Cinnamon Whole-Grain Baked Doughnuts (Gluten-Free and Vegan Options)
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These healthy whole-grain doughnuts are a delicious hearty option that's a fabulous treat that won't leave you with a sugar-rush.
They can be made with whole wheat or made gluten-free, and are coated with a light sweet cinnamon topping and an optional delicate sugar-free glaze for a hearty breakfast, snack, or dessert. Make the regular recipe or try the soaked version for a lighter, more easily digested treat.
This soaked and baked donuts recipe is probably my family's favorite whole grain recipe of all time. Doughnuts are just a fun thing to make and eat, but these have a lovely texture that just makes us happy anytime we have them.
We once took these to a doughnut-eating contest. My daring husband came in second amongst a crowd of men eating lightweight processed rings of nothingness. He should have won, however, because one of these doughnuts clearly equals 2-3 the others by weight and density.
Why You'll Love These Doughnuts
This great recipe is adapted from one of Sue Gregg's in her Breakfasts cookbook. They are are so easy to make, don't require any special pan, are not deep-fried, and are coated with just a slight bit of oil, milk, or water to make the delicious sweetened cinnamon topping stick.
And they have a wonderful hearty texture and flavor to them.
Ingredients
- flour: I've used gluten and gluten-free grains of all kinds and we've loved every single batch. I've never used refined flours at all, but you could do that for a lighter doughnut if you'd like.
- coconut milk: or other dairy-free milk or regular milk, as desired.
- coconut oil
- apple cider vinegar: regular vinegar can be used as well but we prefer to use organic apple cider vinegar as much as possible when vinegar is called for in a recipe.
- sweetener: I've made this recipe with coconut sugar, sucanat, and low-carb sweeteners as well. They all work well.
- baking powder
- baking soda
- nutmeg
- cinnamon
- eggs or egg alternative
Recipe Notes
- Flour Choice: You might need to be flexible with the amount of flour and liquid used for this recipe depending on the grain that you choose. You want a very stiff dough that is not wet at all, like a shortbread. For spelt, you will probably need about 5 1/2 cups. For other grains, you will have to play with it to see what works, but you do not want a runny gooey dough. Again, you want it to be thick like the first photo above.
- For gluten-free flours, use 25% more baking powder and soda. I typically use whatever grains happen to have on hand, but again, you might need to play with the grain/liquid amounts.
- Sweetener Options: You can substitute any healthy sweetener for the xylitol in the doughnuts, but if you use a liquid sweetener you may need to use a different amount, so read Substituting Sweeteners. For the topping, any healthy granulated sweetener can be used. For low-carb options, a mixture of 1/2 xylitol and 1/2 erythritol for the granulated sweetener works great. Allulose is another good option.
- Grain-free Option: This recipe should work with a grain-free/low-carb flour like almond flour by increasing the baking soda by 50% and reducing the coconut oil by half. I haven't tried it yet but it should work.
Whole-Grain Baked Doughnuts (with gluten free and soaking option)
Ingredients
Cinnamon Baked Doughnuts
- 4 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (Gluten-free and gluten grains both work well. See notes for more details.)
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 eggs (See Recipe Notes for alternatives.)
- 1 cup granulated sweetener (See Recipe Notes for options.)
- 5 tablespoons coconut oil melted
- 15/16 cup coconut milk (1 cup minus 1 tablespoon; or use another alternative)
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar (or lemon juice)
Cinnamon Topping
- 3 tablespoons granulated sweetener (See Recipe Notes for options.)
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Glaze
- 1 cup allulose or other sweetener of choice
- 3-4 tablespoons coconut milk or other liquid like water, heavy cream, almond milk, etcetera
- 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (or extract of choice like almond, lemon, or orange)
Instructions
Soaked Method
- Combine the flour, coconut milk, and vinegar. Stir to combine. Let dough rest for 12-24 hours. Add remaining ingredients and mix well.
- In another bowl, combine eggs or egg substitute and sweetener.
- Add the remaining ingredients except for the baking powder and baking soda to the egg/sweetener mixture. Combine.
- Add this mixture to the flour mixture.
- Add the baking soda and baking powder to the batter and incorporate gently. Do not overmix.
- Roll out dough to approximately 1/2″ thickness. Cut with doughnut cutter (this one is really nice). Or alternatively, shape into desired shapes. Brush tops with melted coconut oil, milk, milk substitute, or water. Sprinkle with topping.
- Bake at 425 degrees for 8-10 minutes.
- Coat with or drizzle glaze, if desired.
Non-Soaked Method
- Combine dry ingredients together in one bowl and wet ingredients in the other.
- Add the wets to the dries and proceed with the rolling as noted above.
Cinnamon Topping
- Combine cinnamon and sweetener in small bowl.
Sugar-free Glaze
- Add coconut milk and vanilla to the powdered sweetener and mix well. Start with 2 tablespoons of the milk, and add more, as needed, to achieve desired consistency.
