Donuts! There’s nothing like ’em!
They’re nostalgic, indulgent, the epitome of hee, hee naughty comfort food.
I’m all for frying donuts. If you have lard on hand, that’s the ticket! But I must say, the advent of the silicone donut pan just makes life easier. As long as you have a good traditional glaze and a tender cake-y texture, baked donuts are a great option. I have not tried to fry this recipe, so let me know if you do. Otherwise, here’s my favorite donut pan.
I’ve created a gluten-free sourdough donut because I believe it best suits where so many of us are in our eating process. Sourdough is awesome because it predigests grains to make them nutritious and gentle. Gluten-free has been a boon of freedom for millions who would otherwise suffer from a variety of symptoms.
This marriage is fun, too! If you don’t yet have a gluten-free sourdough starter, keeping it happy is a lot like caring for a low-maintenance pet. Somewhere down the line, ours was named Sally, and although it isn’t a name I would have chosen, you can’t really change someone’s name. 😉 So, it stuck and “she” is a part of our family in addition to our traditional cafe.
At our cafe, we make gluten-free sourdough waffles. But these donuts are raising the bar. They may just become a new staple!
I make this recipe using coconut sugar, sucanat, or organic sugar. You can try honey, too, but keep it mind it makes the batter a little heavier. Dipped in cocoa butter glaze, these lovelies are hard to resist!
Gluten-Free Apple Spice Sourdough Donuts
Donuts! There’s nothing like ’em! They’re nostalgic, indulgent, the epitome of hee, hee naughty comfort food. These lovelies, gluten-free sourdough and dipped in cocoa butter glaze, are hard to resist! Makes 12 donuts.
Ingredients
- 2 cups gluten-free boosted brown rice sourdough starter
- 1 cup sorghum flour
- 1 cup granny smith apple peeled and diced
- 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil or butter or other animal fat, melted
- 1/2 cup flax seed meal
- 3 organic or pastured eggs separated
- 2/3 cup organic sugar coconut sugar, or sucanat
- 2 teaspoons sustainably-sourced gelatin (certified glyphosate-free) sustainably-sourced
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon xanthan gum non-GMO
- 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
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Prepare donut pan by greasing it. Coconut oil spray also works well.
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Stir together sourdough starter, apple, melted fat, egg yolks, and sugar in a large bowl.
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Set aside.
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Sift together sorghum, flax seed meal, gelatin, cinnamon, baking soda, xanthan, allspice, and sea salt in a medium bowl.
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Set aside.
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Place egg whites in a metal mixing bowl and beat on medium-high speed until they become white, foamy, and somewhat voluminous.
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Stir dry ingredients partially into wet ingredients.
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When they are about halfway incorporated, add foamy egg whites, folding them in.
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Combine the three mixes until they are homogenized without over-mixing.
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Use a pastry bag or carefully spoon batter into prepared donut pan. Fill cavities almost full.
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Bake until puffed, browned, and a toothpick inserted into the center of one comes out clean, about 20 to 25 minutes. Start checking after 15 minutes.
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Cool for 20 minutes before popping donuts from the pan.
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Prepare a cookie sheet by lining it with parchment paper.
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Set aside until donuts cool.
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Chill donuts on cookie sheet before dipping to expedite the glazing process, either 10 minutes in the freezer or 30 minutes in the fridge.
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Use this time to prepare the glaze (see recipe below).
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Once donuts are chilled, dip each donut into glaze, swirling it a bit to evenly distribute the cinnamon and maple syrup.
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Flip over and glaze the second side, if desired, as well. Double dip the top side of each donut if you want a thicker glaze.
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Replace dipped donut on prepared cookie sheet and proceed with remaining donuts.
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Chill donuts until serving or leave out at room temperature if your house is cool.
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For crumb donuts, dip wet glazed donuts into a mixture of coconut sugar and cinnamon: 1/4 cup sugar to 1 tablespoon cinnamon.
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Donuts may also be dipped in melted coconut oil before dipping in cinnamon sugar, which is easier and more cost effective.
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Chill them briefly to help set the oil and crumble.
Recipe Notes
- I make this recipe using coconut sugar, sucanat, or organic sugar. You can try honey, too, but keep it mind it makes the batter a little heavier. Dipped in cocoa butter glaze, these lovelies are hard to resist!
Cocoa Butter Glaze
A cocoa butter glaze makes donuts even more delicious!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup cocoa butter wafers melted and cooled slightly
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup or honey
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon optional
Instructions
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Melt 1/3 pound cocoa butter from which to measure the 1/2 cup.
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In a small, broad, flat-bottomed bowl whisk the glaze ingredients together. They may separate a bit, which is fine.
