I’m going through a doughnut phase guys. A fried yeast doughnut phase, to be more specific.
I can’t help it – I want to make them all the time. Not only are they delicious, but they are so fun to decorate.
Case in point… these Holiday donuts.
I mean honestly, how festive and jolly are these? Move over sugar cookies, because donuts are just as much fun to decorate!
I’ve put together this recipe with some basic decorating instructions on how I achieved these donut looks, but I think the best part about this recipe is that you get to be creative with it, and I would love to see what you come up with!
Whenever I post a donut recipe I get a lot of questions, that I thought it would be fun to address in a blog post. So here are a few answers to your burning donut questions…
Donut FAQ’s
Can I bake these donuts instead of fry them?
The answer is yes. That being said – the texture won’t be quite the same, but you can certainly cut them out and bake them on a baking sheet at 350F. Depending on the size of donuts this would take anywhere from 12-18 minutes. But I would just bake them until they are puffed and golden on the outside (kind of like a cinnamon bun).
How do you get them fluffy and soft, instead of crispy and chewy?
So this is definitely an oil temperature issue. If your donuts are crispy on the outside and doughy / raw on the inside, this means that your oil is too hot. You want your donuts to fry for about 45-60 seconds on each side without burning the outside – they should just be a light golden brown on the outside. This ensures that the inside of your donut is cooked, and that the outside will still be soft as opposed to a dark golden crispy brown.
Tricks to making donuts stay fresh?
To be honest, donuts are one of those baked goods that are really the absolute best when consumed the same day that you fry/bake them. That said – if you do find yourself with a few extra donuts on your counter, simple store them on a plate with a tea towel covering them (avoid air tight containers, as they often cause your donuts to sweat and get soggy). The next day, simply turn your oven to a low 250F and reheat your donuts in the oven for 5-7 minutes before you want to eat one. This will freshen them up really nicely!
What do you use to shape / cut your donuts?
I have a few sizes of donut cutters, which I got at specialty cooking stores. However, anything round will do! As a kid, we use to use glassware to cut out all of our circular shapes. And then for the small center donut hole, I find caps from bottles (ex. a coke bottle) work great in a pinch!
What can I do with the used donut fry oil if I don’t want to waste it?
So you have a few options…
- I usually let my oil cool down to room temperature and then store it back in the container it came in, and I will re-use it to fry future batches of donuts.
- You could re-purpose it in a recipe that calls for vegetable oil. I have re-purposed donut fry oil in many muffin recipes. Just remember that oil does take on the flavour of what it fries, so when I do this, my muffins usually taste a little bit like donuts – but I am never mad about that. Just remember this when you are thinking about muffin flavours.
- Someone told me that you can use your used oil to kill weeds in your garden. I have personally never tested this – but I am told it works like a charm!
I hope this was helpful, and that you are ready to take on a batch of these holiday donuts, because they were so much fun to decorate (and eat)!
Happy donut making friends!
-KP
Festive Holiday Doughnuts
Makes 18-20 mini doughnuts + extra donut holes
Things you need…
Yeast Donut Dough
1 pckg active quick rise dry yeast
1 cup of whole milk, warmed
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1/4 cup butter, softened
3 3/4 – 4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
Cinnamon Sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon
Coloured Glazes & Decorations
1/3 cup milk + more if needed
1 tbsp maple syrup
2 cups powdered sugar
pinch of salt
red, and green food colouring, optional
2-3 tbsp cocoa powder
pretzels
red, green and white sprinkles
fresh cranberries
shredded coconut
How to make…
Donut Dough
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, combine the warm milk, 1 tbsp of the sugar, and the yeast. Allow to stand for 5-10 minutes or until frothy.
Next add in your eggs, remaining sugar and turn the mixer onto low to begin to combine. Add in your vanilla and room temperature butter in chunks to allow it to get evenly distributed in the mixture.
Next add in 1 cup of the flour, the cinnamon, nutmeg and salt, and continue to work the mixture on low until all of the flour is combined. Add in the remaining 2 3/4 cups of flour – one cup at a time, allowing the flour to incorporate after each addition.
Once all your flour is incorporated, set the mixer to high and allow the hook to work the dough for about 5 minutes – you want the dough to appear smooth and elastic. If after a few minutes your dough is a bit wet and sticking to the bottom of the bowl, add in an additional tbsp of flour at a time until this stops, adding up to an additional 1/4 cup of flour only.
Remove the dough from the bowl and turn it out onto a lightly floured work surface, and knead the dough with your hands for another few minutes, and shape it into a smooth ball.
Butter your bowl and return the ball of dough to the bowl. Cover it with plastic wrap and set it in a warm place to rise for about 1 1/2 hours or until it has doubled in size.
