Baked Doughnuts Without a Doughnut Pan

You don’t need to add another one-trick pan to your collection to make baked doughnuts. Instead, make doughnuts without a doughnut pan using a muffin tin and some aluminum foil. This DIY doughnut pan works with any baked doughnuts. For this experiment, I followed a recipe for mini apple cider doughnuts. These doughnuts are soft, fluffy, and perfect for a breakfast treat or afternoon snack—and they’re vegan, too. They’ll be smaller than your standard doughnut and certainly not uniform in shape, but the taste is all there.

If you plan to make baked doughnuts often, I suggest adding a purpose-built doughnut pan to your pantry. It took me about 15 minutes to create the foil inserts for the recipe below.

Ingredients

• Apple cider: During the fall season, find apple cider at the grocery store, apple orchard or farmers market. If you can’t find any, you can use apple juice, but it won’t have as powerful an apple flavor.
• All-purpose flour: No need for fancy flour here. All-purpose flour has the perfect blend of hard and soft wheat, creating tender doughnuts that hold their shape well.
• Sugar: We’ll sweeten these doughnuts with granulated sugar. If you want to ensure your doughnuts are vegan, use organic cane or beet sugar, and always check the lablel (refined white sugar is generally filtered with bone char).
• Leavening agents: Test your baking powder and soda if they’ve been sitting in the pantry for a while. These leavening agents start to lose their potency after six months.
• Spices: Cinnamon and nutmeg give these doughnuts a cozy fall spice profile. I love grating the nutmeg fresh for the most powerful, nuanced flavor, but ground nutmeg is totally fine here.
• Vegan butter: Buy the best vegan butter with a quality flavor that’s great for baking. No need to bring the sticks of butter to room temperature; you’ll be melting them.
• Unsweetened dairy-free milk: Any unsweetened non-dairy milk will work. I suggest using plain almond milk, soy milk or oat milk.

How to Make Doughnuts Without a Doughnut Pan

Step 1: How to make your doughnut pan

Preheat the oven to 350°F. To prepare the pan, take a 5×5-inch square piece of foil and place it over one of your fingers. Fold the foil around your finger, gently folding the sides up, to create a cupped mold. Place the formed foil into one muffin cup, pressing into the sides. Repeat with the remaining 11 cups. Grease them with cooking spray.

Step 2: Reduce the apple cider

In a small saucepan over medium heat, bring the apple cider to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook it until the liquid has reduced to 1/2 cup, about 15 minutes. Pour the reduced apple cider into a heatproof bowl and let it cool completely to room temperature.

Step 3: Make the batter

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg. Pour in the reduced apple cider, melted vegan butter and dairy-free milk. Stir to combine them, being careful not to overmix.

Editor’s Tip: If the batter seems too dry, stir in extra dairy-free milk, 1 tablespoon at a time.

Step 4: Pipe the batter into the homemade doughnut pan

Cut a small hole in the corner of a food-safe zip-top bag, and fill it with the batter. Pipe the batter into the prepared pan, going around the circles and filling them 3/4 of the way full.

Step 5: Bake the doughnuts

Bake the doughnuts until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 10 to 12 minutes. Let the doughnuts cool in the pan for five minutes, then remove them from the pans and transfer them to wire racks to cool completely.

Step 6: Decorate the doughnuts

After the doughnuts have cooled, top them with a dusting of confectioners’ sugar and enjoy them warm.

Recipe Variations

• Cover them in cinnamon sugar: Prefer a cinnamon-sugar coating? Simply whisk together 1 cup of granulated sugar and 2 tablespoons of cinnamon. Toss the warm doughnuts in the mixture until they’re evenly coated.
• Play with the spices: Introduce other fall spices like ginger, allspice or cloves, or replace the cinnamon and nutmeg with apple pie spice for a more nuanced blend.
• Make them with butter and milk: Don’t stick to a plant-based diet? Feel free to make regular apple cider doughnuts with butter and whole milk as needed.

How to Store Baked Doughnuts

Allow the baked doughnuts to cool to room temperature, then transfer them to an airtight container. They can be kept at room temperature for up to three days, or refrigerated for up to six days. They’re best enjoyed at room temperature or warmed lightly in the microwave.

Can you freeze baked doughnuts without a doughnut pan?

Yes, you can freeze baked doughnuts. Allow them to cool to room temperature and skip the confectioners’ sugar. Transfer the doughnuts to an airtight container and freeze them for up to two months. When you’re ready to enjoy them, allow them to come to room temperature, then dust them with the confectioners’ sugar.

Tips for Making Baked Donuts Without a Donut Pan

Can you make baked doughnuts without a doughnut pan in a jumbo muffin pan?

We haven’t tried it, but I don’t see why it couldn’t work! Follow the same instructions on this recipe, making the molds bigger as needed. You won’t get as many doughnuts, but your doughnuts will be much bigger. Bake them at 350°, adding extra time as needed. You’ll know the doughnuts are done baking when a toothpick inserted into them comes out clean or with only a few crumbs.

Can you make these baked doughnuts gluten free?

Yes, you can make these baked doughnuts gluten free. To do so, replace the all-purpose flour with one of the best gluten-free flour blends, and make sure all of the other packaged goods are certified gluten free. Many baking sprays contain flour, so check the ingredients list! You can follow our gluten-free apple cider doughnuts recipe instead.