Gluten Free Lavender Grapefruit Donuts

I am on a roll and coming at you with another oat flour recipe. Allow me to introduce you the gluten free grapefruit lavender donuts. You can quickly whip them together on a weekday evening when you’re craving something sweet. Or you can bake them for a party/ potluck. And the best part, no one will believe they’re gluten free.
While I am not sensitive to gluten, I prefer to bake with oat flour as much as possible. I like it because it higher in nutrients like fiber and iron when compared to regular, wheat flour. And best of all, it tastes just as good as wheat flour. The only difference is a slightly more crumbly texture. However, this is not very noticeable with glazed donuts because the glaze helps keep them together.
Note: Oats are naturally gluten free, however, sometimes they can get contaminated during processing or packaging. If you cannot tolerate gluten, I recommend you buy oats and oat flour that are certified gluten free.
I only used the lavender in the dough. So if you have allergies to it, you could skip it or replace it with crushed toasted black sesame seeds. Additionally, you could also opt for 1-2 tablespoons of matcha powder. I think that it pairs well with grapefruit.
For the batter, I also used vanillated sugar in addition to the granulated sugar. I did so to minimize the volume of liquids. I prefer doing this when I bake gluten free items as they are more crumbly than those made with regular flour. You can find vanillated sugar in most grocery stores that carry European produce, or online on Amazon. Additionally, you can use vanilla paste instead.
For the glaze you only need icing sugar and grapefruit juice. Despite only using 3 tbsp. of grapefruit juice, the glaze still came out looking pretty pink.
If you wish to freeze the donuts, I recommend freezing them unglazed.
See more donut recipes here.
And finally, here’s how to make these indulgent gluten free grapefruit lavender donuts:
Gluten Free Lavender Grapefruit Donuts
Ingredients
For the donuts:
- 1 ¼ cups (125 g/ 4 ½ oz.) oat flour
- ⅓ cup (70 g/ 2 ½ oz.) granulated sugar
- ½ stick (60 g/ 2 oz.) unsalted butter
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 tbsp. vanillated sugar
- 1 tbsp. culinary lavender, crushed
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 1 tbsp. unsalted butter for greasing the pan
For the glaze:
- 1 cup (120 g/ 4 ¼ oz.) icing sugar
- 2-3 tbsp. freshly squeezed grapefruit juice
Instructions
For the donuts:
- Preheat oven to 180 °C (350 °F).
- In a bowl, whisk together the flour and the salt. Set aside.
- Crack the eggs into another bowl, add the sugar, vanillated sugar and beat at high speed with an electric mixer. The mixture is ready when almost triple in volume and light in color.
- Gently melt the butter over low temperature. Make sure the butter does not bubble. Once melted allow it to cool down.
- Using a spatula add the flour to the bowl with the eggs in two steps, mixing after each addition. Make sure the flour is well incorporated, but do not over mix. Add the lavender and gently fold it into the batter. Add the melted, cooled butter in two steps and mix gently until incorporated. Allow the batter to sit for 10-15 minutes.
- Grease the donut pan with butter. Pipe or spoon the batter into the baking pan filling ¾ of each cavity, then bake for 12 minutes.
- Once baked, take the pan out of the oven and allow the donuts to sit in the pan for 2-3 minutes. Transfer the baked donuts to a rack and let them cool to room temperature.
For the glaze:
- Add the grapefruit juice to the icing sugar and mix well until the glaze is smooth and creamy. Dip or drizzle the glaze onto the donuts.