I am always craving donuts. After making these donuts, I now prefer a homemade donut over a store bought one (especially because they are SO easy to make)! After doing a lot of research online and trying various recipes, I have tweaked what I have already tried and have created the perfect, easy, homemade donut recipe that will yield fresh warm donuts in no time.
The trick with these donuts is to make sure your dough is moist and easily comes together, that is why this recipe calls for one cup of buttermilk compared to existing recipes which call for less.
The glazing process of these donuts is what makes the recipe. By glazing the donuts while still hot, the glaze will absorb into the dough making it even more moist and decadent. This also gives them the classic, crisp glaze finish. You can find my glaze recipe here.
My favourite part about making donuts is that you can decorate them anyway you want and get super creative with it. For this batch of donuts, I decided to create a classic pink confetti donut topped off with my homemade sprinkles. I also had some fun with a cookie monster inspired donut using blue frosting and crushed oreo cookies. The possibilities for decorating are endless, have some fun with it and create your own unique donut (I have been really tempted lately to make a canadian inspired maple bacon one)!
Delicious Donut Recipe (Better Than Store Bought!
Equipment
- Saucepan (for frying)
- Stand mixer (optional)
- Rolling Pin
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 cups flour all-purpose
- 3/4 cups sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup butter melted
- canola oil for frying
Vanilla Glaze
- 3 cups icing sugar
- 5-6 tablespoons milk
- 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
- food colouring (optional)
Chocolate Dip
- 3 cups icing sugar
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 5-6 tablespoons milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Cinnamon Sugar
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
Instructions
- In a medium bowl or stand mixer, mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon and sugar.
- In a smaller bowl, combine the eggs, melted butter and buttermilk.
- Add the buttermilk mixture to the dry ingredients and mix until all ingredients are combined.
- Place the dough onto a floured surface and using a rolling pin, flatten into a 1/2 inch thick rectangle. Using a cookie cutter or a round glass, cut 3 inch circles out of the dough. With a smaller cookie cutter (I prefer using a shot glass for this step), cut smaller circles in the centre of the donuts. This will create your donuts and your donut holes. Repeat the process with the remaining dough.
- To fry the donuts, fill a saucepan with about two inches of canola oil. Test to make sure your oil is ready by throwing a little chunk of dough into the pan. If the dough starts to bubble immediately and turn golden brown within a couple minutes, your oil is ready.
- Using a utensil of your choice (i.e. chopsticks, tongs, spider), carefully place your donuts into the hot oil. Fry donuts until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes per side. Do not leave the stove or donuts unattended during the frying process!
- Once the donuts have been fried, transfer them onto a wire cooling rack with a cookie sheet underneath to catch the hot oil drippings.
Glaze the Donuts!
- Once all of the oil has dripped off the donuts and the donuts are still warm, dip the donuts into the donut glaze and place them back on the wire rack to set.
- Serve as soon as possible. These cake donuts taste best fresh so eat them within the first 24 hours of frying. Happy donut eating!