Method (doughnuts)

1. Pour the warm dairy-free milk into a bowl and sprinkle over the yeast and sugar, stir, cover with a tea towel then put into a warm place for around 10-15 minutes until frothy. TIP: To heat the milk, add it into a small saucepan and simmer until it’s warm. If the milk is too hot it can kill the yeast, so make sure its just warm.
2. In a separate bowl, sift in the flour.
3. In another separate bowl, add in the flaxseed and water, stir to combine and set aside for 10 minutes to thicken. This creates your vegan egg substitute. Add in the melted butter and vanilla.
4. Add everything into the flour and mix. Mix with a hand whisk or attach a dough hook to your stand mixer and begin to knead on medium until nice and smooth. If kneading on a worktop, make sure it’s floured so nothing sticks.
5. Pop the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a tea towel and place into a warm area (I place mine in my conservatory) and allow to prove for around 2-3 hours or until double in size.
6. Once doubled, turn the dough out onto a floured surface, roll out (not too thin) around 1 + 1/2 inch – 2 inch thick , you want the doughnuts to be puffed up. 
7. Use a snowman shaped cookie cutter to chomp out the shapes. Repeat for the entire batch of doughnuts.
8. Place the doughnuts back into a warm area covered with a tea towel for around 30 minutes until they have doubled in size.
9. Add oil into a deep pan until half – 3/4 full and bring to the boil. Allow it to come up to 180 degrees. You can also use a deep fat fryer. Another way to check the oil is ready is by dunking the handle of a wooden spoon into the middle of the pan. The oil will bubble up around the wooden handle if ready. If not, it’s not reached temperature for frying yet. 
10. Once the snowman doughnuts have risen, gently lower them into the hot oil and fry for about 2-3 minutes on each side or until puffed and golden brown in colour.
11. Carefully take them out of the hot oil and place them onto kitchen paper to drain any excess oil.

Method (filling and decoration)

1. Transfer the custard into a piping bag and snip off the tip. Poke a hole in the side of the doughnuts and fill with the custard.
2. In a bowl, add in the icing sugar and the dairy-free milk, a teaspoon at a time until a thick runny consistency. You want it to be a-little thinner than toothpaste consistency. If you add in too much milk and it goes runny, simple add in more icing sugar until correct. 
3. Separate some of the icing into 3 separate bowls (leaving the majority white). Colour one bowl with black food gel the second with pink for the scarf and orange for the nose.
4. Transfer the coloured icings into piping bags and snip off the tips. 
5. Dip the tops of the snowman doughnuts in the white icing and place on a wire rack to dry slightly. 
6. Pipe on the nose, scarf and button details with the coloured icings.
7. Break pretzel sticks in half and poke either side of the snowman doughnuts for the ‘arms’.
8. Serve with a dusting of icing sugar.
9. Enjoy!!