Recipe Notes
- I like to double this recipe to glaze donuts on both sides.
What’s your favorite kind of donut? Will this gluten-free, sourdough version help them to make a comeback in your kitchen? Do you like the idea of baked or fried donuts best?
Looking for more nourishing, gut-healing foods that your family will love to eat?
Be sure to check my cookbook: Eat Beautiful: Grain-Free, Sugar-Free and Loving It (softcover version as well).
It contains all the recipes I’ve perfected through my family’s years on a gut-healing diet.
My eBook and video package is currently 50% off. One of the bonus videos you’ll get explains the grain-free baking technique I use to make amazing panini sandwiches for our gut-healing cafe in Eugene, Oregon!
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They look amazing!! Will the recipe work with regular sourdough? Thanks!!
Hi Monica, I think it’s worth a try. Then you can leave out the xanthan gum and probably also the gelatin. Because the gluten from the regular sourdough will hold them together fine. Let us know how it goes!
I don’t tolerate sorghum, is there something else I can use in it’s place?
Definitely! You can substitute any gluten-free flour you love: buckwheat or millet would both be nice. What else comes to mind? 🙂
Can you give an approximate bake time?
Thank you!
Sure, start checking them after 15 minutes, by inserting a small sharp knife or toothpick into the center of one. 20-25 minutes is more likely; but oven temperatures and times vary, so best to check on the early side. They will also be golden brown all over and puffed when ready.
I need a substitut for sorghum flour and xanthan gum please
Thanks
You can substitute any gluten-free flour for the sorghum. My first choice would be millet flour. Allow the finished batter to sit in the fridge overnight to pre-digest the millet, ideally. Buckwheat would also be good. For the xanthan gum, you can try just increasing the gelatin, from 2 tsp. to a full tablespoon. If they are a bit crumbly, then you can increase the gelatin to 4 tsp…and you can serve them chilled to help them firm up, as well, which works great, too with the glaze. They are good cold. Good luck with the alterations. Sounds yummy to me!
Just wondering if you use teff and what you think about it for this or any other recipe. Looking forward to trying this. Thank you so much!
Oh yes! Teff would be lovely! I used it in the past more than I have recently and loved it. It would make a very rich, dark donut, combined with buckwheat (and rice). So I recommend just using a portion of teff in substitution for the overall sorghum.
Thank you very much!
You’re so welcome! 🙂
Hello my 4 year old really misses donuts and will be so happy to hear I found a gluten free recipe for him!! Can you tell me what I can substitute the eggs with? Thank you ?
Was hoping to find the same answer! Any idea if Ener-G egg replacer would work in this recipe? I am still learning the ins and outs of replacing eggs. I’ve had gluten out for a long time and hardly miss it, but eggs is a new territory! I’m assuming that flax or psyllium or chia eggs just wouldn’t do the trick in this one…
I’m sorry; this recipe hasn’t been trialed with egg substitutes. So you are part of the new egg-free frontier if you try! Please let me know if you succeed what you did. I have an egg-free son, too, and I always prize egg-free baked goods!
Just did this morning! I used Ener-G egg replacer. I followed the directions a bit differently:
I halved the ingredients to make only 6 donuts, as my pan is dor 6. In a bowl last night, I mixed together my sourdough starter, half millet and half brown rice flours (instead of sorghum), the water/egg replacer amounts for just yolks, my fat (4Tbsp MCT oil and 2Tbsp olive oil), ground flax, and coconut sugar. I covered in plastic wrap and left in my oven with the light on (warm spot) to sour overnight. This morning, I sprinkled on top the gelatin, spices, salt, xanthan gum, chopped apples. I whipped more egg replacer with water until foamy and a little stiff. I mixed up the dough with the stuff I’d sprinkled on top, then poured in the whipped egg replacer and mixed as directed. Scooped into my donut pans.
They turned out. Can’t compare to how they might have been. I haven’t had a donut in a long long time. They were good!
Wonderful! Thank you for sharing! 🙂
Am I missing something? I don’t see a donut recipe. I see a glaze recipe. Is there supposed to actually be a recipe for sourdough donuts here? That’s what I was hoping for!
Hi Colleen! Thanks for bringing that to our attention — the article is fixed now and the donut recipe should show up! –Haniya, TCS Team
What is the flax seed meal for, and what could I replace it with? I would never eat that, or feed it to my kids.
Hi, I understand your concern. This recipe hasn’t been tested with subs for that ingredient. If you want to try alternatives, I would suggest tiger nut flour or homemade macadamia nut flour. But I can’t say for sure, because I haven’t tried them. Best wishes!
I have a sourdough starter waiting to be made into delicious donuts. Can I eliminate the flax or would I need to sub it with another flour? Almond flour?