Be My Valentine: Mini Vegan Doughnuts

You know those half tray mini-baking pans?  Mini-muffins, mini-doughnuts?  Yeah, those, where the pan is half the size of a normal muffin tray…. don’t bother!  Just buy the full sized pan.  If you’re going to do mini-somethings.. you are going to want to do a least 24 at a time. Trust me on this.  I’ve been baking all day.  I have refilled my little half tray doughnut pan no less than 10 times since this morning…

Mini’s are perfect for snacking and my kids wanted something special to share with their friends this Valentines day.  Bite sized is perfect! And I thought, minis would be a quick way to make enough for two classes. I was wrong about the quick part.  They sure are cute though…. don’t ya think

 

Baked Vegan Doughnuts

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. (scant) nutmeg
• 1 dash cinnamon
• 1/2 cup soy milk
• 1/2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• Egg replacer for 1 egg, prepared as per box (or 2 Tbsp. cinnamon apple sauce)
• ¼ cup vegan margarine

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients, flour through cinnamon, with a whisk to mix thoroughly. In a glass bowl, heat the margarine until just melted.  Add the remaining wet ingredients soy milk through prepared egg replacer.

A note about the Egg Replacer.  I used a commercial egg replacer product – 1 teaspoon of powder plus 2 tablespoons of water. Mixed well to combined and then added to the wet ingredients.

Add the wet mixture to the dry and mix until just combined. It should form a very soft dough.

I used a piping bag to fill the mini donut moulds.  This method turned out to be much easier to keep the baking tray neat and clean. And given that I made many batches, the batter stayed fresh and tidy while I waited to fill the tray again. Don’t over fill the moulds – otherwise you get more of a muffin with a indent in the bottom rather than a donut.  But as my son says, “The ugly ones still taste good.”

Bake for 5-8 minutes. They should not be browned.  You can test with a toothpick – it will come out clean when done. Immediately remove from the hot pan onto your cooling rack.Allow to cool completely before decorating.  My kids thought these looked like giant cheerio’s fresh out of the oven.

To make chocolate baked donuts, add 3 tablespoons cocoa powder to mix and omit the nutmeg.

Top with a glaze, melted chocolate, and/or sprinkles if desired.  We used both a chocolate glaze (recipe below) and pink melted decorating chocolate.  The decorating chocolate hardened better than the glaze – makes for easier transport.

Chocolate Glaze

• 1/2 cup of chocolate chips (we found vegan dark chocolate)
• 1 tablespoon corn syrup
• 2 tablespoons margarine
• dash of vanilla

Over a double boiler or using the chocolate setting of your microwave, gently melt the chocolate.  Be careful with the microwave – oh so careful.  I’ve burned and ruined more than my fair share of chocolate that way.  Use a low power setting and stir every 15 seconds, stop when the chocolate is about 50% melted and use it’s own heat to complete the job. Stir, stir, stir…