Baked Doughnuts with Cinnamon-Sugar
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Today’s post comes from Tracy at Sugarcrafter. Tracy lives in upstate NY with her husband, kitty, and brand new puppy. Her blog, Sugarcrafter, is a baking and cooking blog that features from-scratch recipes using wholesome ingredients with step-by-step directions to give you the confidence you need to conquer any recipe. She also enjoys canning, hiking, camping, and quilting. You can follow Tracy on Twitter @sugarcrafter and become a fan on Facebook.
Recipe, text and photos from Tracy.
As a kid, I loved when my mom and I would stop by our local bakery on special occasions to pick up a box of fresh doughnuts. Upon walking into the bakery, I always delighted in the smell of fresh bread and pastries baking in the oven and the sweet smell of powdered sugar in the air. We usually picked out an assortment of doughnuts – everything from glazed to chocolate to my personal favorite, custard-filled. And of course, nothing could beat the ones that came fresh out of the fryer. Or so I thought.
It wasn’t until I came upon this recipe from Doughnuts by Lara Ferroni that I converted to an oven-baked doughnut lover. I’ve made cake doughnuts in the oven before, and while delicious in their own right, I decided that they still had nothing on fried doughnuts. These doughnuts, however, are not cake-based but are yeasted doughnuts…and though they take a bit longer due the rising time needed, they make for what I feel are the lightest, fluffiest doughnuts you’ll ever taste. Coated with a glaze, a drizzle of chocolate, or a simple cinnamon-sugar mixture like I used, your guests will be scrambling to get their hands on these before they’re all gone!
Yield: 10 to 14 doughnuts
Prep Time: 45 minutes (active) 1 hour 25 minutes (inactive)
Cook Time: 8 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour
Ingredients:
For the doughnuts:
1 egg
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 cup milk, heated to 115 degrees
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2½ to 3½ cups unbleached flour, divided, plus more for kneading
1 stick butter (4 ounces), cut into 1" cubesFor the cinnamon-sugar coating:
1 stick butter (4 ounces), melted
1 cup granulated sugar + 2 tablespoons cinnamon, mixed togetherDirections:
1. In the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the egg and sugar on medium speed for about 1 minute. Add in the milk, yeast, salt, and vanilla. Turn the mixer to low, and then add in 2 cups of the flour. Attach the dough hook and then on medium speed, add the butter one piece at a time until smooth. Reduce the speed to low, and then add the rest of the flour until the dough sticks to the hook and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. It should be soft and moist, but not sticky.
2. Turn the dough out on to a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. Place in a mixing bowl coated with cooking spray and cover with a damp towel. Let rise until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
3. Punch down the dough and roll it out to about ½" thickness. With biscuit cutters, cut out 3" circles with 1" holes. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, place the doughnuts 1" apart. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit on top of the preheating oven until almost doubled in size, about 25 minutes.
4. Bake until light golden in color, 5-8 minutes. Dip the hot doughnuts in the melted butter and then coat with the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Serve immediately; doughnuts are best eaten the same day they are made.
(Recipe adapted from Doughnuts by Lara Ferroni)
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This recipe looks divine but I really need to know where you got that adorable coffee mug from?
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Judy on November 30th, 2011 at 7:59 pm
Sara you can get it at hobby lobby for $3.00!!!!
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I’ve been craving doughnut for a while now. All the store brought kind I’ve been getting haven’t been doing it for me. Guess I’ll have to make my own. This recipe is just want I need.
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these look delicious!
even better that they are baked. Thanks for sharing
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I loved your doughnuts! I’ll be making them for my kids!( …and for me too
…..)
Thanks for sharing this recipe and congratulations for your fabulous blog!
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These look delicious – never tried making donuts of any kind before, but might have to give these a whirl!
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I like these doughnuts because they look airy like the Mediterranean beignets I’m used to. Very nice consistency.
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Great recipe, Tracey!!
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Great recipe, Tracy…I have a sudden and major craving for donuts!
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Yum! I love the look of these. I’ve never baked my own doughnuts before, and have been dying to try. Can’t wait!
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My roommate and I made, if not this recipe then a very, very similar one recently. They were GOOD!
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These look deeelicious! I recently bought a doughnut pan from King Arthur Flour that I have yet to use, so I think this will be the first recipe I try with it! Thanks!!
