gluten. Really, I only would buy doughnuts at most 3 times a year during my adult life, but still, the idea that I can no longer grab a doughnut with my kids is such a bummer.

I’ve decided that I just need start making my own doughnuts! These gluten-free cinnamon sugar doughnuts are the result of trying and tinkering with several recipes until I got them just right. They taste like the doughnut holes I remember, but honestly, I think these are even better!

I made these mini doughnuts in my Norpro Nonstick Mini Donut Pan. You know what I learned? I need to order a 2nd one! Doing one batch of 12 doughnuts at a time took a little too long for my tastes. Luckily the pans are affordable, so getting two isn’t a big deal. If you have a full sized doughnut pan, feel free to use that instead. The cooking time would likely be just a couple minutes longer. These would also work well in a Babycakes Nonstick Coated Donut Maker.

Since this was my first time using my doughnut pan, I wasn’t sure what the best technique was for filling the cavities in the pan. I tried scooping it in, but that covered up the hole in the middle, and also made a mess of the pan. I consulted with my friend Jeanine, the gluten-free doughnut queen, and she suggested placing the batter in a Ziploc bag, cutting off the corner, and squeezing it into each cavity. That worked perfectly!

I used Gluten Free Mama’s Almond Blend All Purpose Gluten-Free Flour for the flour in this recipe, with excellent results. Other good all-purpose blends would likely work well in this, such as King Arthur Flour Gluten-free Measure for Measure Flour or gfJules, but I haven’t tested them in this recipe yet. As always, I recommend avoiding gluten-free flour blends with bean flours.

Gluten-free Cinnamon Sugar Baked Doughnuts - Such a fun treat to make and share! These were great the 2nd day still too!

Last week was teacher appreciation week. I have a teacher friend, Angie, at my son’s school that has celiac, so I like to sign up to provide treats that she can eat. I made these doughnuts to send for her and the other gluten-free folks to enjoy at the teacher appreciation breakfast. I even packaged them up in a doughnut box. She loved them and asked for the recipe, so I knew they were a hit with more than just my family.

I think you’ll enjoy them too! Be sure to try my recipe for gluten-free maple donuts too! They’re equally delicious and a favorite treat of mine. My kids love both of these doughnuts and beg me to make them more often! 

Gluten-free Cinnamon Donuts

Recipe adapted from King Arthur Flour.

Gluten-free Cinnamon Sugar Donut recipe: 

Gluten-free Cinnamon Sugar Baked Doughnuts

Gluten-free Cinnamon Sugar Baked Doughnuts

Yield: 48 donuts
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 7 minutes
Additional Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 42 minutes
This cinnamon sugar gluten-free donut recipe is so easy and delicious! Not only are these super easy to make and delicious, but they were just as great on day 2. So feel free to bake them up the day before you need them.

Ingredients

Doughnuts:

Topping:

  • 5 Tablespoons salted butter, melted
  • 1 1/2 Tablespoons cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup sugar

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 425°. Spray mini doughnut pan with non-stick cooking oil spray.
  2. In the bowl of your electric mixer, cream together the butter, oil, and sugars until smooth.
  3. Add the eggs and vanilla, beating until smooth.
  4. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt.
  5. Alternate adding the flour mixture and the milk to the butter mixture, beginning and ending with the flour. Mix on low just until everything is thoroughly combined.
  6. Scoop the batter into a gallon-size Ziploc bag and seal tightly. Use scissors to snip off a bottom corner. Squeeze the batter out of the opening into the cavities of the doughnut pan, filling until almost flush with the top of the cavities.
  7. Bake at 425° for 7 minutes or until they are a pale, golden brown, and a toothpick inserted in a doughnut comes out clean.
  8. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for 2-3 minutes. Turn the pan over to turn doughnuts out onto a cooling rack.
  9. Repeat with remaining batter, spraying pan again with cooking spray between batches. Makes 4 dozen.
  10. While doughnuts are cooling, make the topping.

Topping:

  1. Melt the butter in a small bowl.
  2. In another small bowl, whisk together the cinnamon and sugar.
  3. Take each cooled doughnut, dunk the top half in the butter, then in the cinnamon-sugar mixture to coat. Place on rack or tray to set. Enjoy!
  4. These can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days.

