SRC Reveal: Gluten Free Donuts

I have loved being  a part of the Secret Recipe Club. I've been a part of this club since 2011. My first recipe was an asparagus quiche. It was so good, I've made it several times since. That's one thing I've loved about the blogs I've been a part of...I make some of the recipes over and over again. Sadly, the group is coming to an end. It was just time, as sometimes that happens and you always want to end on a high note. It's been a fun run. Sometimes I chose recipes that were familiar and easy, and sometimes I tried to challenge myself, like when I made macarons. I was just going through some of the recipes and oh boy, I'm getting an itch to make some of them again, like the Rustic Tomato Tart and Garlicky Grilled BLT.

This month I was assigned to The Heritage Cook. Jane has been a great asset to the Secret Recipe Club, and I'm honored to be cooking with her blog this month. She's a cookbook author, recipe developer, food and travel writer (that sounds fun). Check out her About Me page. 

I loved that she had such a large variety of dishes to choose from and a lot of Gluten Free ones. While we are not GF, I do try and make some recipes that are so I have an arsenal for when others come over or just to give us a break from wheat products.

I chose to make her Gluten Free Donuts because who doesn't love donuts, and being gluten free I wanted to give a couple to my daughter who mostly tries to avoid gluten, AND I always like options and newer, healthier ways of making things. I didn't have a donut pan, but borrowed one from a friend. I now need to go buy a donut pan. I also had to cut the recipe in half because I didn't have as much GF flour mix as I thought. I made a GF mix from my America's Test Kitchen Cookbook "How can it be Gluten Free". I love this mix. It doesn't have xanthum gum, and the recipe said to add 1/4 tsp. if your mix doesn't have it. I knew I had some but the little bag I thought was it didn't have anything to confirm it so I crossed my fingers and hoped it was...then added 1/8 tsp. since I halved the recipe and again, hoped it worked. My donut pan was also full size and not mini so I only got 6 full size donuts, but really that was all we needed. 

They turned out really good. They weren't as puffed up as I would have liked and I'm not sure if I needed to add more of something or just fill the pans a bit more. The flavor was great. The longer they sit, the drier they are so they'd probably be great with coffee, or maybe slightly warmed in the microwave. I ate a part of each kind within an hour of them coming out of the oven and they were perfect. My favorite was the cinnamon sugar. Next time I'll try a chocolate glaze as well and a powdered sugar, oh, and a maple glaze would be good too.

On to the recipe. It's lengthy so bear with me, but these are totally worth making! Oh, and I just found her recipe for a chocolate version...oh my, oh my..might need to make both next time. Also, go to her blog to read her tips and tricks. They were helpful.

Ingredients:

Donuts

1/2 c. milk
2 Tbs. butter, melted and slightly cooled
2 c. gluten free flour blend (or you could use all purpose flour)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt
2 large eggs
1 Tbs. water
2/3 c. packed brown sugar
1 to 2 Tbs. vanilla paste or pure vanilla extract

White Chocolate Glaze

2 Tbs. White Chocolate Chips
1 Tbs. vanilla paste or pure vanilla extract
1 to 2 Tbs. milk as needed
1 to 1 1/2 c. powdered sugar

Cinnamon Sugar Topping:

1/2 c. sugar
1 to 2 tsp. ground cinnamon to taste
melted butter for dipping

Instructions:

Donuts:

1. Preheat oven to 325. Spray donut pan lightly with cooking spray. Place a wire cooling rack over a piece of parchment paper, silpat, or waxed paper.

2. In a small bowl stir together the milk and melted butter. Reheat as needed to keep the butter melted. (I combined these two at the last minute, I think you could warm the milk up slightly to help).

3. In a large bowl combine the flour baking powder, salt and xanthum gum if needed. Whisk to combine well.

4. In the bowl of your stand mixer, beat the eggs, water, sugar and vanilla until thick and creamy. Add the dry ingredients and the milk/butter mixture to the egg mixture. Beat until smooth.

5. Spoon mixture into a piping bag fitted with a medium tip, or fill a plastic bag with mixture and cut one corner off. Pipe into prepared pans, filling 2/3 of the way full. Bake for about 9 to 11 minutes or until puffed, the tops spring back when lightly touched and they are beginning to lightly brown.

6. Let them cool slightly and then remove carefully from pan onto a wire rack for cooling. Cool competely before glazing. Repeat with remaining batter. 

White Chocolate Glaze:

1. In a microwave safe bowl (or on stovetop), place the white chocolate chips, vanilla and milk. Heat in 10-15 second bursts until chocolate is mostly melted, stirring between each heating. Remove from the microwave and stir until smooth and mostly melted. Whisk the powdered sugar into the melted chocolate until fully incorporated. Whisk in as much additional milk as needed to thin the glaze enough to make a good dipping consistency. I wanted mine thicker.

2. When donuts are cool enough, dip tops in glaze, allowing excess to drip off and then place on cooling rack that has been placed over parchment. If you want to add sprinkles, do this now before glaze sets up, either dipping donut in sprinkles or drizzling over top. I used shaved chocolate.

Cinnamon Sugar

1. In a bowl combine sugar and cinnamon. Melt some butter in a saucepan and then place in a bowl.

2. Dip both sides of donuts briefly in butter and then toss in cinnamon sugar. Return to rack to dry.

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With Joy Unquenchable,