I finally made homemade donuts. After scouring the internet and watching a lot of videos – my cravings for a vanilla glazed sprinkle donut was finally achieved. I no longer needed to don a mask and risk my life for a Tim Horton’s donut (though I gladly would have). Instead, I allowed my gluttony to develop and succeed in making a dessert I erroneously believed was too daunting to undertake.
Homemade Donuts are easier to make than one will have you believe. All it takes is a little patience and if available- some help (thank you, bro!). There are plenty of donut recipes out there that suit a wide range of tastes. No-fry donuts, baked donuts, vegan donuts, cakey donuts, old fashioned donuts. However, the perfect donut, in my opinion, mimicked the taste of Tim Horton’s (back in the day when their donuts cost $1.00). I like a pillowy dough that is lightly spiced, with a glaze that does not overpower my dough. And more importantly, I want sprinkles. Lots and lots of sprinkles! If I have one word of advice for you, do not skimp out on the sprinkles. It is the best part! So if this sounds like the perfect donut for you then continuing reading my homemade donut recipe!
DONUTS ARE EASIER TO MAKE THAN YOU THINK
I will keep this section short and sweet. I am the type of person to scroll past all the written stuff to read the recipe. However, in order to make my recipe easy to follow I have to have a section in this post that explains the intricacies of making homemade donuts.
My recipe is a mix of two other recipe-developers: Josh Weissman and Emma’s Goodies. I like how simple their recipes are. Before beginning to make donuts I urge you to watch their respective videos to get an idea of the donut making process. Then read carefully from start to finish the entirety of my recipe. In addition, I have compiled a few tips:
- You can make the donuts by hand or a stand mixer. When it comes to kneading the dough, do not overwork it. You will only need to knead (haha) the dough for around 5-7 minutes. You want a dough that is soft and stretchy.
- Allow the dough to rise for one hour but do not let it rise any longer. You are looking for double in size. If you let the dough proof for too long you may have a donut that is a bit dense or tough.
- Cook the donuts on LOW heat. They do not need long to cook. Around 45 seconds to a minute. Depending on how hot your oil is your donuts may cook quickly. I suggest eyeballing it by colour (a nice golden brown).
- I have added the measurements for the glazes but sometimes you have to add more milk or more icing sugar to get the desired consistency. It’s all about getting a feel for the glazes.
HOMEMADE SPRINKLE DONUTS:
pillowy. fragrant. sprinkles.
Homemade Glazed Donuts
Pillowy soft dough, decadent glazing and sprinkles! These donuts are super easy to make and only require some patience. There is no need to buy store-bought donuts anymore!
Ingredients
Dough
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- ¼ tsp tonka beans, grounded (optional)
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- ½ cup warm milk
- 1 ½ tsp instant yeast (one packet)
- 1 egg
- 56 grams butter (melted and cooled (about 5 tbsp or ¼ cup-ish)
Chocolate Glaze
- 4 tbsp icing sugar
- 1 tbsp cocoa powder
- 2 tsp coconut oil (optional)
- 2 tsp milk or water
- ½ tsp vanilla or chocolate extract
Vanilla Glaze
- 4 tbsp icing sugar
- 2 tsp milk/water
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 drop red food colouring (optional)
Maple Glaze
- 4 tbsp icing sugar
- 2 tsp coconut oil
- 2 tsp milk
- 2 tsp maple syrup or maple extract.
Instructions
Making the dough
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In a large bowl or your stand mixer (with the dough attachment), add the flour, sugars, salt,nutmeg and tonka beans. Whisk together and set aside.
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In a small bowl add the warm milk, a pinch of sugar and the yeast. Whisk and set aside for 10minutes. Add the melted butter and egg and whisk until combined.
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Make a small well in the flour and add the yeast mixture. Set your stand mixer medium-low, combine the dough for 3 minutes or until the ingredients are well incorporated. Dump the dough out onto a floured surface and continue to knead for another 3 minutes or until the dough is soft and stretchy. If using your hands, combine the dough with a wooden spoon until the ingredients are incorporated. Set the spoon aside and begin to knead the dough in the bowl with your hands and then dump the dough onto a floured surface. Knead the dough for another 3-4 minutes. Cover the dough and let rise for an hour or until double in size.
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Once the dough has risen, place it once again onto a floured surface and roll out into a rectangular shape about ½ inch thick. Begin to cut out your donut shape using any round apparatus or a biscuit cutter (3 inches wide, with the center whole 1 inchwide). Place donuts onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and let rise for an hour.