Notes

*Tip: After you dip a dozen or so of the doughnuts into the cinnamon sugar mixture, the mixture starts to get clumpy. If you care about that, I recommend only putting a small amount of your cinnamon sugar mixture in your dipping bowl, keeping the rest reserved. Once your mixture gets clumpy, dump it out and refill from the reserved mixture. Hope that makes sense! Let me know if you have questions!

*A little note about the nutmeg in this recipe. I put a range that you can choose. The first time I made these, I used a full teaspoon, and it was perfect. However I was using an older nutmeg container. Shortly after, I bought a new container of nutmeg and use that the second time I made these. I felt the nutmeg was a little overpowering in that batch. So feel free to adapt based on how much you like nutmeg and how new your spices are.

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© Michelle @ MyGluten-freeKitchen.com
Category: Doughnuts
Pin this to your gluten-free breakfast board on Pinterest:

Gluten-free Cinnamon Sugar Baked Doughnuts - These reminded me of doughnut holes, only better and healthier!

Gluten-free Cinnamon Sugar Doughnuts Donuts recipe. #glutenfreerecipe

I also have an entire Pinterest board full of gluten-free donut recipes you can check out! I’ve pinned so many more gluten-free donut recipes that I’m wanting to try too! 


Thanks for sharing!

Comments

  1. These doughnuts look AMAZING Michelle! Those are some lucky teachers at your kid’s school! Thanks so much for the shout-out, glad I could help. 🙂

    Reply

    • Kathy,
      It would be easy to make these dairy-free, just replace the butter called for with more oil, and use melted margarine or shortening for helping make the topping stick. I’m not 100% on the egg-free substitution, but I’d give it a try with the flaxseed/water egg replacement trick. Please do come back and comment if you give it a try so others will know how it (or another substitution) worked!

      Reply

      • I used the egg replacement that you mentioned and they came out delicious. I also had to replace the baking powder because my son can’t have corn and I didn’t have any at the moment. I just replaced it with more baking soda and vinegar and it worked just fine. Even my kids who aren’t gluten free and my husband enjoyed them.

        Reply

      • What about using coconut oil. We can’t use vegetable, corn or canola? Also could use almond or coconut milk I assume

        Reply

    • Try organic egg they are proccesed completley different so an intolorence or allergy to egg is not always the same with organic????

      Reply

  5. Yeah! I am so glad you put this recipe on your website! These are the best doughnuts hands down! I am going to make a batch tomorrow before church. I have the regular size doughnut pan so I will let you know how they turn out.

    P.S. Thank you Michelle for remembering me for teacher appreciation, you are such a dear friend!

    Thanks so much Michelle!

    Reply

  6. Just made these and they are very, very good. I bought a donut pan to make it really real. I have celiac disease and this is such a blessing.

    Reply

  7. Very nice to see a gluten-free doughnut recipe that holds over till the next day! My sense is that’s a bit of an issue usually. These look so good and I love the miniature size. I’m glad your teacher friend appreciated your appreciation gift. Way better than Dunkin Donuts (or the classic apple)!

    Reply

  11. I made these this morning with regular flour ( we are not gluten free) and they were AMAZING! I am sure the GF version is just as good. We have donuts every Sunday morning and I have been searching for a really good baked donut. I can stop looking!!! I’m hoping to be able to tweak them into a chocolate flavor as well 🙂 Thanks so much!

    Reply

    • Jamie, thanks so much for your comment! I’m so glad to have ended your donut search! 🙂
      Promise me that you’ll come back and let me know if you tweak these into a chocolate version! It’ll be a while before I have time to play with that, so I’d love to hear what works or doesn’t work for you.
      Thanks again for coming back to rate and comment!

      Reply

  12. These were super good! I used almond milk and coconut oil. I also used turbinado sugar for the sugar and coconut sugar for the brown sugar.

