Trust me, your home will smell like a freaking bakery when you have these turning all fluffy and golden in the oven.

Get fancy and deck them out in all your favourite sprinkles, rock candies, vegan meringue kisses, and gold shimmer as well as freeze-dried fruit powders because why the hell not?!

Ingredients and equipment you need

• Flour
• Baking powder
• Sugar
• Salt
• Vanilla extract
• Almond extract
• Aquafaba (water from a can of unsalted chickpeas or white beans) Plant milk (any – I like to use almond or soy)
• Flavourless oil (any – I like to use sunflower)
• Apple cider vinegar
• Icing sugar (confectioners’ sugar)
• Water Gel food colours (I use Wilton)
• Decorations of your choice (I used sprinkles, rock candy, vegan meringue kisses in blush pink, gold leaf/gold shimmer and freeze-dried raspberry powder).
• 2x mini doughnut baking tins like this one
• Cooking spray

How to make The Best Baked Vegan Vanilla Doughnuts

Tips for making Baked Vegan Doughnuts

I like to use a piping bag to pipe the batter into the doughnut tin but you can also use a teaspoon or ziplock/sandwich bag. Simply cut a hole in one corner and pipe the batter into the pan. Be careful not to overfill the pan cavities because the holes in the middle will close up. Easy, right?

The Best Baked Vegan Vanilla Doughnuts are perfect for making with little ones. They will love dipping and decorating. Make them for parties or take them along to any get together. In fact, they are super for making with kids!

How to store

These vegan doughnuts are best eaten the same day. However, they can be covered and stored at room temperature for up to 2 days. You can freeze the unglazed doughnuts for up to 3 months. Be sure to seal them well in an airtight container (Tupperware, for example) lined with baking parchment.

Flavour ideas for Vegan Doughnuts

Besides vanilla, there’s a whole other host of flavours you can try. If vanilla isn’t your thing, switch the vanilla extract for any of the following:

• Grated zest of one orange and/or lemon for vegan citrus doughnuts
• 1 teaspoon of mixed spice/chai masala or gingerbread spice for a spiced vegan doughnut
• 1 tbsp peanut butter for vegan peanut butter doughnuts
• Replace 2 tbsp flour with 2 tbsp cocoa powder for vegan chocolate doughnuts
• Replace the plain flour with a good gluten-free flour blend for gluten-free vegan doughnuts
• Add 2 tsp instant espresso powder for delicious vegan coffee doughnuts
• Finally, you could try a combo of these ideas and make vegan chocolate-coffee (mocha) doughnuts, for example.

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The Best Baked Vegan Vanilla Doughnuts

The Best Baked Vegan Vanilla Doughnuts: Soft and delicious baked vegan vanilla doughnuts, dipped in a thick glaze and topped with sprinkles.

Course Dessert, Snack

Cuisine American

Keyword almond, baking, donuts, doughnuts, party food, vanilla, vegan

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 50 minutes minutes

Servings 24

Author Sanjana

Equipment

• 2 x 12-hole mini doughnut baking tin
• Whisk

Ingredients

• 250 g plain flour all-purpose flour or gluten-free flour blend
• 2 tsp baking powder or gluten-free baking powder
• 75 g caster sugar
• 1/8 tsp fine salt
• 160 ml any plant-based milk such as almond or soy milk
• 3 tbsp cold aquafaba whisked lightly until frothy
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp almond extract optional – for enhanced flavour
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 50 ml unflavoured oil such as sunflower oil

For the glaze:

• 225 g icing sugar confectioners' sugar
• 4 tbsp water
• Gel food colours of your choice I use Wilton for intense colours
• Decorations of your choice I used sprinkles, rock candies, vegan meringue kisses, gold shimmer and freeze-dried raspberry powder

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 180°C fan assisted/350°F. Spray 2 mini doughnut baking tins with cooking oil/baking spray.
• In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.
• In a jug, whisk together the frothy aquafaba, milk, vanilla extract, almond extract and apple cider vinegar.
• Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients and gently whisk until there are no visible lumps.
• Slowly stir in the oil until completely smooth and incorporated.
• Piper or spoon the batter into the tins, filling each one a little more than three-quarters full. Don't overfill or the middles will close up so you no longer have a ring doughnut.
• Bake for 8-10 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then tap the doughnuts out onto a baking tray. Allow to cool completely.

For the glaze:

• Mix the icing sugar and water together until smooth. It should be thick but slightly drippy in consistency. Use as is or colour with gel food colours if desired.

