Fresh-baked Jowar donuts- vegan, gluten free.
This recipe is one of my favorites, be it for the satisfying taste, texture, or the precious feeling of content after a successful quest to figure out the combination of flours, fats, sugars that work from a health stand point.
Did you know- the earliest ‘doughnuts’ came from Dutch prior to 19th century, and they were actually called ‘olykoeks’, meaning ‘ oilycakes’. True to their ancient name, donuts are fried in oil till now, but the hole was incorporated into the structure sometime in 19th century accidentally, by adding nuts in center where the dough was known to not cook well.
Over the ages, donuts evolved in content, technique, automation in manufacturing, but very much retained their prized place among breakfast foods, in the hearts of the world, including my kids. First Friday of June is celebrated as national doughnut day, to honor the volunteers who served donuts to the soldiers in World war I.
My goal was simple- to make a plant based, baked donut, with as little oil and sugar as possible, while retaining the taste and texture that puts a smile on my kids faces.
I chose jowar flour to bake, because it has higher fiber, lower glycemic index than whole wheat flour and neutral taste. I try to avoid all purpose flour , especially the bleached kind in all my recipes, because it is highly processed and lacks the nutritional value. ( P.S: I am not against gluten)
All it takes is 30 min, from start to finish and you will have soft, healthier version of commercial donuts in your hand, that you can decorate per your creativity.
Fresh Baked Jowar Donuts- vegan, gluten free
Equipment
- donut pan
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup rice flour
- 1/2 cup sorghum flour
- 1/2 cup brown sugar or coconut sugar
- 1.5 tsp baking powder
- 2 Tbsp raw cacao powder optional
- 1/4 cup apple sauce unsweetened can use one flax egg instead
- 1/4 cup almond butter or sunflower seed butter (can use oil instead)
- 3/4 cup plant based milk, I used soy milk
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract
- pinch of salt
Glaze/ Toppings
- 3/4 cup vegan chocolate chips (white/ milk/ dark- of your choice)
- 1/2 cup plant based milk
- fresh chopped strawberries
- light brown sugar
- cinnamon powder
- sprinkles
- fresh fruit- berries, pomegranate, etc
- hemp hearts
- coconut flakes
Instructions
- Mix all the dry ingredients in a sieve and sift them into a bowl. It includes the flours, baking powder, brown sugar, salt and cacao powder.Pre heat oven to 350 F.
- In another bowl, add the soy milk followed by apple cider vinegar. Mix and let it sit for 5 min. Now add the nutbutter, apple sauce, vanilla paste. Mix with a spatula.
- Add the dry ingredient mixture, slowly into the wet ingredient bowl, little by little, while continuing to mix them as vigorously as you can. The agitation lets air into the mixture and the donuts will be lighter.
- Take a ziploc bag and add the batter to it. Make a small hole in one of the bottom corners of the bag.
- In a donut pan, pipe the batter into each mold about 2/3rd full. Piping helps with even thickness of the donut, and gives a perfect structure.
- Bake for 15 min at 350 F. Let them cool for 10 min before getting creative with glazing and topping.
Glazing–
- The easiest chocolate glaze that I make is warm up plant based milk and add chocolate chips to melt in it. Cannot get any easier, right?In the chocolate glaze, dip each donut and set them back on a cooling rack. You can add sprinkles, or fresh fruit/hemp hearts/ coconut flakes to it. The possibilities are endless.Simple chocolate glaze is my personal favorite with added hemp hearts on it. Of course, kids get creative and need options, as listed below.
- For strawberry glaze, I let the chopped strawberries cook along with half the amount of sugar in a pan until it thickens and used it to coat the donut.
- For lighter glaze- warm the milk of your choice with some sugar and vanilla extract, and once thick use it on the donuts.
- For cinnamon sugar- Take a ziploc, add 2 Tbsp light brown sugar, and cinnamon powder per your preference , shake it well, and now dip the donut in it , when warm.