    Reply

  13. Since going gluten free, I began to miss some of the treats. I just made these, and have scarfed two of them down already! Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe, which I will be saving in my recipe book. I substituted the milk for almond’s milk, and instead of the butter for the butter with cinnamon & sugar mix topping, I used Spectrum organic vegetable shortening. Also, I used Better Batter flour, which I measured in ounces instead of cups. I baked them in a full size donut pan (6 donuts per pan, so I bought two pans), which yielded 15 full size donuts. I cannot thank you enough!

    Reply

  14. If you use an olive oil spread in place of butter and soy or almond milk for the recipe the’re lactose free

    Reply

  15. I just made these today and they are fantastic!!! My entire family devoured them! Thanks for a great recipe 🙂

    Reply

  16. These were wonderful!! I have so missed eating a cake like doughnut since going GF. Instead of the sugar coating I added a powder sugar icing…yummy!!

    Reply

  17. These are great! I used Cloud 9 Cup For Cup flour and skipped the Xantham gum. They are light, fluffy, and tastey! They are also surprisingly easy (I have never made donuts before). I halved the recipe and baked 6 large donuts for 10 minutes.

    Reply

  19. These doughnuts were incredible! I dipped them in melted semi sweet chocolate and placed them in the fridge for 20 minutes. My husband raved about how great they tasted. He said it reminded him of the hostess mini chocolate doughnuts. I used Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 baking flour. I will be purchasing a larger size doughnut pan and baking these again. Thanks for such a great recipe!

    Reply

  20. I made these tonight for my family, everyone loved them! Half the batch I tossed in powder sugar (made these for 3 kids ages 2-5) the other half I made the batter chocolate and again tossed in powder sugar. Even my husband loved them and he is not a donut fan. Thank you for the recipe!

    Reply

    • I made these in mini muffin pans and they turned out more like donut holes. I do not have a donut pan but will be purchasing one soon. I have a feeling these will be a regular along with my other donuts made for fast treats.

      Reply

  21. I have been craving donuts since I was diagnosed Celiac and stumbled across your recipe on my Facebook feed….They came out awesome and taste like the “real” thing! Thank you so much for making this gal’s tummy very happy!

    Reply

  22. These are fabulous!! Thank you! I made them as regular sized donuts and they cooked perfectly in 9 mins and the recipe yielded a baker’s dozen. I bet you could add cocoa powder and tweak somehow to make different cake donut varieties too.

    Reply

  23. I’m making these right now, and the batter is super thick like play-doh… did I do something wrong? Popping in the oven now, fingers crossed!

    Reply

  24. Mine overflowed!! Ran and put a pan below them. Next time I’m filling less, but the recipe said to fill til almost flush. ????. Will post again once they’re out….and I’ve cleaned up.

    Reply

  25. Okay the second set with the leftover batter came out better, filled the cavities less. delicious! So clearly I need to (1) fill cavities 1/2 – 2/3 only, and (2) bake til golden brown and monitor for burning to ensure I can get them out of the pan whole. I used Hodkins gluten free mix so that will probably account for my different experience. Thanks so much for the recipe! I’ve been craving doughnuts

    Reply

  27. These are yummy! Thank you for sharing! I used a one-for-one gluten-free flour mix and coconut milk, and found that I needed to add a little more flour (just about 3-4 Tbls). For anyone else trying to make these diary-free as well, I also used a DF butter and they turned out great!

    My toddler son is allergic to both wheat and diary, and therefore has never had a donut before. I can’t wait for him to wake up from his nap and try one!

    Reply

  28. Thank you for posting this recipe. My daughter is gluten free and dairy free. She really loved to bake but after needing to avoid gluten and dairy has become frustrated with baking. We made your recipe but used 1 2/3 cups Arrowhead gluten free baking mix and 1 cup of almond meal which we sifted together along with the rest of the dry ingredients. We live in HongKong) and finding Mama’s almond flour blend was impossible. We also used Earth Balance vegan butter and coconut milk as replacements. The donuts were awesome! I’m very thankful that you take the trouble to post tested recipes that actually work. Many other websites recipes have been disappointing in the past. We are fans!!!

    Reply

  29. I tried another GF donut recipe before this, and was sooo disappointed. So happy to have found this recipe. Just tried it today and these donuts turned out amazing!!!!! Really great recipe!
    Thank you for sharing it!