Notes
- Flour Choice: You may find that you need to be flexible with the amount of flour that you use for this recipe depending on the grain that you choose. You will want a very stiff dough that is not wet at all, like a shortbread. For spelt (if you are eating gluten), you will probably need about 5 1/2 cups. For other grains, you will have to play with it to see what works, but you do not want a runny gooey dough. You want it to be thick.
- For gluten-free flours, use 25% more baking powder and soda. I typically use whatever I happen to have on hand. Yesterday I used 3 cups sweet brown rice flour with 1 1/2 cups sorghum with success. I had to increase the liquid to about 1 1/2 cups to make it pliable, however.
- For a sugar-free version, a mixture of 1/2 xylitol and 1/2 erythritol for the granulated sweetener works great.
- Egg Alternative: An alternative can be used instead of eggs – see Homemade Egg Replacer. Also a flax, chia, or gelatin egg could be used. I haven't tried those with this recipe, however.
- Sweetener Options: You can substitute any healthy sweetener for the xylitol in the doughnuts, but if you use a liquid sweetener you may need to use a different amount, so read Substituting Sweeteners. For the topping, any healthy granulated sweetener can be used.
- Homemade Dairy-free Milks: Here are homemade versions of both coconut milk and almond milk, which will both work great as a milk substitute.
- Lemon Juice: Here is a great brand of organic lemon juice.
- Grain-free Option: This recipe should work with a grain-free / low-carb flour like almond flour by increasing the baking soda by 50% and reducing the coconut oil by half. I haven't tried it yet but it should work.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is merely an approximation. Optional ingredients are not included and when there is an alternative, the primary ingredient is typically used. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site. Erythritol carbs are not included in carb counts since they have been shown not to impact blood sugar. Net carbs are the total carbs minus fiber.
More Healthy Gluten-free Desserts
Interested in other Gluten-Free Yummy Treats? How about:
– “Almond Joy” Bars
– Soft Pumpkin Cookies (taste like store bought)
– Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
Have you ever made Homemade Doughnuts before?
Hello there. Thanks so much for your website/blog. Really so helpful and generous! Helping me make sense of the whole soaking world. Thank you for bringing in the perspective of not getting to stressed out with making the changes. Just what I needed to hear.
Question:
I wondered if you could use something like honey for sweetening in this recipe. I used granulated stevia but it tastes a bit weird. Trying to stay away from sugar.
Many thanks. Tejomala
You can for sure do that – not for the topping though. Welcome and hope to hear from you again. I would read this post on substituting honey: https://wholenewmom.com/whole-new-budget/baking-with-honey-sugar-for-baking/
hi, want to try this with the soaking step. do i add the baking powder and soda before soaking?
No, you don’t. BP starts acting once liquid is added to it I believe. Sorry it took so long to get back to you – I am inundated. 🙂
I am having trouble finding ‘sweet brown rice flour.’ I can only find brown rice flour. Is it the same thing?
You might not be able to find it. I grind my own from sweet brown rice. I did find some on Amazon here.
DEFINITELY healthier than the donuts you’d find in the pastry section of the grocery store!!! I think I might try them with PEA PROTEIN FLOUR! 🙂
I made these and they are nice but mine had a very strong baking soda flavor. Reminded me of an Irish Soda bread with cinnamon. My dough was also very dry during the soaking time and very wet after I added the eggs. I wonder if I did something wrong.
I’m so sorry – I have never had that problem w/ a baking soda-ey taste. The only thing I can think w/ the texture is that you are going for a very stiff dough. Not horrible but it needs to roll easily and cut well, so I’m going to update the post to reflect that. Then you sometimes need to add more flour to make them the right texture. Once you know how much you are using for a particular grain then you can keep those proportions for the future. I think maybe I should post a photo and that will help folks know what the dough looks like. Please try again and let me know how it works if you try them again.
You say to sub vinegar or lemon juice for milk or milk sub, but there is no milk in the recipe.
The recipe says to add lemon juice or vinegar to milk or milk substitute to make a total of 1 cup liquid. Hope that makes sense.
hi!!!
i want to use gluten free flour…what do u recommend?>i can eat coconut,oat,millet,brown rice flour,
thank you
I have typically used a mix of brown sweet rice with some millet and maybe oat mixed in. I wouldn’t use the coconut b/c it absorbs too much flour. How about a mix of 1 part each of the other flours that you can have? I think that would taste great.
I always shy away from making doughnuts, especially because of the frying. This might and I am saying might, entice me to give it a try. You are one ambitious lady.
Thanks for sharing this with Bake with Bizzy. I would appreciate it, if you would link back to us, in the future. More folks, more fun.
Hi Chaya! You’ll be linked to. My son handles it as part of homeschool, but he’s out until later this afternoon. I won’t forget you :-)!
If we wanted to fry these, would we still use the same recipe? Thanks!
You certainly could. When made with whole grains, they will be considerably heavier than traditional doughnuts, but they should work out just fine. Let me know how they turn out!