Today is Katherine’s birthday! So we made one of her favourite desserts ever: DONUTS! Not just regular donuts, but vegan birthday donuts.
Who doesn’t love donuts? Seriously we have never met anyone who hasn’t like them – however Kat’s love for them is on a whole new level. She has travelled one hour from where she lives just to get some of her favourite donuts from Hamilton, ON. Seriously if you haven’t gone to Donut Monster before, you need to. Disclaimer: They do sell non-vegan donuts as well.
If you don’t feel like driving hours for donuts – then this recipe is your answer. Just the right ratio of dense dough and pillow-y bite. Topped with a perfectly sweet birthday cake icing – no one will be missing cake if you have these donuts. Kat shared these with her family (including brothers – who aren’t big on vegan food) and everyone LOVED them.
So if it’s your birthday or just a regular old Sunday – these donuts will instantly put a smile on your face.
Birthday Donuts
Ingredients
Dough
- 2 cups non-dairy milk
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
- 1 tbsp quick-rise yeast
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 4 - 5 cups all-purpose flour
- pinch salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
Glaze
- 1 cup icing sugar
- 1/2 cup funfetti cake mix
- 3 tbsp non-dairy milk
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- sprinkles, (optional)
Instructions
- To a sauce pan add the milk, butter, almond extract, and vanilla extract - heat to 45C to 50C. Any hotter and it will kill the yeast. If you overheat it - keep it off the heat and allow it to cool until it hits the correct temperature. Mix in the active dry yeast and sugar, and set aside for about 10 minutes to foam. If it doesn't foam, start fresh with new yeast.
- To a large mixing bowl add 4 cups of the flour, the salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Mix until all incorporated.
- Add the foaming yeast mixture to the dry mix and using a stand mixer with the dough attachment - mix until a dough has formed. If the dough is looking very sticky - add in the extra cup of flour. You want a sticky dough that will hold its shape.
- Lightly grease a large mixing bowl and place the dough in it. Cover with clear wrap and a tea towel and place in your oven (make sure it's NOT on) to proof for about 1 hour. or until double in size.
- Once it's been proofed generously flour a flat surface and turn the dough out onto it. Roll out the dough until about 1/2 inch thick. Using a large cookie cutter or a container lid (like we did) cut out the desired size of your donuts. To cut the hole in the centre we used a piping tip. Check out the video below to see how we did it. Set the donuts on a flour baking sheet and let rise for another 30 minutes.
- Preheat your oil to 350F - be very careful when deep frying! Check out our safety tips, especially if you're doing this without an actual fryer.
- Fry for about 2 minutes per side - or until they get a beautiful golden brown colour. Once fried set on a cooling rack to allow any excess oil to drip off - putting a baking sheet underneath is probably a good idea.
- To make the glaze: Combine icing sugar, funfetti cake mix, non-dairy milk, vanilla extract, and almond extract. Whisk until smooth.
- Dip each donut into the glaze and set aside to set. Optionally you can also dip into sprinkles before allowing the icing to set.