These vegan gingerbread doughnuts are perfect for Halloween, or whatever you’ve got to celebrate this fall. Lightly spiced, sweetened with molasses and bathed in a sweet-tart apple cider glaze, it’s scary how good they are!
I love Halloween, and I’m always so impressed with bloggers who manage to share super-cute Halloween treats that look like mummies or ghosts all October long. Every year I think I’ll be one of them. Alas, I am not.
So these doughnuts, I thought they’d be spiders or spider webs or something, but I got busy and the doughnuts were really good. I wanted to take the photos and get the doughnuts in my belly as soon as possible.
Did any of you guys go on haunted hayrides growing up? I spent a good chunk of my childhood in southern California, where, at least as far as I could tell, we didn’t have hayrides. So when I was plopped here in southeastern Pennsylvania at the age of thirteen, I found the tradition a bit bizarre. The hayrides were fun though, in a campy sort of way. Anyhow, these hydride farms always boasted that if you made it through the whole ordeal you’d be rewarded with deadly doughnuts and spider cider. I don’t remember what was special about either of those items, but I’m guessing they consisted of nothing more than a box from the local bakery and a cup of plain old hot apple cider.
I ate a bunch of these doughnuts and I’m still alive, and I really hope the glaze is bug-free, but they’re no less a great Halloween treat.
They’re also whole wheat, but you’d never know it! Whole wheat pastry flour has become my absolute favorite in recent years. It’s whole grain, but is very fine and has a delicate texture, so you don’t get the graininess of regular old whole wheat flour. Bob’s Red Mill makes my whole wheat pastry flour of choice, and they were nice enough to hook me up with a bag of the stuff that I used for this recipe.
Feel free to enjoy these doughnuts as is, or come up with your own way of making them cute and scary for the October festivities. Oh, and if you do, please send me a photo. I need all the help I can get!
Vegan Gingerbread Doughnuts with Apple Cider Glaze
Ingredients
For the Gingerbread Doughnuts
- 1 cup unflavored soy or almond milk
- 1/3 cup canola oil, or your favorite baking oil
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 2 tbsp. maple syrup
- 1 tbsp. ground flax seeds
- 1 2/3 cup whole wheat pastry flour
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 2 tsp. ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp. ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp. salt
For the Apple Cider Glaze
- about 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 1/2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
- 1 1/2 tbsp. apple cider, could sub apple juice or water
Instructions
Make the Gingerbread Doughnuts
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Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly oil 9 doughnut cavities of a doughnut pan (or a couple of doughnut pans).
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In medium bowl, whisk together milk, oil, molasses, maple syrup and flaxseeds. Set aside.
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In large mixing bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, spices and salt. Add wet mixture and stir just until blended.
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Divide mixture into doughnut cavities. Bake 12 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
Make the Apple Cider Glaze
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Stir ingredients together in a small bowl, adding more powdered sugar if the mixture seems to thin, more apple cider if it seems to thick.
Glaze the Dougnuts
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Dip tops of doughnuts into glaze. Transfer to plate and allow to sit until glaze firms up. Dip opposite sides and transfer to plate again, and allow to sit until glaze is completely firm.
Recipe Notes
The recipe makes enough glaze to cover both sides of doughnuts, even though I've only shown one side glazed in the photos. (It just looks cooler that way!)
Wow! These look insanely delicious! I have a donut pan on my holiday wish list! I might have to buy it for myself sooner!! :)
Those Doughtnuts looks so so good I can’t wait to try them out! Is it possible to use spelt flour as well?
Thank you! I think these would work with spelt. I haven’t tried spelt in this particular recipe, but I often swap out it and whole wheat pastry in similar recipes when I’ve got one or the other on hand and I’ve never had a problem. :)
I asked previously but do not now see my question….could these be baked in a muffin tin and what would be the cooking time?? They look wonderful but I will not be buying a special pan.
Sorry about that! I had a little technical glitch and a few of my comments got zapped! I think a muffin tin would work, but can’t be 100% sure without trying. If anything, I think the bake time would be a bit longer. I’d start checking at twelve minutes – just press the top of one lightly with your finger. When it feels springy, it’s done. I’ve also made doughnut holes with similar recipes by just dolloping the batter on a parchment lined baking sheets. The bake time would probably be the same, but again I’d say check every couple of minutes.
Thank you so much for the quick reply…will definitely be trying this!
These are happening!!!! As soon as the semester is over and I am reaquainted with my donut moulds….
Excellent! Enjoy!