Powdered Sugar Doughnuts – A classic, lightly spiced doughnuts is baked (not fried) and then covered in powdered sugar. This recipe shows you how to make classic round doughnuts and also doughnut holes.
I love a fresh, homemade doughnut. It just hits different when it’s that fresh, am I right?! When I want a great doughnut at home but not the hassle of frying, I make doughnuts in the oven. You can use doughnut molds to get the classic round shape or simply use a mini muffin tin to get doughnut “holes”.
I have yet to make a powdered doughnut at home so I took my classic old fashioned doughnut recipe and covered those babies in lots and lots of powdered sugar. The hint of nutmeg and cinnamon are just what the sugary doughnuts needed to balance them out.
And here is the final product – my Powdered Sugar Doughnuts!
Tips & Tricks
- Pastry bag. Use a pastry bag to fill the doughnut molds evenly and mess-free.
- Cool down. Doughnuts must be cool to the touch before adding the powdered sugar, or else the doughnut will melt the sugar and make them sticky on the outside.
- Double-dip. To get a nice coating of powdered sugar on the outside, I dipped them in powdered sugar twice.
- Spoon them out. To get the doughnuts out of the molds easily, use a spoon. This will also ensure they don’t get damaged in the removal process.
- Doughnut holes. This recipe references doughnut molds, but you can easily make doughnut “holes” but using a mini muffin tin. Just make sure to reduce the baking time by 5 minutes.
Powdered Sugar Doughnuts
Ingredients
For the muffins:
- ¼ cup butter unsalted, melted
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- ½ cup sugar
- ⅓ cup light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 2⅔ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup milk
For the coating:
- 1½ sticks butter melted
- 2 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F. Lightly grease doughnut pans and 12-cup mini muffin tin.
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl, cream together the butter, vegetable oil, and sugars till smooth. Add the eggs, beating to combine. Add the vanilla and stir to combine.
- In a separate bowl. stir the baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, and flour until well combined. Add 1/3 of the mixture at a time to the butter mixture alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour and making sure everything is thoroughly combined.
- Spoon the batter into a pastry bag without a tip. Squeeze into the doughnut molds, filling the cups nearly full. Bake the doughnuts for 5 minutes and then drop temperature to 375. Continue to bake for 10 more minutes, or until they’re a pale golden brown and a cake tester inserted into the middle of one of the center muffins comes out clean. (Only bake 7 more minutes if they are in a mini muffin tin)
- In a medium bowl, add the powdered sugar. Melt the butter in a separate small bowl. When muffins have cooled slightly, roll the doughnuts/doughnut holes in the butter and then the powdered sugar. Cover in powdered sugar until completely coated. This may take a couple coats of powdered sugar.
- Serve immediately or within 24 hours.
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Banana Bread Doughnuts
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Blueberry Crumb Doughnuts
These powdered sugar doughnuts look dangerously good—like the kind you eat “just one” of… and suddenly the plate is mysteriously empty.
These are seriously dangerous to have around the house! They are so delicious and always gone way faster than I expected! Great recipe.
These powder sugar donuts look fantastic. Thanks for the recipe. Making this today.
There is nothing better than a fresh donut. These are fabulous!!
My mom made baked donuts and this recipe brings back some fond memories. I love the idea of using mini muffin tins, and adding nutmeg and cinnamon is genius. These will be in my kitchen soon.
I have been looking for a powdered sugar donut recipe that was baked not fried! This one is perfect! They are so good!
Ahh donuts are my weakness but its so nice to have a baked variation and these look SO good! I love a nice easy recipe too. I have some company coming over this weekend so I think I’ll whip up a batch plus its fun to have in the morning with coffee 😀
Donuts have always seemed so complicated to me and I’ve been nervous to try them but your post makes it so straight forward and approachable. Thank you!
Omg my family would go GAGA over these! I wish I bumped into your post before Valentine’s Day! They would’ve loved it! Will def have to try this weekend
I made these for the family for Valentine’s Day and we loved them! So fluffy and tasty! Such a fabulous donut recipe.
Kids had such fun making these together on the weekend! So easy and delish
Love the light spice flavor and that these are baked and not fried. Lookign forward to making them for my family.
Oh my goodness! Donuts are my kryptonite and these I could not resist! So delicious! Thank you!
Ok I have never made doughnuts because frying requires too much work but baking?!!! I never thought to do this, thank you for sharing!!
Enjoyed these for breakfast this morning and started my day off right! So easy and delicious and paired perfectly with my morning cup of coffee!
The only problem with these powdered sugar doughnuts is that it is impossible to stop eating them! They are so soft and airy, utterly delicious!
These could be dangerous to have around!! They sound delicious
We are going to try this one! My kids call these “baby donuts” . Thanks!
I love these donuts because they aren’t fried. It’s so much easier to make homemade donuts in the oven, and they came out perfect..
I love a good cake donut for the exact reason of not having to fry them. These were so good and I will be making them again.
I would eat so many of these. I just love doughnuts!