Baked Lemon Poppy Seed Donuts + Blueberry Glaze

These lemon poppy seed donuts are oven-baked and also happen to be vegan! For a pop of (all-natural) color, homemade blueberry juice makes the most gorgeous lemon blueberry glaze.

Growing up in my family, Saturdays meant donuts. On Friday night, we would all place our orders with my dad, scribbling down our favorites on a piece of scrap paper: marble glazed, vanilla long johns, French crullers, Boston creams. The next morning, my dad (always the early riser) would have them all ready and waiting by the time we meandered downstairs in our pajamas.

Years later, I discovered just how easily I could make my own baked donuts, and I was thrilled. The process instantly brought back all those sweet memories from my childhood: big cardboard bakery boxes, the intoxicating scent of fresh donuts, clouds of powdered sugar, and fingers covered in sticky glaze.

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While the traditional fried donut will always have a special place in my heart, I’m just not always up for deep-frying at home. Which is where baked donuts come in. With the help of a donut pan (genius), you can easily make tender cake donuts (without all the added fat from frying) whenever you want.

Vegan Baking

As an added bonus: these baked lemon poppy seed donuts also happen to be vegan! I’ve recently been exploring vegan baking – partly out of curiosity, and partly per the request of some of my vegan readers out there (hi!). But whether you follow a vegan diet or not, you’ll love these donuts. They are just as good as the non-vegan donuts I’ve baked before!

Instead of the traditional milk, butter, and eggs found in most baking recipes, here are some of the ingredients I used to make this donut recipe vegan:

1. Almond Milk: We recently switched to drinking almond milk, and it’s a great plant-based alternative to cow’s milk. Plus, it works great in a myriad of baking recipes!
2. Coconut Oil: Rather than butter, a few tablespoons of coconut oil were perfect in these lemon poppy seed donuts.
3. Apple Cider Vinegar: Along with some baking soda, a little apple cider vinegar provides just the right amount of leavening/binding action (in place of an egg).

Helpful hints:

1. I recommend this donut pan – it’s affordable and just the right size for this recipe!
2. I prefer to purchase my poppy seeds in bulk – it ends up being a lot cheaper than purchasing from the spice aisle in my grocery store!
3. If needed, you can definitely bake the lemon poppy seed donuts a day or two ahead of time. Once they have cooled completely, store them at room temperature in an airtight container until you are ready to glaze them. I strongly recommend glazing the donuts immediately before, or within 2 hours of serving to keep them looking their best!

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