Once the dough has risen, punch it down and turn it out onto a lightly floured work surface. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a rough circle that is about 1/2 – 3/4 inch thick.
Use a round donut cutter, whichever size you prefer to cut out as many donuts as you can. I used a 2 inch round donut cutter, and it made really nice small/medium sized donuts, but you could use a 3 inch if you want them larger.
** Note: Don’t re-roll the scraps. Use a small circular cutter to cut out donut holes and just set the rest aside under some plastic wrap to use for testing your oil later.
Place your donut cut outs onto a parchment lined baking sheet and cover with a dry tea towel. Set them aside in a warm place to rise again for 30 minutes.
Frying the donuts
When your donuts are about 10 minutes away from being ready, begin to heat your oil. In a heavy bottomed saucepan, heat about 2 inches of canola oil over medium low heat, until the temperature reaches 350F degrees.
Once your oil is heated and your donuts puffed and ready, gently place 2 -3 donuts at a time into the oil to cook – depending on your pot size, just be careful not to overcrowd the pot.
Cook your donuts for about 45 seconds – 1 minute on each side before flipping and frying for an additional one minute on the other side. You can always look to see the colour before flipping to check that your donuts are a nice light golden brown and then flip them.
Once cooked, use a slotted spoon and allow the donus to drip off any excess oil into the pot and place them on a wire rack with some paper towel underneath. Allow the donuts to cool to room temperature before you glaze them.
However, if you are choosing to roll some of your doughnuts in cinnamon sugar, you will want to just let them cool for 5 minutes, and then roll them in cinnamon sugar white they are still warm.
Glazing & Decorating
**Note: This recipe makes 18-20 doughnuts, so I divided mine up equally to make a few different toppings. I did 3 snowy coconut doughnuts, 2 green wreath doughnuts, 2 reindeer doughnuts, 2 cinnamon sugar doughnuts, 5 red glazed, 3 green glazed, 1 chocolate glazed with wreath details.
This is just how I chose to divide mine up, but you can do however many of each kind you want. Get creative and have fun with it!
Multicolour Glazes
While your donuts are cooling, prepare your glazes.
In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, powdered sugar, maple syrup and salt until smooth and creamy.
If your glaze is too thin, add in extra powdered sugar until you reach desired consistency.
Divide glaze into three bowls, one for white, one for green and one for red (if you are doing all three colours). Add corresponding food colouring to each of your bowls, 2-3 drops at a time until you get the colour vibrance you want.
Cinnamon Sugar Doughnuts
In a medium bowl, whisk together granulated sugar and cinnamon until combined. Once your donuts are fried, let them cool for 5 minutes, and then roll them in cinnamon sugar white they are still warm.
Coconut (Snowy) Doughnuts
Submerge 1/2 of the donut into your prepared white glaze and gently pull back and allow any excess glaze to run off. Allow glaze to set for 3-5 minutes.
Once slightly set, dip the top of the glazed doughnut into a bowl of shredded coconut to create that snowy look. Set back on your rack to set completey.
Reindeer Doughnuts
Take your leftover white glaze, and add 2 tbsp of cocoa powder to the bowl. If your glaze is too thick after this addition, add another 1-2tsp of milk. Whisk until smooth. Submerge 1/2 of the donut into your prepared glaze and gently pull back and allow any excess glaze to run off.
Allow the glaze to set for 5-10 minutes. Once slightly set, take two pretzels and position them like antlers at the top of the doughnut. Finally take a cranberry and place it in the donut hole (like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer).
Red & Green Doughnuts
Once your donuts have cooled, working one donut at a time, submerge 1/2 of the donut into your prepared glaze and gently pull back and allow any excess glaze to run off. Set the donut back on the rack and repeat this process with each donut and each colour. Sprinkle the tops with sprinkles while the glaze is still fresh.
If you want to drizzle any other contrasting colour details on top, allow your glaze to set completely (10-15 minutes) before adding another colour on top. This will ensure that the colours don’t bleed together.
I drizzled red glaze on top of my green doughnuts, and green glaze on top of my red. You could also drizzle white on top of the red or green.
Wreath Doughnuts
Take your leftover green glaze, and add 2 tbsp of room temperature butter. Using an electric mixer with the whisk attachment, beat the green glaze with the butter until combined. Add 1 tbsp of powdered sugar at a time and beat on low until smooth and your glaze starts to stiffen and turn more into a frosting.
Once it is thick enough, spoon your green frosting into a piping bag fitted with a fluted tip. Simply pipe single flutes onto the top of your doughnut, working all the way around.
Top with red and white sprinkles.
Enjoy!!
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