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Colleen @ What's Baking in the Barbershop?! on March 29th, 2011 at 7:52 am
I just read through the recipe entirely (I only glanced at it the first time) and saw it actually doesn’t use a doughnut pan! BUT, I still want to make these.
I am now a fan of Sugarcrafter too – awesome blog you have!
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I’ve made baked cinnamon sugar doughnuts before and they always make me think of Saturdays with my grandma.
Thanks for the new recipe to try!
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YUM! I just received this book for my birthday-along with another doughnut book. And two doughnut cutters.
These look fabulous!
I want that mug! Please tell us where you got it!!!
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I’m looking forward to trying this recipe. I love donuts but hate the greasy mess.
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These doughnuts look amazing… I love Tracy. So fun to see her posting here at Brown Eyed Baker today
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Thank you Michelle for having me as a guest on your lovely blog! And, thanks to each of you for your kind comments.
Oh and for those who are wondering, I got the mug at Starbucks a few years ago. I’m not sure if they are still in stores, but I’ve seen them on eBay and the like!
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Wowzers! I love Tracy, and I’m so glad you had her guest post. She did NOT disappoint! I’ve just printed the recipe for these. They’re happening on Saturday when I have time to let the dough proof.
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Recipe is a definite keeper. Just home mine turn out as well when I get my donut pan! Thanks for sharing.
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I have seen many doughnut recipes posted today but I have decided that I will make these this weekend. They look perfect.
Thank you for sharing!
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My mouth is watering! Lovely pictures.
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These yeasted doughnuts look amazing!! And I love that they’re not fried!
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Oh, goodness, these look light and heavenly.
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These look delish! I’m going to have to give these a try since I’m wild about donuts and looking for a way to cut fried foods out of my diet. Thanks so much!
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I wish I had one of these doughnuts right now to enjoy with my morning coffee! I think I’ll have to make these this weekend- they look too good!
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Those look so light and fluffy! Yum! I’ve never done donuts before but these seem easy enough for my first go around…hopefully
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These baked donuts look amazing. Yummy!
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I think this recipe just got pushed to the top of my “To Bake” list. I have been craving doughnuts for weeks now.
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These look delicious! Now I’m craving a doughnut! I’ll definitely have to make these
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What a wonderful recipe. I cannot wait to try them.
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That looks outstanding!! I’m going to give them a try. Thanks for posting!!
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Lovely pictures..the doughnuts look yum… have to make these soon…
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They look like heaven on a plate. Really looking forward to trying these after the necessary US-UK conversion! Two question though, is that all-purpose/plain flour or bread flour? And can instant dry yeast be substituted instead of active dry yeast? Any help would be appreciated as I really wanna find a good oven-baked doughnut!!
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Oh. My. God. Doughnuts that I can make!! Thanks so much for this recipe!
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These look so light and fluffy, I want a bite!
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I was JUST looking for a baked doughnut recipe! Thanks!
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I need to try this, I have yet to make a donut and this looks so good
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These donuts look amazing!! I definitely have to try this recipe. I love that it doesn’t use a donut pan either, since I don’t have one!
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Ooh. Yeasty donuts. What a fantastic idea. The only baked donuts I’ve ever eaten were basically cake mix in a donut shape mold– yuck. These, however, look wonderful and far superior.
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That sounds amazing! I always shy away from doughnuts because of the fact that they are fried, they just are too greasy most of the time. I love this oven baked alternative!
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Oh my goodness, these look so temptingly tender and delicious! I can only imagine what your kitchen must have smelled like during the process. I need this to be a Saturday morning project with my girls. Thanks!
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loving this baked version on doughnuts. yummm. can’t wait to try it out!:)
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Really beautiful!! I need these!
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I love that these are baked. What deliciousness!
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Fantastic post, Tracy! These doughnuts look absolutely irresistible.
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Thank you for this! I’ve been looking for a non-fried doughnut recipe for EVER and this is IT!!! I can’t wait to try these this weekend.
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Sam – I used all-purpose flour. As for the yeast, I don’t think you can substitute instant yeast for active dry directly, but I’m really not sure since I haven’t tried it…if you do, let us know!
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Sam on April 1st, 2011 at 5:44 am
Thanks Tracy : ) I’m one step closer to making them now! I had a look and the active dry yeast is not expensive so I’ll probably just go buy some new especially for these little beauties!!
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These look wonderful- I’m totally into the healthy-donut thing!
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So fun to see you over here Tracy! These look delicious!!
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Tracy,
These look amazing! Gotta try these!
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Tracy these look beautiful and incredibly delicious. I am so excited that you do not need a donut pan to make them. Cannot wait to taste them for myself:)
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Yours look wonderful! I think oven baked yeasted doughnuts are the best!
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Does anyone know if you could mix the dough up and store in refrigerator overnight?
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Mmmm I love cinnamon-sugar donuts!
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Do you think that I could make this the night before and then bake in the morning? What step would I “stop” at night and “pick up” in the morning? And would this freeze at all? Thanks!
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Memoria on May 4th, 2011 at 9:00 pm
After the first rise, place yeasted dough in the fridge for up to 2-3 days.
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I just had to let you know that I made your DOUGHNUT recipe and LOVED IT!!! They are addicting.
I have made the cake ones before (but they are a little heavier) and I tend to stay away from the fryer….. but THESE- MAN, they were so GOOD!
Actually, I yielded 18 doughnuts. I baked 9 right away. And I put the rest in the fridge for the next morning. I gave those more time to rise when I took them out– but both batches were just as yummy.
THANKS for sharing all your great recipes!
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Sarah on October 2nd, 2011 at 8:35 pm
Did they rise okay for you? I just made them and the dough won’t rise for me. I used cold butter, so maybe I should have used room temp? They look delicious, so I’ll try again!
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Yum! Looking forward to trying these!
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does it matter if the flour is unbleached?
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bushra on September 26th, 2011 at 12:33 am
i used just regular flour instead of unbleached one and they were still very good….btw i dont even know what difference does unbleached one makes???????
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tried these yummilicious donuts yesterday
so easy, so light and soooo delicious
made them at tea-party, everyone loved them
thanku sooo much for the wonderful recipe
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I made these donuts and my dough did not rise. I used active dry yeast. My donuts were not light and airy like they should be however I love the dough and the taste of these donuts was wonderful. I do want to make them again but guess I need to know what I did wrong. Also, they did not brown in 5-8 minutes I baked them longer and they still didn’t seem done inside.
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Hi, they look sooo good
But I’m i lil confused about step 3 & 4. Especially the part about letting them sit on top of the preheating oven?? Could someone pls explain. Thanks!
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Michelle on November 6th, 2012 at 2:20 pm
Hi Nikita, Basically if you have a freestanding range with oven, an easy way to allow dough to rise is by placing the bowl or baking sheet on top of the warm surface. If you don’t have a freestanding oven, just place the dough in a draft-free area to rise.
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Hi it looks so delicious,wanna try it,can u plz tell me the cup in grams
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Michelle on November 17th, 2012 at 11:56 am
Hi Sania, You could find some guidelines for conversions here: http://www.browneyedbaker.com/conversions/
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This recipe is amazing! I love to bake any my husband loves doughnuts, but I just cannot bring myself to deep fry (I work in nutrition and diabetes and just cannot do it). I was hopeful but admittedly a bit skeptical that they would actually taste good. You were right – they are the fluffiness, tastiest doughnuts ever! They actually taste like doughnuts, but without the thick, fried, fatty outside. I will definitely be making these again!
The only issue that I had was with the rising. To let the dough rise, I placed it in an oven that I had heated to 100 degrees and then turned off. It still took more than two hours to double in size. Next time I will proof the yeast in the warm milk for before mixing it with the sugar and egg That may help…but otherwise, this is a 10 out of 10 recipe! Thanks for sharing!
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This recipe is appalling. Nothing like a doughnut in looks, taste or texture. They taste of nothing. I am not even going to waste my time melting the butter and sugar.I was surprised there was so much praise for the recipe looking at the ingresients and I was right. If just dipping them in the butter and cinnamon sugar makes them edible then there is somerthing very wrong. I was gioing to use a sugar glaze but they taste like bland bread, nothng could improvethem much. So disappointed and a waste of half a morning.
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Does anyone have any suggestion on how to store them over night for the next morning after they are baked? Thank you
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