My Baked Donut Holes Recipe is made in a mini muffins pan for a perfectly sized bite. The donuts are then brushed with melted butter, rolled in cinnamon sugar, and drizzled with a vanilla cream cheese glaze! Pure lush! You aren’t going to want to stop eating these delicious baked donut holes.
There’s something about bite-size donut holes that’s irresistible! And while these are baked, so they’re technically not the inside hole of a regular donut, I promise you they’re just as DELICIOUS and pillowy!
WHY BAKED DONUT HOLES
Yes, I am too excited about this recipe. It seems like forever since I’ve done a nice sweet treat on the blog, and it’s much needed— on the blog and in life! 🙂
The batter for these baked donut holes comes together quickly in a bowl and whisk. It bakes in a mini muffin pan for 12 minutes.
You’d probably think they’re divine once they’re out of the oven, but once you brush them with butter, dip them in cinnamon sugar and finally, vanilla glaze them…OMG divine is not a word anymore. They’re pure lush!
There’s something about bite-size everything that’s irresistible for me. If I could, I would never have a huge plate of anything. Just bite sizes of everything.
The truth is, bite-size foods are MUCH easier and faster than you might think.
HOW TO MAKE BAKED DONUT HOLES RECIPE
Here’s the deal. A bit of extra prep time at first saves you SO much at the end. You save on baking and cooking time which is totally worth it!
Let’s start with these donut holes. You’ll make a simple quick bread batter, similar to any muffin batter. Then you’ll scoop the batter into a mini muffin pan.
This is the tiny bit of extra prep work for the recipe. And as a result, the donut holes bake in 8-10 minutes versus 18-20 minutes if they were regular size. So you spend a little bit of extra time filling the pan, but you get to eat the delicious baked donut holes faster. That’s a no-brainer.
These donut holes are seriously fluffy, tender, and super moist as they are right out of the oven. So don’t feel like you have to put the cinnamon sugar or vanilla glaze on them. It’s optional.
But if you want the ultimate baked donut experience, I recommend you do it! Your baked donuts will turn into a real divine treat, not just a fluffy bite size muffin. So close your eyes and trust your heart with it.
When the donut holes start to cool, brush the tops with melted butter.
Now dip them in a cinnamon sugar mixture. You can of course brush and dip the entire donut, but that would almost 100% make me feel too guilty lol. So let’s just go for the tops.
Then make a nice vanilla cream cheese glaze and give your baked donut holes a faint drizzle. And yes. Bite away! Pure bliss!!!
For the glaze, I used my good old vanilla Cream Cheese Icing. So it tasted close enough to a cinnamon roll. YUM.
CINNAMON SUGAR
You’ve probably noticed I have a thing for cinnamon rolls, I even started the blog with a Cinnamon Rolls Muffins recipe. Now I’m adding cinnamon sugar love to my baked donut holes recipe! Make some and enjoy.
To make a nicely balanced cinnamon and sugar mixture, use 2/3 cup of sugar and 1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon. I usually just put both ingredients in a cereal bowl and stir it up with a fork. If you are cooking with kids, you could seal the mixture in plasticware or a plastic zipper bag and have them shake it up! Shaking ingredients together adds kid-style fun to any recipe.
MORE BITE-SIZE FOOD TO ENJOY
Make sure to check out these Mini Raspberry Cheesecakes, Easy Mini Black Forest Cupcakes, Kale Veggie Mini Frittata, Easy Mini Lemon Pudding Cake, Best Feta Cucumber Salad Bites and Mini Cheesecake Bites with PIstachio. Like I said, I have a thing for bite-sized foods!
TIPS FOR BAKED DONUTS
- By using a mini muffin pan, these baked donut holes are done in half the baking time.
- You can dip the whole donut into butter, but brushing the tops already does the trick.
- Feel free to add some ground cloves, ginger, nutmeg, and cardamom to the cinnamon sugar for chai-spiced donut holes.
- Powdered sugar donut holes are also a thing. If you don’t want either of the first two options, put some powdered sugar in a paper lunch bag, add four or five of the donut holes, and shake it all up. The donuts should still be warm, but cool enough to have firmed up a bit before you do this.
- Try something different with our baked donut holes recipe! Skip the cinnamon sugar, add the vanilla glaze as described, and top with crushed roasted nuts or coconut flakes. Or if you have kids – add sprinkles. Yum!
- A chocolate glaze would also work really well. If you stick with the cinnamon sugar and switch it up to a chocolate glaze you’ll have something reminiscent of sopapilla. Oh my.
- If you like the chocolate idea, make it easy on yourself and just serve the cinnamon sugar donut holes with chocolate syrup in a ramekin for dipping.
Baked Donut Holes with Cinnamon Sugar and Vanilla Glaze
These Baked Donut Holes are made in a mini muffins pan, then brushed with melted butter, rolled in cinnamon sugar and drizzled with a vanilla cream cheese glaze! Pure lush!
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients:
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1/2 tablespoon baking powder
- pinch salt
Wet Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup neutral oil
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Coating:
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1/3 cup melted unsalted butter
Vanilla Cream Cheese Icing:
- 2 ounces room temperature softened cream cheese full fat, low fat or fat free-your preference
- 1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons milk any type
Instructions
For the donuts
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Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
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Place all the dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk them up. In another bowl, whisk all the wet ingredients and then add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix them well. Be sure not to over mix the batter. Scoop the batter into a mini muffin pan (24 cavities).
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Bake the donut holes for 9-12 minutes depending on your oven. They will puff up and bounce back when pressed lightly at the center. Allow them to cool for a few minutes and then remove them from the muffin pan.
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Mix cinnamon and sugar. Brush the tops of each donut hole with the melted butter and dip it in the cinnamon sugar bowl. Repeat with the remaining donut holes.
For the glaze
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Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. If the icing feels too thick, add milk a little bit at a time and whisk to make sure it doesn’t thin out. If you feel the icing is too thin, add a tablespoon of cream cheese with a tablespoon of confectioner sugar and whisk it in.
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Drizzle the donuts lightly with the vanilla glaze.
Recipe Notes
- By using a mini muffin pan, these baked donut holes are done in half the baking time.
- You can dip the whole donut into butter, but brushing the tops already does the trick.
- Feel free to add some ground cloves, ginger, nutmeg and cardamom to the cinnamon sugar for chai spiced donut holes.
Easy and delicious!
Is the cornstarch necessary for the donuts?
Cynthia, the cornstarch makes the donuts extra tender and soft. I feel it’s good here since they’re baked and not fried, however you can just replace it with regular flour.
I can’t wait to try them out! They look heavenly ?
Hope you do and enjoy them!!!