We love donuts and make a lot of donuts because of said love.
Where we live there are not a lot of vegan donut options, so if we want them, we need to make them.
Once we perfected a vegan yeast glazed donut recipe, we were able to get creative and start making all kinds of flavors to suit our mood.
Recently one of our kids saw that Krispy Kreme had put out a limited time key lime filled donut and requested we make vegan version. Who am I to say no to such a logical request. I mean I love donuts and key lime anything so I didn’t even hesitate to say yes.
We took our vegan lemon curd recipes and replaced the lemons with limes. Now, I did not use key limes. This is beause I could not find key limes at this time, and I live in Florida where the key lime hails from.. And in case you don’t know, key limes are smaller and a little less tart than Persian limes. But for this, a regular ol lime works fine. In the event I can find key limes the next time I make this, I will use them. Key limes are small and that means juicing more limes to get the amount you need.
Fun fact, probably more often than not a key lime pie you are served somewhere outside of Florida is not made with key limes…just regular ol persian limes. This drives my step dad bananas and if you serve that man a key lime pie, by golly it better be made with key limes. Here in Florida you might get smacked trying to pass off a regular lime pie for a key lime pie…you have been warned.
We used tapioca starch to make this curd…just an FYI, before you think it has all gone wrong. It is going to be stretchy and in all honestly kind of slimy. It gets thick when it cools . You will need to stir it well as it will be pretty gelatinous. We want it extra thick so it won't all ooze out of the donuts. So before the comments start rolling in about said curd’s appearance, I wanted to give this disclaimer. It taste good, but might now look super appetizing before it goes in the donut.
Lastly you just need to glaze and give the donuts a green stripe if you are 100% trying to rip off Krispy Kreme with your vegan version. Plus the green indicates there might be something limy inside…I don’t know why a green stripe says “must be lime in there” but it does…so now that we have covered that, its time to make the donuts, the vegan key lime donuts!
INGREDIENTS:
The Donuts:
4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cups aquafaba (whipped. click link for easy recipe)
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons melted vegan butter
1/4 cup sugar
2 and 1/4 teaspoon dry active yeast
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons plant based milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
Lime curd for filling
3-4 cups of oil for frying, I use grape seed but you could use whatever oil you normally fry with
Lime Curd Filling:
1 cup coconut cream, divided ( heavy coconut cream in the can, shaken well)
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1/3 cup lime juice
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup tapioca starch
pinch of salt
Optional: 2 teaspoons lime zest for extra lime flavor
The Glaze:
3 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup melted vegan butter
1/4 cup lime juice, give or take
splash of plant milk if needed
INSTRUCTIONS:
Heat milk in microwave for 30 - 45 seconds. You want it warm, but not boiling hot. In the neighborhood of 100-110 degrees but not hotter than that. It will kill the yeast.
Add the warm milk, yeast, and sugar to the bowl of your stand mixer. If you do not have a stand mixer, add the contents to a large bowl. Let sit for 5 minutes to activate the yeast.
After 5 minutes add the aquafaba, and melted butter to the mix. Next add the flour, and salt, and mix for 5 minutes on medium speed if using the stand mixer. If not using a stand mixer, then mix the ingredients together well in a bowl, then transfer to a floured counter top, and kneed the dough by hand for 5 minutes. The consistency of the dough should be soft, but not sticky.
After the dough has been kneaded, place it in a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Pop it in the oven. You are NOT turning the oven on, just leaving it there to rise. If your oven has a dough proof setting you can turn that on. Leave dough to rise for one hour, or until it has doubled in size.
While the dough is rising prepare the curd : In a medium sauce pan, whisk together 1/2 cup coconut cream and remaining ingredients over medium/low heat until the mixture thickens (about 5 minutes.) The curd will continue to thicken as it cools.
Remove from heat and stir in the remaining 1/2 cup coconut cream. Place curd in fridge to cool. It will get pretty thick and gelatinous once cooled. Give it a good stir to get to a place it will pipe once ready. Never mind the seemingly off putting texture ( I am really selling this curd hunh?!?!) it needs to be thick to stay in the donuts. It taste great so just stir and move on;)
Once the dough has finished rising, transfer to a lightly floured countertop. I like to divide the dough in half and work it in two batches. It makes it easier to roll out. Roll out one half of the dough to about 1/4- 1/2 inch thick. Using a 3 inch circle biscuit or cookie cutter (or donut cutter if you have one) begin cutting circles. Repeat with other half of dough. You should have a total of about 2 dozen donuts.
Place donuts on cookies sheets, and let rest for about 15 - 20 minutes. They will become bigger as they rest.
While they are resting, heat 2 - 3 inches of oil in a deep skillet or medium sized pot.
Once oil is hot, begin adding the donuts to the oil, 2 or 3 at a time. Fry the donuts for about 20 second on each side then flip. Repeat one more time. This helps them cook though and not burn. If you don't have enough oil in the pan, and they are hitting the bottom, they will easily burn. So make sure to use enough oil!
Allow donuts to cool on a wire cooling rack, placed on top of a paper-towel-lined cookie sheet. Once donuts are cooled, use a chop stick or skewer to poke a hole into the donut on one side. You can kind of turn the chop stick or skewer inside the donut to widen the hole. This is making room for the curd. You want to make sure you have created enough room for a good amount of filling .
Once all donuts are done frying, mix all of the ingredients for the glaze. If you find the glaze too thick, you can always thin it with some more milk. Reserve a little glaze if you want to add green stripes. I added a tad of green food color and some more powdered sugar to thicken it up. The stripe gaze will need to be more of an icing constancy.
Dip one side of the donut in the glaze and place back on the wire rack to allow the excess glaze to drip off.
Once the glaze has set, fill a piping bag, set with a jelly tip or larger frosting tip, with the curd . Begin piping the curd into the holes you made in the donuts with the chop stick.
Once all the donuts are filled with curd you can serve as is, or add green stripes with extra glaze along the tops by placing the green icing in a piping bag with a tiny tip, or you can place in a zip lock and cut a tiny hole in a corner to pipe out the frosting.
If you like this recipe, then try these:
