Drool-Worthy Vegan Cinnamon Donuts from A Virtual Vegan

Vegan Cinnamon Donuts are the perfect addition to your breakfast spread….or your dessert!  These melt in your mouth donuts are packed with flavor—bet you can’t eat just one!

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Cooking with Kids

Ah, summer.  Summer is now in full swing.  We are beaching, hiking, biking, and doing our best to keep busy….because the alternative is listening to my wild ones all day long!  These boys need to move!!!  I’ve also been trying to work with them more in the kitchen.  They’ve been choosing recipes from cookbooks, and then each get to help one night a week to prepare our family dinner.  They are loving it!  Last week I received a new cookbook in the mail from my friend and fellow blogger, Mel, of A Virtual Vegan.  The boys chose to make her Drool Worthy Cinnamon Donuts….and let me tell you—they totally live up to their name!  They are so good!  The boys had a blast making them—check out their hilarious antics in the video below—and the end result was pure perfection!  We loved these vegan cinnamon donuts, and so will you!

Vegan Comfort Cooking

Vegan Comfort Cooking is a brand new, hot of the presses, entirely vegan cookbook written by A Virtual Vegan Blogger Mel McDonald.  As the title suggests, this cookbook is packed full of comfort food classics like bread pudding, potato tacos, and ranch dressing!  There are 75 recipes in the book, filled with full page colored photos.  They layout is really clean, and the book is easy to navigate.  It’s a keeper, for sure!

Vegan Cinnamon Donuts

We made Mel’s drool-worthy vegan cinnamon donuts and they 100% live up to their name.  They are so good!  In fact, they are so good that I’m thankful the recipe makes “just” 6 donuts at a time.  If it made a full dozen we would have some serious self control issues.  These vegan donuts have an incredibly light and fluffy cake feel to them.  They’re not heavy at all.  After they bake you dip them in melted vegan butter and then dredge them in a mix of cinnamon sugar.  Or like my dad used to say: CINN-SUG.  Don’t forget to serve these with a cup of coffee!

Making Donuts at Home

Donuts are really easy to make at home!  All you need is a simple donut pan.  It looks kind of like a muffin pan, but the wells are a bit more shallow, with a “peg” in the middle.  You simply spread the batter into the pan, bake them up, and you have perfect cake donuts in your own kitchen!

More Vegan Cookbook Faves

I keep company with some really awesome vegan cooks!  Check out some of my other cookbook reviews!

• Fried Tofu with Hoisin and Peanut Sauce Noodles
• Speedy Black Bean Burgers — No Excuses Detox Review
• Teriyaki Veggie Burgers from The Vegan 8
• Smoky Skillet BBQ Baked Beans (Vegan Baked Beans)
• Vanilla French Toast with Strawberry Sauce
• Black and White Cookies from NYC Vegan
• Kim Chi Bowl with Red Curry Almond Sauce
• Cauliflower Curry Grill Packets from Vegan Yack Attack On The Go!
• Banana Berry Fresh Smoothie

More Recipes from Vegan Comfort Cooking

Want to check out more recipes from Vegan Comfort Cooking before committing to the purchase?  Here you go!

• Berry Good Breakfast Cake
• Smoky Tomato and White Bean Soup
• Smash ’em Up Salt and Vinegar Potatoes
• “I Can’t Believe It’s Vegan” Roasted Garlic Alfredo
• Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake
• Quick and Crispy Zucchini Fritters with Avocado Crema

Let’s Get Baking!

Are you ready to give these vegan Cinnamon Donuts a try?  You’re just a half an hour away from melt in your mouth cinnamon goodness!  Leave me a note in the comments (and a star rating) and let me know how it goes!

Print Recipe

Drool-Worthy Cinnamon Donuts

There is nothing quite like fresh, warm donuts, and with this recipe, you get perfectly soft and fluffy donuts with no deep-frying. They are baked in the oven, but by the time they have been dipped in melted vegan butter, and rolled in their warming, comforting cinnamon-y sugary coating, they taste as if they had been fried. If you cook oil-free, I give instructions for how to make them without the butter; and if you don’t own a donut pan, don’t worry. You can bake them as muffins or as donut holes in a mini muffin pan instead.

Prep Time15 mins

Cook Time15 mins

Total Time30 mins

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: vegan

Keyword: donuts

Servings: 6 donuts

Author: Melanie McDonald

Ingredients

• Vegan butter or coconut oil for greasing pan (or use cooking spray)
• 1 cup + 3 tbsp all purpose flour
• ½ cup cane or granulated white sugar
• 1¼ teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• ½ cup + 3 tbsp canned light coconut milk

Cinnamon Coating

• ½ cup vegan butter (optional) (see note)
• ½ cup cane or granulated white sugar
• 2 Tablespoon ground cinnamon

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350°F (176°C) and grease 6 wells of a donut pan with a little vegan butter or coconut oil.
• Sift the flour into a bowl. Add the sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg; then whisk together to combine.
• In another bowl, combine the vanilla, vinegar and coconut milk. Stir them together, and pour into the flour mixture. Gently stir until all of the flour is absorbed and you can no longer see any dry flour. Do not overmix or beat the batter. It will be a thick batter.
• Spoon carefully and evenly into the prepared donut pan and level/tidy up the batter with the back of a teaspoon.
• Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the donuts are coming away from the edge of the pan and a toothpick inserted into a donut comes out clean. Remove from the oven, allow to cool in the pan for a few minutes and then gently turn them out onto a cooling rack.
• If you do not have a donut pan, divide the batter among 6 greased wells of a muffin pan and bake at 350°F (176°C) for 20 to 23 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean. For donut holes, divide the batter among the wells of a mini muffin pan and bake at 350°F (176°C) for 8 to 10 minutes.
• Coat the donuts. While the donuts are still a little warm, gently melt the vegan butter in a microwave or in a pan over a very low heat on the stovetop. In a bowl big enough to fit the donuts into for dipping, combine the sugar and cinnamon. Using the butter ensures a good amount of sugar sticks to the donuts and helps give a “fried” flavor. However, if you want to keep the recipe oil-free, you can omit the butter, dipping the donuts into the cinnamon-sugar mixture while they are hot, and it will stick to them quite well.
• Take each donut and dip it into the butter on each side and all around the edges then immediately place in the cinnamon-sugar mixture and coat on all sides. Be really generous with the sugar coating.
• They are best eaten freshly made but will keep for 2 to 3 days in a sealed container.
• Tip: The donuts (without the coating) can be frozen for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and warm for a few seconds in a microwave or for 5 minutes in a 375°F (190°C)oven; then coat as directed.

Notes

Fried Dandelions Note: When we made these we had more melted butter and sugar than we needed for the coating.  If you want to, you can make about half of the melted butter + coating mixture, and then make more as needed.