It’s time to share this recipe for Carrot Spice Donuts with you! This is the kind of donut you want to eat! I’m serious! You don’t have to be gluten-free or vegan to make and try these amazing treats!
These Carrot Spice Donuts are the perfect snack! The recipe makes 6 large round donuts and 12 mini ones. They are safe for school or your next office meeting because they are allergen-friendly. And I promise I won’t tell if you eat a couple for breakfast—they’re addicting!
Put these beauties amongst other desserts at your next get together and see which ones disappear first!
Donuts or Muffins?
The texture of these tasty donuts is similar to a good gluten-free and vegan muffin. Light, a little crumbly and not too sweet—just right!
If you don’t have a donut pan go ahead and make more mini donuts by using a small muffin pan. Or hack your larger muffin pan with a rolled-up cylinder of parchment paper to create the center of the donut.
Hemp Milk
This recipe contains homemade hemp milk. One might ask if they can use other plant-based kinds of milk. The answer: maybe.
Store-bought plant milk often includes many other ingredients that homemade milk just doesn’t. When you make your own milk, it’s simply the seeds (nuts or grains) plus water, no gums, no preservatives, no junk.
We All Need Treats
The reason I develop recipes such as this Carrot Spice Donuts recipe is mainly for people that just can’t find delicious and safe treats in the stores.
Donuts that you can buy, even at the best shops, are often filled with soy, too much sugar, ingredients my body or yours just can’t handle anymore (dairy, eggs, nuts, animal fats, etc.) or prefer to avoid.
Nutrition
Although these Carrot Spice Donuts are a treat they do contain a full cup of freshly grated carrots and a cup of homemade hemp milk. Hemp milk is a great source of fibre, plant protein and omegas, so don’t feel so guilty! Enjoy!
There’s only a little coconut palm sugar in the mix which I find improves the texture of a gluten-free and vegan treat like these donuts. And, the carrots help too!
To finish things off, instead of sinful glaze, I opted for a simple maple syrup powdered sugar—only one ingredient and the perfect touch of natural sweetness.
GFV Baking Facebook Group
Please join my Facebook Group if you love to bake as much as I do!
Each week we welcome new people from all over the world. This GFV Baking group was set up to help members troubleshoot challenging allergen-friendly baking questions for my recipes, or their own, that requires a little tweaking. I sometimes share recipes with the group before they get shared on my blog.
This group is a great place to share ideas, tips and tricks about baking without gluten, dairy, eggs, or other top allergens.
Gluten-Free Baking Academy
If you’re interested in learning even more about gluten-free and vegan bread baking, consider learning from the GFBA! Check out Heather Crosby’s famous baking course. Learn how to make flatbreads, quick breads, yeasted loaves and some baked treats with even more plant-powered ingredients. Enrolment is usually twice per year.
Baking with new ingredients, especially gluten-free ones is very different. Heather walks you through each step of the way with videos and printable documents. Included are shopping lists and troubleshooting tips for all her methods and recipes. I took this course a few years ago and I highly recommend it! Visit GFBA to learn more.
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Carrot Spice Donuts
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 20-22 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 6 large donuts, 12 mini donuts
- Category: Snacks, Treats
- Method: Oven-Baked
- Cuisine: Gluten-Free, Vegan, Kid-Friendly, Allergen-Friendly, Plant-Based
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
Guilt-free, nutritious, naturally sweetened donuts prepared with freshly grated carrots. This irresistible oven-baked treat is also top 8 free so go ahead and make them for anyone that avoids gluten, eggs, dairy, soy, nuts or peanuts!
Ingredients
Wet:
1 cup homemade hemp milk*
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon ground flax
1/4 cup coconut oil, softened or melted
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 generous cup finely grated carrots (loosely packed)
Dry:
1-1/2 cups oat flour
1 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup sunflower seed flour**
1/2 cup coconut palm sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder***
1 teaspoon baking soda***
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
Topping:
Organic maple sugar powder (optional)****
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Grease one 6-cavity donut pan and one 12-cup mini muffin pan with a little coconut oil.
- To start blend 1-1/4 cups of water with 1/3 cup of hemp seeds in a high-speed blender to make hemp milk.
- Transfer the homemade milk to a measuring cup or small bowl. You can also pass the milk through a fine strainer or nut mesh bag to remove any larger unwanted bits.
- Add lemon juice to milk and let sit while you prepare the other ingredients.
- To a small bowl add ground flax, coconut oil, vanilla extract and mix. Let sit for 5 minutes.
- To a large mixing bowl, sift all flours and remaining dry ingredients and mix well.
- Add flax mixture, milk, carrots to the large bowl and mix until all ingredients are well combined.
- Divide mixture in both the donut and muffin pan. Don’t overfill. The donut pan should be filled to the edge but not over, the mini muffins will be a little less than the edge.
- Bake the minis for 15-18 minutes and the large donuts for 20-22 minutes*****.
- Cool in pan for 10 minutes.
- Remove all donuts from pans and dip each one (the smooth underside works great) in some maple sugar powder.
- Place each donut on a rack until completely cooled and enjoy!
Notes
* I did not test this recipe with other plant-based kinds of milk.
** Use a spice/coffee grinder to transform organic raw sunflower seeds into fine flour. If you are not allergic to nuts, almond meal flour works great as a substitute for seed flour.
*** Aluminum-free, corn-free, gluten-free.
**** I’m sure powdered coconut palm sugar could be substituted, but I haven’t tried it!
***** The edges will brown a bit and the tops should spring back up when gently pressed down.
Best enjoyed once cooled and the same day! Transfer any leftovers to the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Once refrigerated the texture will change and become a little more firm but they are still amazing!
Would you suggest a substitute for the oat flour, as I am intolerant of oats, even the certified gluten free ones? Thank you for such an informative website. Your content is excellent and the videos are super helpful. I began my sourdough starter yesterday and am so excited to begin baking with it. I’ve been gluten, dairy, corn and soy free for the past 13 years and I do miss bread very much. Thank you again for your dedication to the food sensitivities community. You are a blessing!
View CommentHi Rhonda! Thank you so much for your kind message! I appreciate it! As for the donuts, the recipe calls for 1-1/2 cups of oat flour. There’s also buckwheat flour so ideally, you want to replace the oat flour with something comparable. Are you allergic to almonds? You could try subbing the oat flour for almond meal/flour. If you don’t eat nuts, try a combo of a couple of other GF flours. I think that one cup of sorghum with maybe 1/2 cup of a seed flour (sunflower or pumpkin) could work as an alternative to oat flour. Do you want me to try it for you first? Now I’m hungry for donuts! Let me know which flours you have on hand if these suggestions don’t work for you. Please keep in mind that I haven’t tried these exact substitutes. The final texture of the donuts could vary. This donut recipe has a muffin-like texture.
View CommentIn a pinch, finely grated butternut squash is equally amazing to use in this Carrot Spice Donut recipe!
View Comment