Cinnamon donuts that will make you swoon (vegan)

Cinnamon donuts are a bouncy, sugary treat. These baked vegan donuts are coated in a fine layer of cinnamon sugar. They work equally well for dessert or breakfast, alongside a piping hot cup of coffee.

I’m so excited to share a cinnamon donut recipe with you today from the new cookbook, Vegan Comfort Cooking, by Melanie McDonald.

You may know Melanie from her popular blog, A Virtual Vegan. Mel is from England, and now lives in British Columbia, Canada.

She often showcases veganized British classics like Yorkshire pudding and mincemeat on her blog, as well as other comfort food dishes.

Now Mel has taken her recipes to print form with her inaugural cookbook. Vegan Comfort Cooking has a color photo for every recipe, which I love.

It contains 75 recipes for everything from breakfasts & appetizers through desserts – like today’s cinnamon donuts.

I’m not someone who bakes very often.

It’s not that I don’t enjoy a good chocolate chip cookie or cupcake. It’s just that I usually spend my cooking time on savory dishes like fried pickles or three bean chili instead.

Then when I have a hankering for something sweet, I’ll venture to a cupcake shop or my local co-op for something from their bakery.

That may be changing, though, now that I’ve made Mel’s drool-worthy cinnamon donuts. These baked doughnuts have a wonderful lightness.

And they come together in just about a half an hour. (Less time by far than it would take to get to the nearest donut shop selling vegan doughnuts.)

I ordered a couple of new donut pans to make these baked donuts.

But don’t be sad if you don’t have a donut pan in your cupboard. They can also be made in a muffin pan – either the full-sized ones or mini ones for donut holes.

How to make baked vegan donuts

Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees, and grease your donut pan.

Then mix the dry ingredients in one bowl:

• Flour
• Sugar
• Baking powder
• Baking soda
• Salt
• Cinnamon
• Nutmeg

Mix the wet ingredients in a second separate bowl:

• Vanilla
• Vinegar
• Coconut milk

Pour the dry & wet ingredients together. Once there’s no dry flour left, stop mixing. (You don’t want to over mix it.)

Spoon the thick batter into the wells of the donut pan. Smooth the donut batter out with the back of a teaspoon.

Pop the donuts into the oven for 12 to 15 minutes. (Or a few minutes longer than that if your oven is anything like mine.)

You’ll know the donuts are ready to go when the dough starts pulling from the edges of the donut pan, and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted.

Let the donuts cool briefly in the pan before gently moving them to a cooling rack.

Now it’s time to dip them in cinnamon sugar!

While the donuts are still warm, dip them one by one in a bowl of melted vegan butter. Then move each donut into a mixture of cinnamon sugar.

Keep going until all of the donuts are coated in cinnamon sugar.

(Mel gives a butter-free option in the recipe as well, if that’s what you prefer!)

Serve the cinnamon donuts while they’re still warm for maximum cozy comfort. Or have them for breakfast the next day with a cup of coffee.

How long will they keep?

Mel says that the cinnamon donuts will keep for 2 to 3 days in a sealed container. But mine were gone waaaay before that. So I can’t confirm or deny that either way. Haha!

Not only are these donuts great with a cinnamon sugar coating, I imagine they’d be wonderful with all kinds of vegan glazes.

Now that I’ve opened Pandora’s box on making desserts at home, I need to make the recipes for Black Forest breakfast crepes, and dreamy baked berry cheesecake, which are also in Vegan Comfort Cooking.

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.

5 from 2 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American, Vegan

Keyword: baked donuts

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

Servings: 6 donuts

Calories: 365kcal

Author: Melanie McDonald

Ingredients

• ▢ Vegan butter or coconut oil, for pan
• ▢ 1 cup + 3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
• ▢ ½ cup cane sugar or granulated white sugar
• ▢ 1 ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• ▢ ⅛ teaspoon baking soda
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon salt
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ▢ 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• ▢ 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• ▢ ½ cup + 3 Tablespoons canned light coconut milk

For the coating

• ▢ ½ cup vegan butter optional
• ▢ ½ cup cane sugar or granulated white sugar
• ▢ 2 Tablespoons 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 over mix 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.

To 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.

Notes

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.

*Note from Cadry: Cooking times vary, depending on your oven. For me, it took 17 or 18 minutes until the donuts were done. 

Reprinted with permission from Vegan Comfort Cooking by Melanie McDonald, Page Street Publishing Co. 2019. 

Nutrition

Calories: 365kcal | Carbohydrates: 56g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Sodium: 266mg | Potassium: 122mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 34g | Vitamin A: 720IU | Calcium: 67mg | Iron: 1.5mg

Tried this recipe?Tag @cadryskitchen on Instagram and hashtag it #cadryskitchen!

More Vegan Comfort Cooking recipes I’m sure you’ll love:

• Crispy zucchini fritters
• Easy smashed salt and vinegar potatoes
• Smoky tomato & white bean soup
• Blueberry breakfast cake
• Vegan roasted garlic alfredo sauce with fettuccine

Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of Vegan Comfort Cooking.