Doggie Donuts

♫ Listening to: Carousel Ride by Rubblebucket ♫

How much is the doggie donut in the window? (arf! arf!) These doggie donuts are cake donuts with a solid chocolate coating like Little Debbies or Entemann’s donuts. Before I was vegan, I used to go to the Entemann’s outlet store and buy multiple boxes of the chocolate covered donuts at a time. I was an addict, and the list of ingredients was so long, I’m surprised they could fit them all on the side of the box! When I first discovered this donut recipe on VeganYumYum many years ago, I was so excited to finally be able to feed my addiction yet again. My inspiration for these doggie donuts was born when I was in Hawaii and Japan in 2015 and saw so many cute donuts with animal faces. They were all pastel colored and made to look like different animals, and I knew immediately that the world needed a vegan version.

This recipe makes 9 doggie donuts.

Doggie Donut Ingredients

• 2 cups organic unbleached flour*
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 cup organic sugar*
• 1 cup vanilla nondairy milk
• ½ tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• ½ tablespoon vanilla extract
• egg replacer for 2 eggs (I used ener-g)
• ½ cup vegan butter (or substitute any vegetable oil)

Doggie Donut Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Mix the wet ingredients in a saucepan over low-med heat until the margarine melts and sugar dissolves (the wet ingredients are the last 6 in the list).

Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl (the first 5 in the list).

Mix the dry and wet ingredients together just until incorporated.

Pipe or spoon the batter into your ungreased donut pans . It should fill 9 cubbies.

Bake for 13-15 minutes.

Remove from oven and place the donut pans on cooling racks.

Remove donuts from the donut pans using a flexible silicone spatula , by shimmying the spatula down the sides of the pan so far that it curls all the way underneath each donut (start this step only when completely cooled).

Chocolate Coating Ingredients

• a 12 ounce bag of vegan chocolate chips (2 cups or 340g)

Chocolate Coating Directions

Melt the vegan chocolate chips in a double boiler or a saucepan on low heat or in a microwave at 30-second increments, stirring in between.

Paint the melted vegan chocolate chips onto the cooled donuts using a silicone spatula.

Decorations Ingredients

• Ears: 5 large dandies marshmallows or 18 minis (You can substitute fondant.)
• Eyes: 18 white chocolate chips (You can substitute any similarly-sized candies or sprinkles.)
• Noses: 9 round pink, red, or white sprinkles (You can substitute any circle-shaped edible decoration)
• Mouths: 18 long pink, red, or white sprinkles (Rainbow jimmies are imperfect, so if you dig around in the jar, you can find some curved sprinkles that make the doggie look like he’s smiling.)

Decorations Directions

Cut each marshmallow into 4 slices if you’re using large dandies.

Shape each marshmallow slice into a dog ear using your hands. Set each one on parchment paper as you finish.

Choose your facial features, and separate out 9 sets of them so they’re ready to place.

Paint the top of a donut with chocolate using a silicone basting brush . If you don’t have a silicone basting brush , dip the top of a donuts into the melted chocolate. Set it on parchment paper or a cooling rack, chocolate side up.

Place 2 ears on the donut and press lightly into the melted chocolate.

Place the nose, mouth, and eyes, using kitchen tweezers if you have them. Repeat process with each donut.

Chill all 9 decorated donuts for 15 minutes (or freeze for 5 minutes) to harden the chocolate.

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* I use mostly organic ingredients when I cook, but I realize that not everyone has the disposable income to purchase all organic ingredients. Therefore, I only specify organic on the ingredients that really matter - when buying the organic version is the only way to ensure that the item is vegan.