    Reply

  30. We devoured these for breakfast for dinner! I didn’t even get a chance to put the topping on and the kids all loved them. I’m going to need to buy a second donut pan:)

    Reply

  31. These are delicious! I made a half batch, for 6 full-size doughnuts (I knew if I made more, I’d eat them all lol). I did as a previous comment suggested…425 for 10 minutes. They were perfect. I have been buying really good, large sized cinnamon sugar donut holes at a local GF bakery…but these are every bit as good. So happy to be able to easily make my own! Thanks so much for sharing!

    Reply

  32. I know this recipe was published a while ago, but can I make them in a muffin tin? Big doughnut holes! 🙂

    Reply

  33. Made these this morning using regular size donut tins…AMAZING! Since going gluten free, I so miss the convenience of getting my donut fix on by going to Dunkin Donuts right down the road. To get a gluten free donut now consists of driving 50 minutes into the city. These donuts are even more delicious than the GF bakery AND equal to (if not better) than a gluten-filled cinnamon sugar donut! Thanks for the recipe!

    Reply

  34. These are amazing! I bought a doughnut pan and was having mixed success with a couple different recipes. This was the first GF one I tried, and I love it so much more than any of the other recipes I’ve found. Thank you for the recipe!

    Reply

  35. These were amazing! I did it by hand instead of a mixer and it turned out fine. I also think these would be good pan fried after baking to give it a crunch. That is my goal next time! Thanks so much for sharing your recipe.

    Reply

  37. These donuts are really yummy. I used a silicon full size donut pan, so I made 9 instead of 12. The mixture was kind of difficult to work with- didn’t want to come off my spoon when I was trying to get it into a piping bag (which turned out to be useless).

    They were very cakey and dense, but very yummy. I also didn’t feel like doing a cinnamon & sugar topping, so used Ghirardelli dark melting chocolate instead (pour into bowl, microwave according to directions, stir, dip donuts into chocolate and let cool). Served with a dollop of whip cream and voila! Delicious!

    One question I had- we’re trying to do less sugar in the house- what would you recommend as a sugar substitute?

    Thanks for a great recipe.

    Reply

  38. My college-age daughter is on a FODMAP diet for IBS and has to substitute ingredients often. In the morning we are going to try your recipe in a Baby Cakes doughnut maker. I know we will be making them gluten-free and lactose/dairy free. I’ll let you know what we end up substituting and how they turn out. After reading the comments of others, we are very hopeful…a mother/daughter coffee and doughnuts break would be a nice treat!

    Reply

  41. These are absolutely wonderful! I used half and half because I didn’t have milk, but it didn’t seem to change much. Don’t get disheartened if they seem hard the next day – they stay nice and moist on the inside. People bring donuts in to work all the time and I’ve been so jealous, but no longer! The only problem is sharing – you’re not going to want to!

    5.0 rating

    Reply

  42. Wow these are good! Sometimes my homemade gf baked items can have what my husband calls a bubblegum quality but these don’t. I used
    Bobs Red Mill 1 for 1 gf flour and substituted Smart Balance for the butter and almond milk. The recipe made a dozen full sized donuts baked for 10 minutes at 425.

    5.0 rating

    Reply

  43. I live in Australia so the flour that I used was a Self Raising Gluten Free flour. *I didn’t have any nutmeg either.
    They turned out beautiful. So glad I finally got to eat some donuts! I added some icing with sprinkles too.
    I will try to them without cinnamon next time, but with jam!

    Reply

  44. I substituted 2x the gelatin for the xantham gum and they came out amazing! My kids are so happy (and I am too, because I managed to make 24 doughnuts for the same price as buying 6 at the store)!!

    5.0 rating

    Reply

  45. Like most on the gluten free journey, I have missed donuts. I made a batch of these this morning. Absolutely delicious! The cake was so moist and really good texture. No graininess at all. I used sunflower oil as that was all I had and added in some gf protein powder. Absolutely lovely! They are a big hit with my husband and I will be making these on the regular. Thank you for this recipe!

    5.0 rating

    Reply

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