To decorate:

• Dip one side or drizzle each doughnut in icing and go wild with your favourite decorations. For a watercolour effect, marble two coloured icings together in a bowl and dip.

Vegan Baked Doughnuts: FAQ

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The post The Best Baked Vegan Vanilla Doughnuts appeared first on Sanjana.Feasts.

The smell of fresh doughnuts frying is like nothing else. If they bottled it, I’d wear it as perfume, leaving a faint whiff of “funfair” trailing behind me everywhere I’d go. You’d smell me coming a mile away and know I’d been around hours after I’d gone. From a purely practical point of view (and not at all a gluttonous one), this would also make me a very hard person to kidnap. I should probably stop watching so many Netflix true crime shows.

Back to doughnuts.

My vegan doughnut dough has a stretchy-smooth quality, as well as a slight sweetness which I find hopelessly irresistible once fried. Despite being made up of flour, sugar and oil, each pillowy puff is lighter than air. A combination of almond milk, lemon, yeast and baking powder give them an ethereal weightlessness that you only get when you eat them hot, as soon as they’re made. I defy anyone to spot the lack of eggs and dairy in this recipe.

In my book, no variety of cakey baked doughnut comes close to the utterly fuzzy feeling you get from eating a yeasted, fried doughnut. It of course, involves hot oil and for you to set aside a bit of therapeutic baking time but there are moments you can break away to catch up on your favourite TV show, drink wine and/or have a power nap. The results are special and not at all cake like. The dough needs to be left to rise and this is when the magic happens. Keep it in a warm place like an airing cupboard or even in the oven with just the light left on inside.

Swap almond milk for soy milk or oat milk if you want to make a nut-free version of these doughnuts — both work beautifully. Over the years I’ve realised you can add most of the ingredients to the hot milk mixture with little to no compromise on results, which makes the dough-making process much easier. There’s no adding of butter in stages involved either. Reserve the salt and baking powder and add them to the flour mixture. Once the warm-ish milk hits the flour, all of those lovely raising agents join forces to work their magic as the gluten in the flour develops through the kneading process. You can use your hands to knead the dough if you have arms of steel and the stamina to do it for 25 minutes or so. I do not have such superpowers and my stand mixer is my friend.

More ideas: You can switch the cardamom sugar for cinnamon sugar and fill these with your favourite thick vegan custard instead of jam. Or better yet, fill them with both jam and custard. I’ve done this before and I don’t want to say everyone liked me more that week, but they definitely did. Vegan lemon curd is also a noble choice of filling and it works particularly well with cardamom sugar. I have also successfully steeped my warm milk with saffron strands for a saffron flavoured doughnut and it was dreamy, like the best marriage of Indian mithai and a classic funfair doughnut. Be creative and report back with your results. I’d love to hear from you.

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Vegan Raspberry Jam Doughnuts with Cardamom Sugar

Pillowy puffs of vegan doughnut goodness! These sweet treats are filled with sharp raspberry jam and coated with a spectacular cardamom sugar. You won’t be able to stop at just one.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American, Indian

Keyword cardamom, dessert, doughnuts, jam, vegan

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 50 minutes minutes

Servings 12

Author Sanjana

Ingredients

• 500 g strong white bread flour plus 20g for rolling out
• 12 g fast-action dried yeast
• 40 g caster sugar
• 100 g vegan margarine
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp fine salt
• 250 ml unsweetened almond milk
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 L rapeseed oil for deep frying

For the filling:

• 200 g your favourite shop-bought or homemade raspberry jam I prefer seedless

For the cardamom sugar:

• 150 g caster sugar
• 4 cardamom pods seeds removed and crushed to a powder

Instructions

• Place the flour, baking powder and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment.
• Next, add the milk, butter, sugar and vanilla to a saucepan and heat over a low heat until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved. Allow to cool at room temperature to about 38°C/100°F or just warm. Add the lemon juice and yeast and stir. Set aside for ten minutes.
• Add the milk mixture to the stand mixer and switch it on to slow. Once the mixture has come together, knead on medium-high speed for 15 minutes. Keep an eye on your mixer to ensure it doesn’t overheat or climb its way across the worktop (I speak from experience here). Once the dough is soft and smooth, the dough is ready to proof.
• Remove the dough from the bowl and grease the sides of the bowl with a tablespoon of oil. Return the dough to the bowl and cover with a clean, damp tea towel. Allow to rest in a warm place for 60 minutes, until it has doubled in size.
• Knock the risen dough back to remove large air bubbles but do not knead it again. Dust your work surface with flour and roll the dough out until it’s about 2cm in thickness. Use a round cookie cutter to stamp out circles of dough and arrange on a tray lined with parchment paper. Leave some space between them, as you don’t want them to stick together while they prove again.
• Cover loosely with cling film and leave in a warm place for for 30 minutes.
• To make the cardamom sugar, mix together the sugar and ground cardamom in a bowl.
• Fill a heavy-based saucepan halfway with oil. Heat the oil to 175°C/350°F.
• When the oil is heated, carefully slide the doughnuts from the tray using a floured spatula. Taking care not to deflate them, put them into the oil. Do 2-3 per batch, depending on the size of your pan. Don’t overcrowd the pan. I did 2 at a time.
• Fry for 2 minutes on each side until golden brown. They will puff up and float to the top of the oil, so you will need to gently move them around the pan to ensure they colour evenly.
• Remove the doughnuts from the fryer and place them on kitchen paper to absorb any excess oil.
• Place the jam in a bowl and microwave on high power for 20 seconds. Stir well to loosen slightly.
• Fit a piping bag with a medium, round tip. Using a straw, make a small hole in the side of each doughnut, about halfway until it reaches the centre. Fill the doughnut with the warm raspberry jam through this hole, about two teaspoons of jam per piece. Repeat for the remaining doughnuts.
• Gently roll the doughnuts in the cardamom sugar until evenly coated. Serve warm.

Notes

Store the doughnuts covered and at room temperature. Best consumed within 24 hours. Will they all be eaten before then? Definitely.

The post Vegan Raspberry Jam Doughnuts with Cardamom Sugar appeared first on Sanjana.Feasts.

As I flick through my little collection of East African cookbooks, I feel the same comfort and joy as I do when I cosy up with my favourite Indian ones. Both are full of spices, simple veggies and coconut milk in almost everything.

The Swahili cooking I know and love is fresh, vibrant and full of love.

My connection with East Africa

I’ve grown up with a mishmash of Indian, African and British food. My parents are British nationals, born in East Africa. My father in Tanzania and my mother in Kenya. I’m British, born and bred.

This means I have been lucky enough to experience the culinary cultures of all these cuisines.

The Indian influence on East African cooking (and vice-versa!)

For my generation, it feels like the Indian influence on East African cooking is a hush-hush camp, with recipes hidden away inside the spirits of expat grandparents, parents, aunties and uncles.

As sad as it may sound, I’m a 29-year old who’s worried that Zanzibar Trail Mix, Malindi Halwa and Ugandan Kasodi will one day be forgotten.

What are Quick & Fluffy Vitumbua?

In the name of doing my bit to preserve the East African cuisine so many Asian-East Africans are so proud of, I’d like to introduce you to Vitumbua.

These Tanzanian rice flour doughnuts are a favourite of my saintly Bapu, Gunwantrai Modha and I completely understand why.

Born in Tanzania, my dad his brothers think of these dishes as fuel food – they’re good for the soul and all that.

How to make Vitumbua

Vitumbua should be golden and crunchy on the outside and like a delicate morsel of cardamom-scented cloud on the inside.

The batter is made with coconut milk which makes these cakey doughnuts pure white in the middle and melt-in-the-mouth.

Vitumbua: Yeasted Tanzanian Doughnuts with coconut milk

The leavening agent in my version is yeast but many recipes also use baking powder. Traditionally, they’re made using soaked rice but I’ve simplified it slightly by using rice flour.

Rice flour is readily available in shops these days. Of course, if you can’t find rice flour, go ahead and use soaked raw rice.

Can I make gluten-free Vitumbua?

Yes! Simply replace the plain flour with an equal measure of rice flour (2 tbsp). You can also use 1 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch).

How to serve Quick & Fluffy Vitumbua

My fluffy Vitumbua are perfect with tea in the morning or if you’re a bit more adventurous, with a spicy kidney bean and coconut stew for dinner. Sweet and savoury is so lush!

What kind of pan do I need to make Quick & Fluffy Vitumbua?

If you have a Vitumbua or Appam/Paniyaram pan, please use one. If you don’t, you can use a greased cupcake tin. You’ll need to bake them in a 180C oven for 10 minutes, flipping them over halfway through the cooking time.

Cardamom: Finishing touches

I dust my Vitumbua with cardamom sugar which isn’t traditional but it adds a delicious additional aroma on top of what’s already in the batter.

Indeed, I find that finishing a dish with gentle spices is a bold way of bringing another dimension to the table.

Quick & Fluffy Vitumbua Recipe

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Quick & Fluffy Vitumbua – Tanzanian Coconut Doughnuts

These light and fluffy East African coconut and cardamom doughnuts just melt in your mouth. They’re perfect with masala chai and are a popular street food all over Tanzania.

