Gluten-Free Lemon Blueberry Cornmeal Donuts
Sometimes I get lucky with an idea for a recipe, gather my ingredients, and nail it on the first attempt. These donuts were not one of those recipes.
I somehow got it in my head that it would be the best thing ever to fuse a donut, with a muffin, with cornbread. Something involving cornmeal, and where the finished product would be a denser, heartier cake. Apparently, that’s easier said than done, especially when you also decide to make this baked good vegan and gluten-free.
It took me three attempts to get these cornbread-inspired donuts right. I tried them with and without a flax egg, with different ratios of cornmeal to flour, and also played around with the types of flours. I ended up nixing the flax egg, reducing the cornmeal, and going with my current favorite combination of gluten-free flours: white rice, sorghum, and potato starch (I think tapioca starch would also work well).
Lemon-blueberry just seemed like the perfect flavor pairing for the cornmeal. Then again, I like to find any excuse to use lemons and blueberries together. And the good news? You can use either fresh or frozen berries. The frozen berries will add a slight purple swirl to the batter, but if you like, you can minimize this by lightly coating them in a little flour before you fold them in at the end.
So, yes. It took me several attempts to bring this recipe from idea to reality, and I may or may not have subsisted almost exclusively on donuts this weekend. But really, sometimes half the fun is just spending an afternoon (and a morning) in the kitchen, covered in flour and powdered sugar, and eating your way through three donuts in a row for the sake of quality control.
Donut meets muffin meets cornbread. Life. is. good.
Gluten-Free Lemon Blueberry Cornmeal Donuts
Gluten-Free Lemon Blueberry Cornmeal Donuts
Serves: about 10 donuts
Prep Time: 5 mins
Cook Time: 20 mins
Total Time: 25 mins
Simple gluten-free and vegan cornbread-inspired donuts with a sweet and zesty lemon glaze. Feel free to use fresh or frozen blueberries!
Cuisine: Gluten Free, Vegan Servings: about 10 donuts
Prep Time: 5 mins Cook Time: 20 mins Total Time: 25 mins
Simple gluten-free and vegan cornbread-inspired donuts with a sweet and zesty lemon glaze. Feel free to use fresh or frozen blueberries!
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Lightly grease a donut pan (I like to use coconut oil).
- In a large bowl, combine the cornmeal, white rice flour, sorghum flour, potato starch, baking powder, xanthan gum, and sea salt.
- In a small bowl, combine the non-dairy milk, sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest, melted coconut oil, applesauce, and vanilla.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until they’re just combined.
- Fold in the blueberries. Be careful not to over-mix.
- Spoon or pipe the batter into the greased donut pan. I find that piping it is easier, as the batter will be very thick.
- Bake the donuts for 20-22 minutes, until they are golden brown and firm to the touch.
- Remove the donuts from the oven and allow them to cool.
- While the donuts are cooling, prepare the lemon glaze by sifting the powdered sugar into a medium bowl to remove any lumps.
- Whisk in the lemon juice and pinch of sea salt until no lumps remain.
- Once the donuts have cooled, dip each donut into the lemon glaze and set them aside on a lined baking sheet or cooling rack.
- Garnish the donuts with lemon zest and allow the frosting to set.
Notes [3]
The donuts can be stored at room temperature for a couple of days, or in the fridge for 4-5 days.
I used a donut pan from Crate & Barrel, and this recipe made about 10 donuts. However, donut pans can vary a lot in size, so donut yield will likely vary. You may need to adjust your baking time accordingly.
No donut pan? No problem! You can use the batter to make delicious lemon blueberry cornmeal muffins. Just bake the muffins for an additional 3-5 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. For mini muffins, reduce the bake time by about 2-3 minutes.
Copyright © 2023 Amanda Maguire for Pickles & Honey
