Baked Donuts in a Honey Apple Juice Glaze, Coated in Cinnamon and Brown Sugar

Baked Donuts in a Honey Apple Juice Glaze, Coated in Cinnamon and Brown Sugar

Have you ever considered making donuts, but quickly given up, thinking it would require a deep fryer and a ton of oil, or that you couldn’t make donuts nearly as good as those you get at your local donut shop?

If so, think again.  

You can bake these donuts in the oven, and they are absolutely incredible. I made these once at the beginning of the semester, and later in the week had to make them again because they went so quickly. Also, you can adapt this recipe to make about any of your favorite donut flavors.

What you need:

A donut pan if you happen to have one around. But if you’re like the majority of the human population and don’t have one on hand, a muffin pan will work fabulously.  

For the donuts:

2 tbsp vegetable oil

2 tbsp softened butter

¼ cup of sugar

1 tsp of salt

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 egg

1 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp baking soda

1 cup flour

½ cup milk

For the glaze:

½ cup apple juice

¼ cup honey

1 ½ cups sugar

For the coating:

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tbsp of cinnamon

Making the donuts:

1)      Grease your pan and preheat the oven to 400 degrees

Now, if you’re like me, you typically ignore when a recipe tells you to use 2 different bowls to mix ingredients separately. I’m going to advise that you not ignore that for this recipe in order to get a perfect donut-y texture. But you may ignore my advice and I will never know.

2)      So, in the first bowl mix the oil, butter, egg, sugar, salt, and pumpkin pie spice.

3)      In the other bowl mix the baking powder, baking soda, and flour.

4)      Measure out the milk

5)      Alternate mixing small amounts of the flour mixture and the milk into the first bowl.

6)      Once everything is well mixed, you’re ready to put the batter in the pan. If you’re using a muffin pan, I recommend filling each tin about halfway.

7)      Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean

8)      Remove the donuts from the oven and let them cool while you make the glaze.

Making the glaze:

1)      Put all the ingredients in a saucepan. Stir constantly over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved.

2)      Bring it to a boil, cover the pan, and let it boil for 3 minutes

3)      Remove the cover and let it continue to boil for a couple more minutes until it reaches soft-ball stage. (or if you’re feeling lazy like I was, that moment when it’s been about 3-4 minutes and it feels thick enough to glaze a donut)

4)      Dip the donuts in the glaze. If it’s taking awhile, you may have to reheat the glaze a bit, as it will thicken as it cools down.

Next, dip the glazed donuts in a bowl with the cinnamon-brown sugar mixture.

Now, let them cool for as long as you can stand it and then proceed to devour your delicious creation!

Fun tips to make this recipe your own:

1)      Try mixing some chocolate, coffee, or pumpkin into the donut batter. Or really anything else that sounds good to you (though be careful adding huge amounts, as it could change the texture).

2)      Put chocolate on top, or dip them in chocolate. Because let’s be real, it’ll be good.

3)      Use chai spice rather than pumpkin pie spice.

4)      Mix crushed almonds in with the brown sugar cinnamon mixture.

5)      Use a different fruit juice in the glaze.

Enjoy your delicious homemade baked donuts, and when in doubt, bake!

<3 Dena