Making glazed donuts might seem like a complicated recipe, but it really isn’t. The homemade donut recipe is actually quite simple, especially if you have a stand mixer, because all you have to do is knead the dough. If you don’t have one, you’ll have to knead it by hand, but the result is well worth the effort.
The glaze for donuts, which is one of the highlights of these popular pastries, is very simple. If you want to make classic donuts, you only need to prepare the glaze with powdered sugar and milk.
In this case, we have gone a little further, decorating our apple‑shaped donuts with a red glaze: it contains only icing sugar, red coloring, and red sugar balls for decorating salted sticks, and the leaves are leaf‑shaped wafers (you will find them in supermarkets).
GLAZED DONUTS RECIPES
Ingredients: Donut dough
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Margarine or butter | 30 g |
| Strong flour | 300 g |
| Plain flour | 220 g |
| White sugar | 100 g |
| Salt | a pinch |
| Fresh yeast | 30 g |
| Lukewarm milk | 210 g |
| Egg at room temperature | 1 |
Ingredients for icing
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Icing sugar | 6 tbsp |
| Vanilla extract | 1 tsp |
| Red dye | to taste |
| Red sugar balls | as needed |
| Salted pretzel sticks | as needed |
| Leaf‑shaped wafers | as needed |
STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS:
We prepared the dough for homemade donuts:
- In a bowl, pour all the dry ingredients and mix well.
- We gradually add the milk while kneading with an electric mixer or by hand. Later, we add the beaten egg and continue kneading.
- Finally, add the margarine and knead until you have a smooth, elastic dough without lumps. The approximate kneading time with a machine is 10 minutes; by hand, it will take about 15 minutes. At first, the dough will stick to your hands; DO NOT add more flour. You will see how, little by little, the dough becomes more elastic and less sticky.
- We form a ball and let it rest in a bowl brushed with a little sunflower oil. We also brush the top of the dough and cover it with plastic wrap. We let it rest for 3 hours; you’ll see how it triples in volume.
- Remove the dough from the bowl and place it on your work surface. Knead it again to degas it, then roll it out to a thickness of approximately 1 cm. Cut out the donuts using a donut cutter or a glass (for the large circle) and a water cup (for the small circle).
- We arrange the donuts on baking paper, brush them with a little olive oil so they don’t dry out, and let them double in volume, approximately 45 minutes.
- Heat plenty of sunflower oil in a saucepan, cut the baking paper to make it easier to put them in the oil, fry each donut for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, they have to be golden brown, not burnt, be very careful because from golden to burnt is a matter of a couple of seconds.
- We drain the donuts on kitchen paper, and let them cool before glazing them.
Icing for donuts
- We pour the icing sugar into a bowl.
- We gradually added milk until we achieved a thick but not excessive texture; you can see what the texture of our glaze was like in the photograph.
Decorating donuts with colored icing
- We add red food coloring, mix well, and coat half of each donut.
- We let the donut rest on a rack.
- We pour in the red sugar balls and wait for the coating to dry.
- We decorate each donut with a salted stick and a leaf‑shaped wafer.
Nutrition Facts
| Nutrient | Amount per Serving | % Daily Value* |
|---|---|---|
| Calories | 55 kcal | 3% |
| Total Fat | 0 g | 0% |
| Saturated Fat | 0 g | 0% |
| Trans Fat | 0 g | |
| Cholesterol | 0 mg | 0% |
| Sodium | 1 mg | 0% |
| Total Carbohydrate | 14 g | 5% |
| Dietary Fiber | 0 g | 0% |
| Total Sugars | 13 g | |
| Protein | 0 g | 0% |
| Calcium | 2 mg | 0% |
| Iron | 0 mg | 0% |
Disclaimer: Nutrition estimates are for general guidance only, based on a 2,000‑calorie diet. Actual values vary with milk type, powdered sugar brand, and glaze thickness.
Tips for making glazed donuts
- Proper kneading is essential for fluffy homemade donuts. Also, DO NOT add more flour than the recipe calls for. The dough will stick to your hands, but that’s normal; it’s necessary for fluffy donuts. You’ll see that the more you knead the dough, the less it will stick and the easier it will be to work with.
- You have to add the red sprinkles immediately after dipping the donuts in the glaze; otherwise, they won’t stick.