Vegan Lavender Lemon Doughnuts

Last week, I decided it was time to make some doughnuts to celebrate #NationalDoughnutDay on June 1st and now I may be addicted to baking homemade doughnuts. These Vegan Lavender & Lemon Doughnuts are made using a dried lavender & lemon zest infused sugar and are the perfectly sweet treat you need this week!

Isn’t doughnut day every day? Jump to Recipe

It may surprise you that my original inspiration for these doughnuts came from walking around my neighborhood. I feel very fortunate to live in a beautiful neighborhood in Seattle where each home is more pristine than the next. Even more pristine that the homes though are the gardens. Living here has introduced me to flowers I previously didn’t know existed: Ranunculus, Peonies, Rhododendrons, the list goes on and on. However, one flower kept popping up that I couldn’t walk by without stopping and smelling- Lavender. These purple beauties are everywhere in Seattle this time of year and the smell is absolutely divine. For this recipe, I actually bought dried lavender so I’d have enough to last the year, but I feel so happy knowing that my main inspiration behind this recipe comes from the local beauty in the Pacific Northwest.

What truly makes this recipe so great is the infused sugar baked in. I actually found my original inspiration to try infusing sugar in THIS wonderful read by The Pioneer Woman, but I really did my own experimenting with the flavors in this mix. In addition to dried lavender, I added in some lemon zest so the tartness of the lemon would help even out the floral notes from the lavender. Making infused sugar is much easier than it sounds too! While I recommend letting the sugar infuse at least a week for the best flavor, I successfully made these doughnuts after letting the sugar infuse only 4 hours the first time and they still tasted fabulous.

After these doughnuts are baked, you’ll want to let them cool a bit and then dunk them into the glaze. I actually dipped the tops AND bottoms of the doughnuts in the glaze and was so happy with how the baked doughnuts soaked up all the flavor. This did make it a tiny bit messier and the drying time was a bit longer, but it was soooo worth it.

In order to make this recipe, you really need a doughnut pan to get the perfectly shaped doughnuts you see in all my pictures. While this recipe makes 15-18 donuts, I actually only bought THIS pan and that worked perfectly for me. Also, you may notice this recipe calls for pastry flour, which I use for most of my baked goods to get the texture and lightness I am looking for. You can read this article from the Kitchn for some substitution ideas if you don’t have access to pastry flour, and I have included a link at the bottom of this post for the pastry flour I use if you have access to buying products on Amazon.

If you haven’t already gathered, I am pretty obsessed with these doughnuts. They are so elegantly simple and fun to make. The amount of doughnut ideas swirling in my head these days is pretty vast, so get ready for more doughnut recipes to come. In the meantime, enjoy these perfectly sweet lemon lavender baked doughnuts this week :).

-TSG

In case you are looking for some of the tools & ingredients used in this recipe, I’ve put a few of my favorites for you here:

1. The doughnut pan I used to create these perfectly round doughnuts was the Wilton Non-Stick 6-Cavity Donut Pan.
2. The only pastry flour I ever bake with: Bob’s Red Mill Fine White Pastry Flour.
3. Organic Dried Lavender that I have used to bake with and love! I really love that their lavender is sourced directly from France and it is incredibly aromatic.
4.  Wondering where to get in season produce that is also helping to reduce food waste? You’ve heard me mention them before, and now I officially have partnered with Imperfect Produce to offer you their best discount yet. Use code “SGTO” at checkout for 50% off your first order. Get your lemons from them for this recipe!

Print Recipe

Vegan Lemon-Lavender Doughnuts Yum

These doughnuts are made with a sweet and slightly tart infused sugar and topped with a light glaze for the best baked doughnuts you have ever tasted!

Course

Desserts, Vegan Desserts

Cuisine

Vegan Desserts

Keyword

Doughnuts

Servings

small doughnuts

Ingredients

Lemon Lavender Infused Sugar

• 1 cup cane sugar
• 1 tsp dried lavender
• 1 tsp lemon peel chopped or zested

Doughnut mix

• 1 cup almond milk (or other milk alternative)
• 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup coconut oil melted
• 2 Tbsp unsweetened apple sauce
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
• 1.5 cup white pastry flour *using pastry flour is important for right texture
• 3/4 cup lemon lavender infused sugar *made above
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking powder

Glaze

• 2-3 Tbsp coconut milk
• 1/4 cup lemon lavender infused sugar *made above
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tsp lemon juice

Course Desserts, Vegan Desserts Cuisine Vegan Desserts Keyword Doughnuts Servings small doughnuts Ingredients Lemon Lavender Infused Sugar 1 cup cane sugar 1 tsp dried lavender 1 tsp lemon peel chopped or zested Doughnut mix 1 cup almond milk (or other milk alternative) 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar 1/4 cup coconut oil melted 2 Tbsp unsweetened apple sauce 1 tsp vanilla bean paste 1.5 cup white pastry flour *using pastry flour is important for right texture 3/4 cup lemon lavender infused sugar *made above 1/2 tsp salt 2 tsp baking powder Glaze 2-3 Tbsp coconut milk 1/4 cup lemon lavender infused sugar *made above 1/4 cup powdered sugar 1 tsp lemon juice

Instructions

Lemon Lavender Infused Sugar

1. In a small blender, add in 1/2 cup of your sugar with all of your dried lavender and lemon zest. Blend 2-3 minutes until a powdered sugar is formed.
2. Add the blended sugar mix to a small container and mix in the additional 1/2 cup sugar until evenly dispersed. Let sit at least 4 hours before using. The sugar is best when left to sit at least 1 week and will last up to 8 weeks stored in the fridge.

Baking the Doughnuts

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Add your almond milk and apple cider vinegar to a large mixing bowl, use a whisk or fork to combine, and let sit 5-10 minutes so milk slightly curdles.
2. Once the milk is curdled, mix in your infused sugar, coconut oil, apple sauce, and vanilla bean paste. Stir to combine.
3. In a separate bowl sift together your flour, salt, and baking powder. Add to the large mixing bowl containing the wet ingredients and stir to combine.
4. Spray your doughnut pan with non-stick spray and use a spoon to distribute the batter evenly making sure not to cover the raised middle of each doughnut hole with batter.
5. Bake at 350F for 10-15 minutes. For my oven, I found the doughnuts were best at 12 minutes and were a little browned by 15 minutes. For the fluffiest doughnuts, I recommend checking at the 10 minute mark. Your doughnuts should be firm so you can remove from the pan without breaking, yet not browned and crunchy.
6. Invert the small pan over a cooling rack to release the doughnuts (or gently remove each doughnut from the pan). Let cool to room temperature before dipping into the glaze.

Glazing the Doughnuts

1. To make the glaze, add all ingredients to a small pot and whisk over low heat until a smooth glaze is formed.
2. Dunk the tops (and bottoms if you want!) of the doughnuts into the glaze and let dry on a cooling rack until glaze slightly stiffens. The glaze will remain semi-sticky unless refrigerated but should no longer be dripping.
3. To store, place in a container between parchment paper. Doughnuts will keep in the fridge 2-3 days.

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