I love creating seasonal treats and these gluten-free vegan nectarines and cream donuts with strawberries are the perfect summer treat! These donuts are oven baked, fluffy and delicious – and not too dense like some gluten-free treats tend to be. There’s one secret ingredient, which makes these donuts irresistible and unique.
Two tips: how to make fluffy gluten-free vegan donuts?
The secret ingredient
I LOVE to use fruit in baking. Not just for sweetness, but for amazing fruity flavor. Most used fruits in baking in the berry kitchen are probably the most used in your kitchen too: dates, bananas and apple puree.
In recent years I’ve been more experimental with baking and I’ve tried all kinds of fruits: pineapple, mango, peach, apricots and now…nectarines.
I don’t usually chop fruits and add to the batter, I like to blend them into a puree. Usually I pair this puree with maple syrup (or other light syrup) to make a flavored sweetener.
So this time I blended 2 small nectarines to make a lovely nectarine puree. The flavor of the donut is mildly fruity, and I think this is the secret ingredient making the donuts extra fluffy. The texture really is wonderful!
Using the right gluten-free flours
I use a store bought gluten-free flour mix containing buckwheat flour, white rice flour and a little psyllium too. Psyllium helps with the texture, so the donuts are not crumbly.
This flour mix is quite dense and not like flour mixes containing mainly white rice flour and potato starch (or something similar). When using a similar gluten-free flour like I do, one thing to remember is that it absorbs a lot of liquid.
To avoid making dense and dry treats, you need to add the right amount of liquid. This can be plant-based milk / yogurt / water, liquid sweeteners like syrups and fruit purees and also some oil in liquid form such as melted coconut oil. If your batter feels very dense, you need to add more liquid (I usually go for plant-based milk).
I also like to add some white rice flour when baking gluten-free, because it adds lightness and fluffiness, and a sort of “white” wheat flour baked goods kind of look.
I usually bake using gram measurements. When using measurement such as cups or deciliters or milliliters, we all have our way of scooping the flour and the amounts are rarely the exact same. But with gram measurements you get the right amount of flour each time.
I hope you find these little tips useful when baking gluten-free!
Happy baking!
Gluten-free vegan nectarines and cream donuts
Ingredients
- 4,2 oz / 120 g nectarines I used 2 small nectarines
- 5 oz / about 0,8 cups / 140 g gluten-free all purpose flour mix I use gf flour mixes from Viljatuote.
- 2 oz / about 0,4 cups / 55 g white rice flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 0,5 tsp ground cardamom
- 0,5 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp vanilla bean powder or 1 tsp vanilla sugar
- 1/2 cups maple syrup
- 0,8 cups plant-based milk such as oat
- 2 tsp apple cider vingar
- 1/4 cups oil such as coconut oil
- Frosting: ~1 tbsp coconut oil, 1 tbsp sugar, 1/2 tsp Ceylon cinnamon
- Decorating: plant-based whipped cream and fresh chopped strawberries
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 392 F / 200 C
- Blend nectarines into a fine puree.
- Mix all dry ingredients: flours, baking powder, spices.
- Mix nectarine puree, maple syrup, milk, acv and oil to the dry ingredients.
- Scoop batter into a piping bag and pipe batter into a donut pan.
- Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes. The donuts should come out well from the pan after a few minutes of cooling.
- Let donuts cool for a while on a rack. Spread oil on both sides of the donut and roll the donuts in sugar-cinnamon to coat them.
- Cut donuts into two layers. Pipe plant-based whipped cream on the first layer and add chopped strawberries all around the donut. Place second layer on top.
- These donuts are best enjoyed fresh!
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