Craving delicious bakery donuts to make at home? Learn how to make yummy, soft homemade donuts from scratch, with sweet vanilla glaze and cereal donut toppings. The fruity pebbles donuts and cinnamon toast crunch with bacon are the Jones house favorite!
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We’ve been experimenting with donuts a lot in the Jones house!
We first tried Air Fryer Donuts, which was a quick and easy donut recipe. Now, we are getting more adventurous and making homemade donuts from scratch.
Bryan and my mother-in-law bought me my first KitchenAid stand mixer for Christmas last year and I finally decided to break it out. I’ve been a little intimidated by the stand mixer, but after making homemade donuts I can’t believe it took me so long to use it! It really makes baking so much easier.
Making donuts from scratch can seem a little daunting and time consuming, but if you prep your ingredients and space (and give your family warnings that they won’t be ready in 5 minutes!) they are really fun to make.
It was especially fun at the end when the kids got to make their own breakfast cereal donuts!
Have you seen these before?
A warm donut + yummy icing + sugary cereal = every kids donut dream!
Bryan and I love glazed doughnuts, so we thought we’d make two donut recipes: homemade glaze donuts and donuts with cereal toppings.
Scroll down for my step my step instructions for homemade donuts and find my printable recipe card towards the bottom of the page!
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How To Make Homemade Donuts
Gather your ingredients for the dough first. Sometimes recipes with lots of steps and ingredients intimidate me, but if I have it all measured out it makes it seem less overwhelming!
Kitchen tools you need: Stand mixer (if you have one), measuring cups and measuring spoons, mixing bowls, slotted spoon, stock pot or heavy dutch oven, thermometer, baking sheets, and cooling racks.
Measure out:
1 cup whole milk, warmed up but not hot
1 Tablespoon active dry yeast
1/4 cup sugar, divided
2 eggs
6 Tablespoons butter, melted and slightly cooled
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 cups of flour, divided
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Pour warm milk in mixing bowl of your stand mixer, with dough hook attachment connected on mixer. Add in yeast and 1/2 teaspoon of sugar. Gently stir ingredients together and let rest for 5 minutes. The mixture will start to bubble and froth up after 5 minutes.
Add in the remaining sugar, eggs, melted butter, vanilla, 2 cups of flour, salt, and nutmeg. Beat on low speed for 1-2 minutes until all ingredients are combined. Add remaining flour and beat on medium-high speed until the dough starts to form.
Form dough into a bowl and place on a lightly floured surface. Knead for about 2 minutes, then place the dough in a greased bowl.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in a warm environment to rise. Let rest for about one hour, or until dough has doubled. (I pre-heated my oven to 200 degrees, then turned it off. I placed bowl in the preheated oven for a warm environment)
Once dough has doubled, punch down the dough to release any air bubbles. Remove dough from bowl and knead on a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough out until it is about 1/2 inch thick (I rolled with my hands)
Using a dough cutter (or even a bottle cap or shot glass) cut dough into doughnuts. I was able to make about 11-12 doughnuts out of dough.
Place your doughnuts and donut holes on cooling racks. Layer your cooling racks on top of baking sheets for when you dip donuts in glaze, so they can drip. Cover the donuts with kitchen towels and let rest for about 15 minutes. While you wait, you can heat the oil and make the homemade glaze.
Homemade Glaze Recipe
Measure out:
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2/3 cup heavy cream or whole milk
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
In a mixing bowl, whisk together 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, 2/3 cup heavy cream (or whole milk) and 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract. If glaze is too thick or too liquidy, you can add a little more sugar or milk. Set aside.
Pour oil in a dutch oven or stock pot. The amount of oil depends on the size of your pot, you can fill it about a 1/3 of the way up. Place thermometer in pot and heat to 340 degrees.
Drop in 1-2 donuts at a time in the oil and cook for 1 minute. Scoop donut out of oil with a slotted spoon and place on the prepared cooling racks.
Cook donut holes for about 30 seconds each. Dip each warm donut in the glaze mixture (don’t wait for it to cool!) covering both sides of the donut. Place back on cooling racks and let the glaze drip and harden, about 10 minutes.
Cereal Covered Donuts
Our kids loved covering the donuts with their favorite cereals! You could do this with any cereal of choice. We decided to do two cereals: fruity pebbles with strawberry icing, and cinnamon toast crunch cereal with cut up bacon and homemade glaze.
Cover your donuts with the preferred icing or glaze. We chose to do the fruity pebbles donut with strawberry icing. We used store bought strawberry icing, but you could also make homemade strawberry icing too.
After the donuts were cooked, I spread the strawberry icing on the top half of the donuts. I let the kids sprinkle the fruity pebble cereal on top – they had so much fun with this! (The layered racks with baking sheets underneath came in handy!)
For the cinnamon toast crunch cereal donuts, we dipped in the glaze mixture and covered the whole donut. Then we crushed up the cereal, and sprinkled on top of the glazed donut. For an added treat, we cooked bacon and add bacon crumbles on top.
You can be creative with your toppings and let your kids join in on the donut toppings fun. My kids also love sprinkles, so we made a few with the strawberry icing and these colorful sprinkles and jimmies.
