Donut "Wholes"

Yes I know you can buy gluten-free donuts at the store.

But, there's just something about buying food that is vacuum sealed and contains a packet for freshness that says "DO NOT EAT." Yeah, something about that just isn't appetizing to me.

I made baked donut holes a while back (recipe here), and they turned out so well! But, I kinda wanted something more. I wanted a whole donut...the only problem being that I do not have a donut pan, nor do I intend to buy one any time soon.

And, so I present to you Donut Wholes - a complete donut with no hole in the middle. And yes, I know, that pretty much makes this a muffin. But, whatever. The texture is light and airy just like a delicious bakery-style donut. So, I'm still calling it a donut. You are free to call it whatever you would like. I make these in a muffin pan, filling each cup about 1/2 full. If you fill the cups more than that, the mixture grows and expands and starts looking a little too muffin-ish. At that point, you can't really get away with calling it anything but a muffin!

This was also my first time working with ground flax seed.

Glorious golden goodness right there.

***Donut Wholes

1/2 cup (heaping) brown rice flour
1/4 cup tapioca starch
1 Tbsp. ground flax seed (about 1/2 Tbsp. whole flax seed) mixed into 2 Tbsp. boiling water
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. cinnamon
3 Tbsp. almond milk
3 Tbsp. oil
2 eggs

Topping (if desired): Melted butter, 1/4 cup sugar mixed with 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350.

Using a coffee grinder, grind 1/2 Tbsp. whole flax seed. Add the ground flax seed to 2 Tbsp. boiling water. Set aside.

In medium-size bowl, combine brown rice flour, tapioca starch, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg, salt and cinnamon. Stir until thoroughly combined. Slowly add in almond milk, eggs, oil and flax seed mixture. Stir until a smooth batter forms.

Grease 8 cups in a standard size muffin tin. Fill prepared muffin cups about 1/2 full. Bake 16-18 minutes, or until "donuts" spring back when lightly touched. Allow to cool slightly, then brush with melted butter and roll in cinnamon sugar mixture.

If you want them more like muffins, just brush butter and put cinnamon-sugar on the tops. Otherwise, go for the gold and coat the whole thing!

Just a word of caution. These muffins are fairly low fat, and so they have a tendency to stick to the muffin cups. Make sure you liberally grease the pan. Once they've cooled slightly, go around each "donut" with a fork until you are able to loosen it from the cup. Be patient. They usually don't break :)