Gluten-free Maple Donuts {dairy-free}

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If you’ve been looking for a really good gluten-free maple donut like the ones you used to enjoy, I’ve got the recipe you need! Soft, not cakey, gluten-free donuts with a delicious maple icing!

One thing I dearly miss since being gluten-free is a really good maple doughnut! I rarely stopped in at a donut shop, but when I did, I always grabbed a maple frosted doughnut. I’ve been missing those for 6 years now so it was time to work on a recipe for one. I wasn’t ready to go all in on making yeast doughnuts that are fried – just too time consuming and messy for me right now.

I searched around and found a recipe for a regular doughnut that was described as being so similar to a fried doughnut, that people couldn’t tell the difference. I figured that recipe was a good place to start, then I worked at adapting that recipe to be gluten-free and dairy-free as well as finding the perfect maple frosting for topping it.

While these could easily be made with dairy, I wanted to make them dairy-free for my readers that are dairy-free. To make them nice and moist but without adding any dairy, I partnered with Silk to use the Silk non-dairy yogurt alternative in this sponsored recipe. I used the vanilla flavor to add extra flavor to the doughnuts. I knew this non-dairy yogurt was really good, as last fall I used it to make these gluten-free pumpkin spice granola parfaits.

I picked up the new large size containers of Silk at my local grocery store – I’m so glad they are carrying it now alongside all the dairy yogurt tubs! The container is 24 ounces, and only 5 ounces are needed for this recipe, so my hubby and I enjoyed using the rest in some smoothies and just eating straight out of the container since it’s so good! My hubby remarked that he couldn’t believe this wasn’t regular, dairy yogurt!

Now I like a good gluten-free baked doughnut – like my gluten-free baked cinnamon sugar doughnuts – but I really didn’t want a cakey doughnut for these maple doughnuts. I was so impressed with the soft – yeast like texture these gluten-free maple donuts had! On the texture spectrum from baked to fried doughy doughnuts, these were definitely closer in texture to a doughy fried doughnut but without the grease! Yay! Total win!

You will need a normal sized doughnut pan to make these, so get one if you haven’t yet! Here’s a link to the one I have: doughnut pan and while you only need one for this recipe, buy the two pack as you’ll probably want to make a double batch next time!

You’ll know these are done baking when the tops are just starting to brown and the bottoms are golden brown. I use a toothpick to lift one up so I can peak at the bottom. Here’s a look at how they’ll look after baking. 
You’ll leave them in the pan for 1-2 minutes, then flip them out onto a cooling rack. You want them to cool completely before icing them. While they cool, mix up the icing. 

The icing is a simple one, but took me multiple tries to get right! I wanted it to have a really good maple flavor that wasn’t fake tasting. I’m betting most donut shops use imitation maple extract in theirs but I wanted to use real maple syrup in mine. I’m a big fan of Vermont pure maple syrup, especially after visiting some maple sugar houses in Vermont last year and learning how it’s made there. I recommend using a Grade A pure maple syrup like this one. Regular cheap pancake syrup is not pure maple syrup. 

I also liked the results when I added just a bit of maple extract to my icing. This step is optional – so if you don’t want to buy that, it’s okay to skip. This is the maple extract I used and recommend.

I’ll have you know that I kept testing doughnut after doughnut just to be sure these were truly great. After tweaking two different batches and testing different icing variations too, I can say I was definitely feeling the sugar buzz and my maple doughnut craving was well satisfied. But that was several weeks ago, and now that I’m putting together this post and seeing these drool-worthy photos again, I’m totally craving these again! Must make again soon!!

Doughnut recipe adapted from one I found on Cooking with a Kid, a website that is no longer online. Icing recipe is my own creation.

Gluten-free Maple Donut Recipe:

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Yield: 6 doughnuts

Gluten-free Maple Doughnuts {dairy-free}

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Gluten-free maple donuts that are soft like a doughy fried doughnut, but without the grease!

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 12 minutes

Additional Time 7 minutes

Total Time 34 minutes

Ingredients

Doughnuts:

• 1 cup good quality all-purpose gluten-free flour blend*
• 1/2 tsp.xantham gum**
• 3/4 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 tsp. baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 1 large egg
• 5 ounces plain or vanilla non-dairy yogurt alternative
• 1 Tbsp. mild flavored oil like corn, canola, or vegetable
• 2 tsp. lemon juice
• 2 1/2 Tbsp. pure maple syrup

Icing:

• 1 1/2 cups organic powdered sugar, sifted
• 2 Tbsp. pure maple syrup
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. non-dairy milk
• 1/2 tsp. maple extract (optional)
• 1/4 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Instructions

Doughnuts:

1. Preheat oven to 400°. Lightly spray six doughnut cavities of your doughnut pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the gluten-free all-purpose flour blend, xanthan gum**, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the egg, yogurt, oil, lemon juice, and maple syrup.
4. Pour the wet ingredients onto the dry ingredients and gently stir with a spatula or wooden spoon until just combined.
5. For ease, scoop the batter into a disposable decorating bag or a gallon Ziploc bag. Just snip off the corner of the bag and squeeze the batter out into the 6 cavities of your doughnut pan. They will be very full.
6. Bake for 11-12 minutes or until bottoms are golden brown and tops are a bit browned.
7. Let cool in the pan for 1-2 minutes, then flip over onto a cooling rack to cool completely before icing them.

Icing:

1. Place the sifted powdered sugar in a microwave-safe medium bowl. Slowly whisk in the maple syrup and non-dairy milk until smooth. Place in microwave for 15 seconds. Whisk again. Place in microwave again for 15 seconds. Whisk in the maple and vanilla extracts.
2. Let cool slightly, then dip one side of each doughnut in the icing. Place doughnut on wire rack over wax or parchment paper to catch the drips.
3. Enjoy! These are definitely best eaten the same day they are baked!

Notes

*A good quality all-purpose gluten-free flour blend does not have bean flours and is made of more than just rice flour! For this recipe, and most of my recipes, I tested with gfJules flour with excellent results.
**If your flour blend contains xanthan or guar gum, do not add this additional gum. I'm just including it here for those blends that do not include a gum.

If you can have dairy, feel free to use regular plain yogurt and regular milk in this recipe instead of the non-dairy versions I've listed. I have tested this and it works well.

The maple extract is optional and just adds a little extra bit of maple flavor that reminds me of the maple icing from the donut shops.

Recommended Products

As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.

• 
  Cook's, Pure Maple Extract, All Natural Premium Maple Sap from Vermont's Finest Maple Trees, 8 oz
• 
  Butternut Mountain Farm Vermont, 100% Pure Maple Syrup Vermont, Grade A, Amber Color, 1 Qt
• 
  Realemon 100% Lemon Juice, 2.5 oz
• 
  Wilton Non-Stick 6-Cavity Donut Baking Pans, 2-Count

Let me know when you make these doughnuts! I hope you love them as much as I did!

Pin these to your gluten-free breakfast board on Pinterest:

This recipe was sponsored by Silk. 

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