Course Breakfast, Dessert, Snack

Cuisine African

Keyword african, cardamom, pancakes, rice flour, tanzanian

Prep Time 40 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour

Servings 8

Equipment

• Appam pan

Ingredients

For the vitumbua batter:

• 220 g rice flour
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 400 ml full-fat coconut milk
• 100 g caster sugar
• 7 g fast-action dried yeast
• 200 ml warm water approx. 32°C
• 3 tbsp sunflower or vegetable oil
• 1 tsp cardamom seeds from 5-6 cardamom pods ground
• 1/2 tsp fine salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract or almond extract optional

For the cardamom icing sugar:

• 2 tbsp icing sugar
• 2 whole cardamom pods seeds remove and finely ground

Instructions

• In a large bowl, mix together the rice flour, plain flour, sugar, salt, ground cardamom and dried yeast.
• Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and then add the coconut milk, warm water, oil and vanilla/almond extract (if using). Whisk the ingredients well until you have a smooth, lump-free batter. It should be the consistency of dosa or idli batter. Cover with cling film and allow the batter to rest in a warm place for 30-40 minutes.
• Grease a 12-hole vitumbua or appam/paniyaram pan with sunflower or vegetable oil. By now, your batter should be bubbly and frothy. Allow the pan to heat up a little and then use a small jug or cup to fill the holes of the pan with the batter, almost right to the top.
• Cook on a low heat until the tops of the batter is looks dry to the touch, about 3 minutes. Use a cocktail stick to flip the vitumbua over. They should be golden brown on the bottom. Cook the other side for 3-4 minutes or until golden. Use the cocktail stick to remove them from the pan.
• To make the cardamom sugar, combine the icing sugar and ground cardamom. Use a tea strainer or small sieve to dust the sugar over the top. Serve the vitumbua immediately with hot masala chai or strong coffee.

Notes

• This recipe makes 48 small vitumbua, serving about 8 people.
• I bought my paniyaram pan from an Indian kitchenware store in Leicester, UK. You can also buy these online. Look out for a heavy, non-stick piece of kit rather than steel to make removing the vitumbua easier.
• Alternatively, you can also use a cupcake tin. Your vitumbua will be larger, disc shaped doughnuts but they’ll still taste great. Ensure the tin is well greased and fill the cupcake holes just halfway before popping into an oven pre-heated at 180°C for 10 minutes. Flip them halfway through baking.
• Store cooked vitumbua in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

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If you like this, you’ll love my recipe for Crispy Potato Bhajia!

Love Sanjana

The post Quick & Fluffy Vitumbua appeared first on Sanjana.Feasts.

I spent some time in Mombasa almost five months ago. It’s safe to say I’ve missed sipping on fresh madaf (coconut water) on Bamburi beach, eating fried cassava crisps doused in lemon juice and chilli on the side of the road, and feasting in mind-blowing authentic Swahili restaurants by moonlight. I ate a lot that week.

For me, the most incredible thing about East African food is the simplicity of ingredients that go into a dish and the unbelievable flavours that are produced. Basic seasonings like salt, sugar, lemon and chilli are paramount to everyday cooking. Spices like cardamom and turmeric are also popular, although they are used sparingly.

Whilst cassava, beans and ground rice make up the majority of the diet, fruit and veg are showcased in such a simple, yet delicious way that vegetarian food is an absolute pleasure to eat.

My wonderful aunt and uncle in Mombasa are blessed to have a garden full of palm trees, banana trees and fresh herbs, which allow them to indulge on the freshest exotic ingredients I’ve ever got my paws on. Juicy coconuts and green mangoes, fetched from the trees can be grated on top of my aunt’s mouth-watering hot and sour potato stew in just minutes. It was a privilege to sit at their dinner table.

As my cousin knew I was on a mission to sample as many Swahili specialities Mombasa has to offer, one morning she laid on one of the best breakfasts I’ve ever eaten in my life. Mandazi (or Mahamri) and Barazi is a wholesome combo of slightly-sweet cardamom doughnuts and gunga peas simmered in coconut milk until thick and creamy. Trust me when I say that you would 100% NEVER be able to guess that just five ingredients go into the Barazi. But then again, that’s the beauty of the cuisine.

With my recipe you will certainly have extra Mandazi (doughnuts) – this is intentional. Dust with icing sugar and enjoy them with Masala Chai. No need to thank me.

