Vegan Apple Cider Donuts

This post is brought to you by Bare Snacks, but all words and eats are my own. Thanks for supporting the sponsors that keep me hungry!

Apple cider donuts made with oats, almond butter, and apple cider finished with a refined-sugar-free coconut sugar, cinnamon, and apple chip dusting!

Did you learn any languages during quarantine this year? 

For the past few weeks I’ve been learning German. 

Well, for me, it’s actually a lot of re-learning because I took three solid year of German in high school. 

Sprechen Sie Deutsch? 

I’ve always struggled with languages, honestly. 

I flunked out of Italian in college, and, to fulfill the language requirement, managed to pass two semesters of French that I have no memory of. 

No, really, I must have tucked my knowledge of French in short term memory because it’s *all* gone now, down to the very last amour. 

German must have stuck somehow, because words and phrases are starting to come back to me.

And, it’s fun having an app to motivate me with epic winning streaks. 

Every night around 9 PM my DuoLingo app notifies me with a banner text message that it’s time to practice German. 

I play until I have no “hearts” left, addicted to the “briiiiiing” signifying a correct answer and the wiggly dance the owl mascot makes when I hit a new goal.

I also retaught how to make donuts– because it’s been a second (and by a second, I mean years) since my last donuts recipe on the blog. 

These Vegan Apple Cider Donuts are made vegan and gluten-free with oatmeal, almond butter, and apple cider.

Finish them off with a sweet refined-sugar-free dusting of coconut sugar and an apple chip crumble!

Sehr gut!

I’m not sure when it happened but fall and donuts are forever linked in my mind.

Probably because every Halloween growing up we had a tradition of enjoying a box of Dunkin’ Donuts with fresh apple cider. 

Chocolate frosted, chocolate glazed, and pumpkin glazed were a few of the family favorites. 

On October 31 I quickly devoured the circular frosted tube in my mouth and gulped the sweet cider before trick or treaters rang the doorbell. 

It’s a tradition I never practiced after I moved out of the house, but maybe one I should bring it back. 

Donuts and apple cider. 

But then again…what if we put the apple cider *in* our donuts? 

You’re going to love these donuts that are infused with apple cider! 

Each donut is light, sweet, and apple-y while being totally gluten-free and refined-sugar-free. 

They’re also totally oil-free if you don’t count the minimal amount of cooking spray used to grease the donut pans. 

I recommend using a fresh apple cider without any added sugars for this recipe.

However, if you really want you can also use unsweetened apple juice for similar results! 

OK, here’s what you need to make apple cider donuts: 

• apple cider or apple juice
• flax “eggs”
• apple cider vinegar
• unsweetened almond milk
• gluten-free oat flour 
• ground cinnamon
• ground ginger
• ground nutmeg
• baking powder
• Himalayan sea salt
• almond butter
• unrefined coconut sugar

That’s it!

To start this recipe, we begin with a big bowl.

Mix up the flax egg by whisking together the ground flaxseed with filtered water.

Stir the almond milk and vinegar together in a separate small bowl to make a vegan “buttermilk” (this is essentially sour milk!). 

Toss the oat flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, baking powder, and sea salt together in a separate large bowl. 

Pour the vegan “buttermilk”, almond butter, and coconut sugar into the flax egg bowl and mix to combine. 

finally, dd the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and use a spatula to mix until you have a thick better. 

It should be thick enough to spoon out into the donut mold!

Using a spoon, divide the batter between the donut molds until the batter is almost flush with the top of the mold. 

Place the filled donut pan to the oven and bake for 22-25 minutes.

You’ll know your donuts are done when they start to pull away from the edges of the pan and lightly brown. 

Remove the donuts from the oven and let them sit in the tray for 5-10 minutes.

Use a small knife to wiggle each donut out of the mold and transfer them to a cooling rack to cool.

While the donuts are baking and cooling, you can go ahead and mix up  the cinnamon apple dusting.

Here’s what you need: 

• unrefined coconut sugar 
• ground cinnamon 
• unsweetened almond milk
• Bare Snacks Cinnamon Apple Chips

That’s it!

To mix up the dusting, add the coconut sugar, cinnamon, and apple chips to a high speed blender and process until you have a fine dust.

I used  Bare Snacks Cinnamon Apple Chips to create a 1-ingredient crumble coating for these donuts that further infuses them with cinnamon and apple sweetness. 

You might want once or twice to redistribute the apple chips in the blender bucket. 

The dust is done when it’s fine and even and most of the apple chips chunks are gone. 

Transfer the cinnamon apple “dust” into a large bowl wide enough to easily fit the donut circumference. 

Pour the unsweetened almond milk into a separate, too, next to the cinnamon apple dust bowl. 

Quickly “dunk” the donuts into the almond milk and swirl them in the cinnamon sugar bowl to roughly coat.

Place the donuts back on the cooling rack to continue to cool. 

Repeat this process with the remaining donuts until all of the donuts are coated in cinnamon apple!

Enjoy these Vegan Apple Cider Donuts as a fun fall dessert, snack, or breakfast. 

They look and taste like dessert but are actually packed with fiber, protein, and complex carbs. 

They’re suitable for breakfast with a cup of coffee or tea, as a tasty snack, or an evening dessert.

Try making a pan and enjoying them for an easy workweek treat! 

Store leftover donuts in the fridge and serve them cool or warmed up in the microwave for ~30 seconds. 

Apple cider is optional. 

Enjoy!

If you make these Vegan Apple Cider Donuts, let me know what you think!

Give me a shout on Instagram and use #floraandvino to show me your sweets.

Visit my Pinterest page to pin more recipe like this one to make later!

Want more vegan, gluten-free, and refined-sugar-free donuts? 

Check out my Chocolate Donuts with Chocolate Hazelnut Ganache. 

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XO Lauren

 

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Photography by Hot Pan Kitchen