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The inner circles will yield donut holes which you can fry or you can combine the donut hole dough together, roll it out and cut out another donut shape (like I did).
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While the donuts are resting you can begin to prepare the glazes and prep your workstation. Put about 3-4 inches of oil into a frying pan and line another cookie sheet with a wire rack. About 5 minutes before the dough has finished resting, heat your oil on medium-low heat.
Cooking the Donuts
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The key to cooking donuts is on low heat. Depending on the heat of your oil the donuts should be fried for 45 seconds to a minute per side. You want the donuts to be a golden-brown colour. The key is really to judge it by colour and sort-of eyeball it.
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Transfer onto the wire rack to let cool. Then you can begin to glaze the donuts.
Assembling the Donuts
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Dip each cooled donut into the respective glazes. Place the donuts back on the wire rack to allow the excess glaze to drip off.
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Allow the glaze to set for about an hour or so before transferring the donuts to a container (or a cake stand with a cake dome on top). Donuts taste best the day they are made (or better, right after they are glazed) but they taste just as good the day after. I would not recommend keeping them any longer than this.
Making the Glazes (SEE NOTES FOR MORE DETAILS)
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Chocolate Glaze: Sift together the sugar and cocoa powder in a medium bowl. Slowly stir in the coconut oil, milk and vanilla, a little at a time, to make a smooth, pourable glaze.
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Vanilla Glaze: Sift the icing sugar in a medium bowl. Slowly stir in the milk and vanilla, a little at a time, to make a smooth, pourable glaze. You may need to add more milk or more icing sugar to achieve the desired consistency.
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Maple Glaze: Sift the icing sugar in a medium bowl. Slowly stir in the milk, coconut oil and maple syrup to make a smooth, pourable glaze. You may need to add more milk or more icing sugar to achieve the desirable consistency.
Recipe Notes
Glazes:
Due to the use of vanilla extract, the glaze may have a slight brown tinge. To avoid this (if you want) either add clear vanilla extract or food colouring.
In order to have a thick vanilla glaze, you will need to double dip the donuts. Dip the donuts into the glaze and place onto a wire rack to get rid of the excess. Allow the glaze to harden (about 5 minutes) and then re-dip. Do this until you achieve the desired glaze. While the glaze is still wet add your toppings.
The maple glaze is a bit lighter in viscosity in order to achieve that Krispy Kreme texture. If you want it to be thicker either double-dip or adjust the ration of ingredients to yield a thicker glaze (the thickness will be similar to that of the chocolate glaze).
Glazes can be made in advance. Cover the glazes and keep in the fridge or at room temperature. To reactivate its consistency just whisk it until you achieve the desired consistency.
Videos on how to make donuts:
I relied on two videos to help me make the donuts. Visually seeing how the donuts are prepared helps you understand my written recipe. I suggest taking a look at these videos first and then reading through my recipe, before beginning to make the donuts.
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THERE YOU HAVE IT. YOUR VERY OWN HOMEMADE DONUTS THAT LOOK LIKE THEY WERE BOUGHT FROM A BAKERY. HOW EASY, BEAUTIFUL, AND TASTY DO THEY LOOK? IF YOU GAVE THIS RECIPE A TRY, LET ME KNOW!
I love this idea and cannot wait to try out these donuts for myself, particularly excited to make the maple glaze! Perfect for being stuck in the house here in Scotland
Hi Kristy! Yes the maple glaze was really popular in my household, especially since it was not too sweet! 🙂
Definitely going to have to try this. I have a weakness for donuts (especially maple bars)! Not a fan of sprinkles (sorry), but have been wanting to try my hand at homemade donuts for a while now. They intimidate me a bit though, so I appreciate the detailed instructions. My only questions is–what in the world are tonka beans? I notice they’re optional, which is good, but I’ve never heard of them.
Hi Samantha! No worries all is forgiven for those who do not like sprinkles. I suggest watching the two videos I linked to get a visual idea of how to make donuts. After that my instructions make more sense. Tonka beans have the texture of a roasted almond (though the skin of a tonka bean is a very dark brown). It is the seed of a type of pea flower bush. When you grate it, you reveal a powder with a beautiful vanilla/amaretto scent. Like nutmeg though, you cannot use too much otherwise it could be toxic. I hope this helps.
Yum! These look delicious. I made donuts recently and was surprised at how easy they were to make. Made me wish I had tried them sooner 🙂 Thanks for sharing – Danielle
Totally! Once you make donuts you realize they are not too hard. They just take a bit of time and patience 🙂