We’re so excited to have Cass in our kitchen, bringing all her experience, creativity, and a whole lot of joy along with her. These delicious donuts started with her grandmother’s recipe, which Cass has lovingly adapted to be gluten-free. And if you’ve ever baked gluten-free, you know it can take a little extra tinkering to get things just right!
Cass usually starts with a 1:1 gluten-free flour blend, but sometimes flour alone doesn’t quite cut it. That’s when the experimenting begins! This is why she weighs out all her ingredients and makes small adjustments here and there to get the perfect texture and crumb on all her gluten-free bakes. It isn't easy! But it is absolutely worth it. And in this recipe, you wouldn't ever know they were gluten-free!
A little heads-up before you dive in: this dough is more like a cake donut batter than a traditional roll-and-cut dough. It’s wet, sticky, and definitely not something you’ll be rolling out on the counter. Instead, we pipe the dough onto parchment paper to help keep those donuts nice and round while frying. Trust the process!
The payoff is so worth it: soft, springy, pillowy donuts that are downright delicious. We loved them, and we have a feeling you will, too!
Bonus Points! After making a couple of these donuts plain we thought it would be fun to try putting some Peter’s Caramel inside. So Cass piped a thin layer of the batter into a circle. Then she rolled some Peter’s Caramel into a small snake, layered it in a little corn starch, and looped it around on top of the batter. Then she piped out more batter over the top and used a plastic spreader to seal all the edges to make sure the caramel wouldn’t leak out. We weren’t sure this would work, but guys!! It was so good, we made several more like this to pass around. Delicious!
Ingredients
555 g Apple Cider, reduced to 185 g
28 g Unsalted Butter, melted
100 g Brown Sugar
100 g Granulated Sugar
1 Egg
10 g Vanilla Bean Paste
15 g Apple Pie Spice
8 g Kosher Salt
113 g Sour Cream
250 g All Purpose Gluten Free Flour
5 g Xanthan Gum
5 g Baking Soda
7 g Baking Powder
100 g Granulated Sugar
5 g Apple Pie Spice
5 g Cinnamon
Instructions
1. In a pot on medium heat, add your apple cider and let reduce until ⅓ is left. There will be chunky bits, we keep those in for flavor. Your cider must be cooled to room temperature before using.
2. Use the creaming method for cake donuts. Combine sugars and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer, combing on a medium high speed until light and fluffy.
3. Turn the mixer to a lower speed and add egg, vanilla bean paste, spices, and salt.
4. Add in your sour cream and reduced apple cider. Mix until fully incorporated. The mixture will be loose and soupy.
6. Turn the mixer off and add the rest of your dry ingredients. Turn the mixer back on to the lowest speed and mix until combined.
7. When all the ingredients have been incorporated, scoop the donut batter into a large 16” preferred) piping bag.
8. Cut parchment paper into 4” squares and pipe the donuts onto the paper.
9. Prepare your cooking oil in a fryer or a heavy bottomed pot and heat to 325℉. And in a separate bowl combine sugar and spices.
10. Gently lower the donut face down, parchment and all, into the oil. Cook for 2 minutes. When ready, the paper should puff up in the middle of the donut.
11. Remove the parchment paper by gently wiggling each corner (some dough residue will stick to the parchment, but that’s ok). Flip the donut over and finish cooking about 2 more minutes.
12. Remove donut from oil and place on a cooling rack. Let cool enough to handle, then safely roll in your bowl of spiced sugar.