Mandazi and Barazi

Ingredients for the Mandazi:

350g self-raising flour
7g fast-action dried yeast
1 ½ tsp cardamom seeds, ground
100g sugar
75g melted butter or sunflower oil
Approx 150ml warm water, to bind
Icing sugar to dust, optional

Ingredients for the Barazi:

240g tinned gunga peas, drained and rinsed
2 x 240ml tins coconut milk
1 tsp salt
Very small pinch of turmeric
Chopped chillies, to taste

Method

1. In a large bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients. Make a well in the centre and add the butter and slowly incorporate enough water to make a dough. It will be sticky at this point but knead for at least 10 minutes to work the gluten in the flour.

2. Oil the bowl and leave the dough to rise in a warm place, covered with a damp towel for 90 minutes. It should double in size.

3. In the meantime, make the Barazi. In a large, non-stick pan combine the gunga peas, coconut milk and a very small pinch of turmeric. Bring to the boil and allow to simmer uncovered for around 40 minutes, or until thick and creamy. Don’t worry that the peas are already cooked – they’re tough-skinned and won’t disintegrate. Remember that the thicker the coconut milk gets, the more chance there is of the stew catching at the bottom of the pan, so stir often. Finally, add the salt and chopped chillies. When serving, garnish with a deep fried chilli if you want to be a fancy pants. If you do, please, please, please remember to make a hole or two in the chilli with a knife or it will explode. And exploding hot oil is never a good idea.

4. To shape the Mandazi, knock the air out of the risen dough and knead for a few minutes. Next, divide the dough into 5 150g balls. Take the first dough ball and roll on a lightly-floured surface to 5-inch circles and between -2cm in thickness. Take a pizza cutter and cut the circle into 4 triangle. Place the triangles on an oiled tray and repeat for the remaining 4 dough balls.

5. Cover the triangles with a piece of cling film and allow to rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.

6. To fry the Mandazi, heat the oil in a large, deep pan (I used a wok) to 180C. Fry 3-4 Mandazi at a time until dark brown on both sides. Drain on a plate lined with kitchen paper to absorb excess oil. Serve hot with Barazi and/or Masala Chai.

The post Swahili Breakfast: Mandazi and Mbaazi appeared first on Sanjana.Feasts.

Just a speedy note before I round up all of the dishes from our Mughlai season this weekend (for your eating pleasure). This is going to include all of the royal-inspired recipes plus more, so stick around for some really yummy dishes so you can create a banquet fit for kings and queens.

Yesterday, a KO Rasoi recipe for Saffron and Lemon Shrikhand Doughnuts was featured in the Food Network UK Month of Doughnuts calendar in support of National Doughnut Week (7th-14th May). In addition to this, the recipe also went out in their fabulous food newsletter which you can sign up to here: Sign up to the Food Network UK newsletter in order to get my new Food Network UK recipes delivered to your inbox fresh from the kitchen.

I thought I would join in the fun and go dough-nuts too – and so my recipe for Lemon and Saffron Shrikhand Doughnuts was born. Please visit the site to take a peek at how I created this recipe and as always, have a go yourself. They’re super easy eggless doughnuts flavoured with saffron and lemon, rolled in sugar and crushed pistachios (and a little edible glitter if you’re feeling glam, then piped with creamy pistachio and cardamom shrikhand (spiced sweet Indian yogurt).

I’d love you forever if you also took a second to have a look at my new chef page. It contains some extra info about myself, KO Rasoi and my bespoke recipes for Food Network UK (whether or not you’re interested in that kind of thing is another matter entirely!)

Have a ball going dough-nuts too!

The post Eggless Saffron and Lemon Shrikhand Doughnuts appeared first on Sanjana.Feasts.

Just a speedy note before I round up all of the dishes from our Mughlai season this weekend (for your eating pleasure). This is going to include all of the royal-inspired recipes plus more, so stick around for some really yummy dishes so you can create a banquet fit for kings and queens.

Yesterday, a KO Rasoi recipe for Saffron and Lemon Shrikhand Doughnuts was featured in the Food Network UK Month of Doughnuts calendar in support of National Doughnut Week (7th-14th May).

I thought I would join in the fun and go dough-nuts too – and so my recipe for Saffron and Lemon Shrikhand Doughnuts was born. They’re super easy eggless doughnuts flavoured with saffron and lemon, rolled in sugar and crushed pistachios (and a little edible glitter if you’re feeling glam, then piped with creamy pistachio and cardamom shrikhand (spiced sweet Indian yogurt).

Ingredients

Have a ball going dough-nuts too!

The post Eggless Saffron and Lemon Shrikhand Doughnuts appeared first on Sanjana.Feasts.