I’ve been on a roll with baked doughnuts lately. I think they’re my new creative medium for 2021.

The thing that I love about doughnuts is, they’re basically a blank canvas and you can do whatever you want to them. You can dip them in chocolate, glaze them with icing, put fruit or nuts in them, or, in this case, throw a bunch of poppyseeds in.

Lemon poppyseed is one of my favorite combinations because it’s bright, fun, and delicious. These doughnuts have *a lot* of lemon, to the point where your sour tastebuds activate when you take a bite. But that’s okay, because the doughnuts also subtly sweet, light, and pillowy, so the other flavors and textures balance out the zest.

You would never be able to tell that these doughnuts are vegan. Honestly, that’s how I judge a lot of vegan food. Can I tell that this is vegan? If the answer is no, that gives it high marks.

If you don’t have any almond or plant-based milk on hand, though, you can always sub in some dairy milk. I bet they would be just as delicious, but they may have a slightly different texture.

I ate two of these for breakfast and a third with tea for dessert after lunch. I can’t wait to have some more tomorrow. They’re great with a big cup of coffee.

Here’s a song to get you started on your lemon poppyseed doughnut journey.

Vegan Lemon Poppyseed Doughnuts

Ingredients

for the doughnuts:
2 cups AP flour
1/2 cup organic cane sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
zest of 2 lemons
2 Tbsp poppyseeds
1 1/3 cups almond milk
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup avocado oil
2 tsp vanilla extract

for the icing:
1 cup powdered sugar
1–2 Tbsp almond milk
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon zest
2 tsp poppyseeds

Directions

Grease two 6-cavity doughnut pans and set aside. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, lemon zest, and poppyseeds in a medium bowl. Mix the almond milk, lemon juice, avocado oil, and vanilla extract in the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined.

Use a piping bag or a plastic bag with a tip cut off to pipe the batter into the prepared doughnut pans. Fill them most of the way to the top, then bake the doughnuts for 10 minutes until the tops spring back to the touch. Let them cool completely.

While they’re cooling, make the icing. Whisk together all the ingredients until smooth. When the doughnuts are cool, dip them in the icing and then let them set for 30 minutes. Enjoy!