Easy Baked Cinnamon-Sugar Donuts

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Easy Baked Cinnamon-Sugar Donuts: Make Your Entire House Smell Like a Bakery

My sons adore these baked donuts with cinnamon and sugar. I love how easy they are, and how they make the whole house smell like a bakery. And don’t assume you can eat just ONE!

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Howdy! Chef Alli Here.  Let’s Get You Cookin’…..Shall We??? 🙂 

As I said, my sons adore these baked donuts. Just this morning when I made a batch of them to take new photos for this post, Scooby “followed his nose” to the kitchen and when he saw the donuts, he immediately said “Sweet!” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had some really good conversations with my sons over donuts and milk for breakfast.  Food is such a great connector, eh?

Baked Donuts are the Best!

I’m super thankful I no longer have to get out the skillet and the oil to “fry” donuts for my family – so dang messy!  Baked donuts are more “cakey” inside and they actually taste better once they are fully cooled, unlike fried donuts. They also keep a lot better, too. Baked donuts will hold for 1-2 days, while fried donuts are a “we better eat all of these right now” kind of thing…..I’m betting you know exactly what I mean.

Long story short: you’re going to love making these donuts!

Tips for Making The Best Baked Cinnamon-Sugar Donuts

• What tools do I need for making baked donuts?  All you really need, aside from the usual mixing bowl and measuring cups, etc., is a donut pan.  If you don’t have a donut pan, you’re not out of luck – just use a muffin pan….it actually works pretty great.  (See my photo above to get a peek at the donut pans I use.)
• The recipe calls for buttermilk. I never have that on hand.  Is there an easy substitute? So glad you asked! Yes, there is, and it’s EASY:  Just add 1 tablespoon of cider vinegar to 1 1/2 cups milk and let it rest for 10 minutes.  Now you have “buttermilk” for making these delicious baked donuts!
• How come my donuts don’t want to come out of the pan easily?  It’s likely because you are trying to take them out too soon.  After you remove them from the oven, let the donuts cool for at least 5-10 minutes before loosening them around the edges with a butter knife and lifting them out.  If they crumble or stick to the pan as you are trying to lift them out, give them a few more minutes of cooling time.
• Making baked donuts seems time consuming when you can just buy them. I totally get that, truly. However, you can make these donuts, start to finish, in less than 30 minutes. And no store-bought donut can hold a candle to these little babies. But don’t take my word for it…..bake them and see for yourself.

Easy Baked Cinnamon-Sugar Donuts Recipe

Easy Baked Cinnamon-Sugar Donuts

My sons adore these donuts. I love how they make the whole house smell like a bakery! And don't think you can east just ONE. 🙂

Servings: 12 donuts

Chef Alli

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Total Time 25 minutes mins

Ingredients

 

Donuts

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
• ½ tsp. kosher salt
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 ½ cups buttermilk, or sub sour milk made with 1 ½ cups milk and 1 Tbs. cider vinegar
• 2 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted
• 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Topping

• 6-8 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted
• ½ cup granulated sugar combined with ½ tsp. ground cinnamon

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray 2 doughnut pans well with non-stick spray.  
• In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. 
• In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, buttermilk, butter and vanilla. Now add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture, stirring just until combined. 
• Spoon the prepared batter into the sprayed doughnut pans, filling each one a little more than three-quarters full.  
• Bake the doughnuts, 12-15 minutes, or until they spring back when touched lightly with your finger. Allow the doughnuts to cool for at least 5-10 minutes before trying to remove the doughnuts from the pans. I loosen them a bit with a butter knife around the edges, then gently lift them out. (If the doughnuts don't seem to want to release themselves from the pan, or crumble as you try to loosen them, let them rest/cool a few minutes longer, then try again.)
• Dip the top of each doughnut into the melted butter, then dip each one into the cinnamon/sugar mixture.  EAT. AT. ONCE.

Notes

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Nutrition

Calories: 300kcalCarbohydrates: 51gProtein: 4gFat: 9gSaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 37mgSodium: 205mgPotassium: 68mgFiber: 1gSugar: 35gVitamin A: 303IUCalcium: 94mgIron: 1mg

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

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