Genevieve and Georgia’s favorite was the fruity pebbles doughnuts, Cade’s was the cinnamon toast crunch with bacon donut. To me and Bryan, nothing beats a warm soft glazed donut!
I hope you enjoy making these homemade donuts at home! I was intimidated to try a homemade donut recipe, but it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. It also came with a sense of accomplishment that I made donuts from scratch! Our kids thought it was so fun to decorate with yummy cereals too. It was a fun family breakfast treat!
Homemade Donut Recipe
How To Make Homemade Donuts (With Cereal Toppings & Homemade Glaze!)
Craving delicious donut store donuts to make at home? Learn how to make yummy, soft homemade donuts from scratch, with sweet vanilla glaze and cereal donut toppings. The fruity pebbles donuts and cinnamon toast crunch with bacon are the Jones house favorite!
Ingredients
Homemade Donuts:
- 1 cup whole milk, warmed up but not hot
- 1 Tablespoon active dry yeast
- 1/4 cup sugar, divided
- 2 eggs
- 6 Tablespoons butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 4 cups of flour, divided
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Homemade Glaze:
- 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 2/3 cup heavy cream or whole milk
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Cereal Toppings and Extras:
- 1/2 cup fruity pebbles cereal
- 1/2 cup cinnamon toast crunch cereal, crushed
- 1/2 cup cooked bacon, crumbled
- 1 cup strawberry icing (we used store bought - you can make your own if you prefer)
- 1/2 cup colorful sprinkles
- 1/2 cup colorful jimmies
Instructions
- Pour warm milk in mixing bowl of your stand mixer, with dough hook attachment connected on mixer. Add in yeast and 1/2 teaspoon of sugar. Gently stir ingredients together and let rest for 5 minutes. The mixture will start to bubble and froth up after 5 minutes.
- Add in the remaining sugar, eggs, melted butter, vanilla, 2 cups of flour, salt, and nutmeg. Beat on low speed for 1-2 minutes until all ingredients are combined. Add remaining flour and beat on medium-high speed until the dough starts to form.
- Form dough into a bowl and place on a lightly floured surface. Knead for about 2 minutes, then place the dough in a greased bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in a warm environment to rise. Let rest for about one hour, or until dough has doubled.
- Once dough has doubled, punch down the dough to release any air bubbles. Remove dough from bowl and knead on a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough out until it is about 1/2 inch thick (I rolled with my hands) Using a dough cutter (or even a bottle cap or shot glass) cut dough into doughnuts. I was able to make about 11-12 doughnuts out of dough.
- Place your doughnuts and donut holes on cooling racks. Layer your cooling racks on top of baking sheets for when you dip donuts in glaze, so they can drip. Cover the donuts with kitchen towels and let rest for about 15 minutes. While you wait, you can heat the oil and make the homemade glaze.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, 2/3 cup heavy cream (or whole milk) and 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract. Set aside.
- Pour oil in a dutch oven or stock pot. The amount of oil depends on the size of your pot, you can fill it about a 1/3 of the way up. Place thermometer in pot and heat to 340 degrees.
- Drop in 1-2 donuts at a time in the oil and cook for 1 minute. Scoop donut out of oil with a slotted spoon and place on the prepared cooling racks. Cook donut holes for about 30 seconds each. Dip each warm donut in the glaze mixture (don’t wait for it to cool!) covering both sides of the donut. Place back on cooling racks and let the glaze drip and harden, about 10 minutes.
Cereal covered donuts:
1. Our kids loved covering the donuts with their favorite cereals! You could do this with any cereal of choice. We decided to do two cereals: fruity pebbles with strawberry icing, and cinnamon toast crunch cereal with cut up bacon and homemade glaze.
2. Cover your donuts with the preferred icing or glaze. We chose to do the fruity pebbles donut with strawberry icing. We used store bought strawberry icing, but you could also make homemade strawberry icing too.
3. After the donuts were cooked, I spread the strawberry icing on the top half of the donuts. I let the kids sprinkle the fruity pebble cereal on top - they had so much fun with this! (The layered racks with baking sheets underneath came in handy!)
4. For the cinnamon toast crunch cereal donuts, we dipped in the glaze mixture and covered the whole donut. Then we crushed up the cereal, and sprinkled on top of the glazed donut. For an added treat, we cooked bacon and add bacon crumbles on top.
5. You can be creative with your toppings and let your kids join in on the donut toppings fun. My kids also love sprinkles, so we made a few with the strawberry icing and colorful sprinkles and jimmies.
Notes
Helpful Tips, Tricks, and Suggestions:
- Kitchen tools you need: Stand mixer (if you have one), measuring cups and measuring spoons, slotted spoon, stock pot or heavy dutch oven, thermometer, baking sheets, cooling racks
- You can flip your donuts in the oil, so they cook evenly on both sides. We found that ours were completely under the oil so we didn't need to flip them.
- You can make the dough ahead of time the night before. You can place the covered dough in the refrigerator overnight, but it will still need to rest in a warm environment the next morning until it has doubled in size.
- If you don't have a donut cutter don't worry! You can use a bottle cap, shot glass, or round cookie cutter to make your donuts.
- Recipe adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
12Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 519Total Fat: 19gSaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 9gCholesterol: 69mgSodium: 249mgCarbohydrates: 78gFiber: 2gSugar: 41gProtein: 9g
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