I’m getting very antsy waiting for summer vegetables to arrive. Every day I go out to my garden to check my tiny green tomatoes, hoping they will suddenly ripen and I can pick them and start using them in recipes. Unfortunately, I have to be patient and hold off on making any recipes that include produce from my garden.
One summer vegetable I’m not growing, however, is corn! And since I purchased a donut pan last week, I decided to make vegan, gluten-free cornbread donuts!
If you don’t have a donut pan, you can always use these recipes to make cornbread muffins. I just think donuts are more fun 
When coming up with my cornbread recipe, I ended up with two different versions. One is a plain, fluffy version that is drier and crumbly, but is perfect for drizzling with honey and melted Earth Balance or for crumbling into a hearty vegetable soup. The other is less crumbly and contains fresh corn, green chiles, flax, and nondairy yogurt, which makes it more moist and flavorful.
I’m posting both recipes because people have different cornbread preferences. I prefer the second version because it’s more interesting with the corn and chiles, but my husband doesn’t like pieces of corn in his cornbread, so he prefers the first recipe. If you don’t know which you’d prefer, try both!
This is the first, plain version.
This is the second version, which contains corn kernels, green chiles, and flax.
To make the donuts, simply mix your batter, transfer it to a plastic sandwich bag, cut off the corner, and squeeze the batter into the greased donut pan. It sounds a little complicated, but it’s actually easier and less messy than spooning the batter into a muffin pan! And just look at these gorgeous cornbread donuts!
- 1½ cups corn meal
- ½ cup GF flour mix (I use Bob's Red Mill)
- ¼ t. salt
- ½ t. baking soda
- ½ t. baking powder
- 1 T. coconut sugar (or sugar of choice)
- ½ cup applesauce
- ¼ cup melted coconut oil
- ½ cup nondairy milk
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease a donut pan.
- In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients and stir to eliminate any clumps.
- In a small bowl, stir together the wet ingredients, then pour them into the dry ingredients. Fold wet into dry until no dry powder remains.
- Transfer batter to a plastic sandwich bag, cut off the corner (about 1 inch wide), and squeeze the batter into the donut wells.
- Bake about 12 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the donuts comes out clean. Remove from oven to cool in pan about 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.
- Serve warm, or allow to cool completely before storing at room temperature in an air-tight container, or keep in the freezer for later use.
Plain version
Drizzled with honey and melted Earth Balance. YUM!
Also great with green tomato relish!
- 1½ cups corn meal
- ½ cup GF flour mix (I use Bob's Red Mill)
- ¼ t. salt
- ½ t. baking soda
- ½ t. baking powder
- 1 T. coconut sugar (or sugar of choice)
- ½ cup applesauce
- ¼ cup melted coconut oil
- ¼ cup nondairy yogurt (I like SO Delicious coconut yogurt)
- 2 flax eggs (2 T. milled flax + 6 T. warm water, allowed to sit 5 mins)
- ⅓ cup fresh corn kernels
- 2 T. diced hot chiles
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease a donut pan.
- In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients (first 6 ingredients) and stir to eliminate any clumps.
- In a small bowl, stir together the rest of the ingredients, then pour them into the dry ingredients. Fold wet into dry until no dry powder remains.
- Transfer batter to a plastic sandwich bag, cut off the corner (about 1 inch wide), and squeeze the batter into the donut wells.
- Bake about 12 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the donuts comes out clean. Remove from oven to cool in pan about 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.
- Serve warm, or allow to cool completely before storing at room temperature in an air-tight container, or keep in the freezer for later use.
Corn & chiles version
Oh man, these are SO good! If you make these for your friends and family, they will love you forever!
Now I need to come up with a great vegetable soup in which to dunk these babies! So far I know they’re great with my African lentil stew, and they’d also be good with my 3-bean chili.
When you bake with a donut pan, you have the option of serving your donuts as they appear in the pan with a rough top, or you can flip them over and show the smooth underside. Personally, I like the cracked top of the cornbread to show because it looks more homemade, but it’s totally up to you!
Smooth underside (left) v. cracked top (right)
Shown with my African Lentil Stew
Figure out which version you prefer, make a big batch, and put half in the freezer for later! It’s amazing how adding something as small as a cornbread donut to a meal can make it exciting. Kids will love these!
And if you don’t own a donut pan, it’s an investment you should definitely make. There are several “healthy” donut recipes out there, and I’m already working on some myself
Muffins are out, donuts are in!
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