Healthy Baked Vegan Pumpkin Donuts

Kim Lutz is a vegan cookbook author who loves to focus on the natural nutrition and deliciousness of whole foods. Her book Super Seeds was a big success, with pure flavorful recipes like Granola Cookies and Creamy Golden Corn Soup. And now, Ancient Grains  is taking center stage. It’s a guide to cooking with “power-packed” millet, oats, spelt, farro, sorghum and teff with over 75 healthy recipes. To help you decide if Ancient Grains belongs on your bookshelf, I’ve got some details about the book and a sample recipe from it for vegan pumpkin donuts!

What’s Inside Ancient Grains

Ancient Grains starts with a full overview on ancient grains, including the history, health and basic preparation of each. But the information doesn’t stop there. Kim includes tidbits of knowledge throughout the book, intertwining them with the recipes. I simply love it when authors do that!

As for the recipes, Kim breaks them down into Breakfast, Soups and Salads, Entrees for Lunch and Dinner, Baked Goods, and Desserts. Everything is whole grain, vegan, and Kim includes gluten-free options when possible. Here is a quick sampling of the recipes:

• Strawberry Waffles
• Cocoa Power Bites
• Peach Almond Overnight Oatmeal
• Creamy Potato Millet Soup
• Lemon Dill Grain Salad
• Asparagus Sorghum Saute
• Multigrain Veggie Burger Crumbles
• Teff-Lentil Sloppy Joes
• Farro and Cashew Cream Sauce
• Spelt Sandwich Loaf
• Gluten-Free Beer Bread
• Peach Mango Muffins
• Raspberry Chocolate Chip Cake
• Lemon Coconut Oil Pound Cake
• Chocolate Donuts (pictured below on the baking sheet with the vegan Pumpkin Donuts)
• Maple Bourbon Bread Pudding

Also, Kim’s recipe style is very simple. She doesn’t use extensive ingredient lists, and keeps her instructions succinct. For those reasons, I highly recommend Ancient Grains for both beginner and intermediate home cooks.

Reader Raves

Via our Instagram, lilpohl shared this, “Made these a few days ago and used coconut oil instead of canola, so good!!!! So moist!”

Special Diet Notes: Baked Vegan Pumpkin Donuts

By ingredients, this recipe is dairy-free / non-dairy, egg-free, optionally gluten-free, nut-free, peanut-free, soy-free, vegan, plant-based, vegetarian, and generally top food allergy-friendly. Just be sure to pick the dairy-free milk beverage that works for your dietary needs.

5.0 from 1 reviews

Baked Vegan Pumpkin Donuts with Ancient Grains

 

Print

Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

10 mins

Total time

25 mins

 

Pumpkin isn’t just the unofficial flavor of fall, it’s also really good for you. Pumpkin, like other winter squashes, is an excellent source of vitamin A, vitamin C, and vitamin B6. Pumpkin donuts are a fun way to celebrate the flavor of the season when the weather starts to get cooler. If you need gluten-free donuts, simply substitute oat flour and sorghum flour for the spelt flour, as noted below.

Author: Kim Lutz

Serves: 6 donuts or muffins

Ingredients

• ¼ cup (60 mL) olive oil, plus more for oiling
• 1 cup (120 g) whole-grain spelt flour (gluten-free option below)
• 1 ¾ teaspoons baking powder, divided
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ cup (125 g) canned pumpkin puree (or cooked and pureed)
• ½ cup (75 g) evaporated cane juice or coconut palm sugar
• ½ cup (120 mL) dairy-free milk beverage (unflavored or vanilla)
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C/gas mark 4). Lightly oil a donut pan or muffin tin.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, 1¼ teaspoons baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon.
3. In a large bowl, combine the pumpkin with the remaining ½ teaspoon of baking powder.
4. Mix the sugar, milk beverage, vanilla, apple cider vinegar, and ¼ cup olive oil into the pumpkin mixture.
5. Add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and stir well to combine.
6. Scoop the batter into a large resealable plastic bag or a pastry bag. If you’re using a plastic bag, seal it and snip off a bottom corner of the bag.
7. Pipe the batter into the donut or muffin pan, filling each cavity ⅔ full.
8. Bake for 10 minutes. The batter should be set and the top should be dry, but the donuts will be fragile. (the muffins may take longer)
9. Let the donuts cool in the pan for 5 minutes before gently removing them to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Notes

For Gluten-Free: Substitute ¾ cup (25 g) gluten-free oat flour and ¼ cup (30 g) sweet white sorghum flour for the spelt flour.

Credits: This recipe has been reprinted with permission from Ancient Grains © 2016 by Kim Lutz, Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. Photography by Bill Milne Photography.

3.5.3208