How to make Baked Cinnamon Sugar Donuts

This baked Cinnamon sugar Donut recipe is so easy and so quick to make that you’ll be able to enjoy freshly baked donuts every day if you want to. Are you craving a delicious treat that combines the warm flavours of cinnamon with the light, fluffy texture of a donut straight out of the oven? Then read on.

These delightful sweet treats are a healthier alternative to the deep-fried version. All of the flavour without all of the guilt. Made from batter rather than yeasted dough, this a good recipe for even novice bakers. You don’t even need a special pan, we’ll share how you can make delicious donuts without one.

These pretty baked cinnamon sugar ring donuts are deliciously cinnamon flavoured. Plus they’re baked and not deep-fried which makes them a little less of a guilty treat. Can’t you just smell that glorious cinnamon and fresh donut aroma wafting towards you?

Features of this Baked Donuts Recipe

• freshly baked donuts – made from a sweet, cinnamon-flavoured batter.
• light texture – these fluffy, tender, light donuts are coated in a generous layer of cinnamon and sugar.
• donuts that are baked not fried – so no nasty frying smells that hang around the kitchen for hours and they’ll be a slightly healthier treat because of it.
• cinnamon spiciness – if this is a favourite spice of yours then these donuts are rolled in cinnamon sugar and cinnamon is included in the batter.
• sweet and coated in cinnamon sugar – these donuts are sweet which is just how a donut should be.
• quick and easy to make – these donuts are made as a batter. So, there’s no yeast involved, no bread-type dough to create, just a batter mixture.
• uses everyday ingredients to make them. I love this cinnamon donuts recipe, there’s nothing complicated about it. Just standard easy-to-find ingredients.
• suitable for beginner bakers – making these donuts is really straightforward. It uses a method that is very similar to making muffins. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ones. Then you just bake them in a donut pan (or muffin pan – more on that later)

How to make Cinnamon Sugar Donuts

This is an overview of how to make these delicious, fresh cinnamon donuts. It is basically a two-step process. Firstly, make the batter, fill the donut pan and bake them. Secondly, coat them in an irresistible cinnamon sugar. Divine.

Step 1 – Making the Donuts

You will need a donut pan for this to get the little donut holes in the finished donut. Don’t have a donut pan? This batter can also be cooked in a muffin pan. Once they’re cooked treat them exactly the same way as ‘holey’ donuts, following the instructions for coating them in sugar.

Making the donuts is basically a wet ingredient into the dry type of process and it won’t take very long to do.

Begin by measuring all of the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl and stir everything well to combine all the ingredients evenly. Into another bowl add all the wet ingredients and whisk together. As this bowl also contains oil it won’t mix completely. The final step is to add the wet ingredients to the dry ones. Try to stir only enough so that there are combined and they’re aren’t any dry floury bits left in the bowl.

Step 2 – Fill the pan

Lightly grease your donut pan so that the baked donuts are easy to remove once they’ve cooked to perfection. Fill each hole in the donut pan (or muffin pan if that is what you’re using) to 3/4 full. There are two ways to do this;

1. use a piping bag – Fill the piping bag and use this to fill the cavities in the pan.
2. use a jug – I like this method (because I’m too lazy to want to wash up a piping bag). Use a simple pyrex type jug or any jug with a good spout.
   • Transfer the batter into the jug and use it to pour the batter accurately around the hole in the donut tray. This works well as long as you remember to move the jug around the central ‘bit’ that makes the donut hole. The batter is thin enough to find its own level. All you have to do is make sure that each hole is about 3/4 full.

These are now ready to bake.

Step 3 – Bake the donuts

Having pre-heated your oven to the correct temperature it’s time to bake them. Bake for 10 minutes in a donut pan if you’re using a muffin pan they will take slightly longer – up to 15 minutes.

They should be a pretty, golden brown when they’re done.

Allow them to cool a little before going to the next stage.

Step 4 – Homemade Cinnamon Sugar

This is really easy. Whilst the donuts are cooling a little you need to make the cinnamon sugar coating.

Mix the sugar and the cinnamon together in a small bowl and melt the butter in another. The bowl that you melt the butter in needs to be fairly shallow and wide. This is so that you can easily dunk the donuts in the butter before coating them in the sugar. It just makes the process easier.

The recipe is easy to scale up should want more.

Step 5 – Coating the donuts in cinnamon sugar

Now your donuts are baked, you need to coat them in sugar whilst they’re still warm.

There are two methods for coating your baked donuts in cinnamon sugar (Instructions are in the recipe card below). The first one involves dunking them in melted butter and then rolling in the sugar to coat them. This works really well but I find that I don’t get a very even covering of sugar.

The second method, the one I prefer, is to put the cinnamon sugar in a polythene sandwich-type bag, roomy enough to hold a donut. Dunk the donut briefly in the melted butter, allow the excess to run off and put the donut in the bag. Gently shake the bag and it will magically cover the donut with delicious cinnamon sugar. Easy and effective! This method gives a fairly even coverage of the baked donut in sugar.

Tips for Storing Donuts

These donuts are at their absolute best when eaten fresh. However, if you need them to store them then allow them to cool and store the donuts in a container layered with baking parchment or greaseproof paper to prevent them from sticking together.

If you want to store them for more than a day then I’d recommend freezing them.

Want to freeze them? If you wish to freeze the donuts to build up a supply for later, then freeze the baked donuts without any sugar coating. They will last well for up to 2 months.

Once you’re ready to eat them, defrost them on the countertop or microwave them and then follow the process of adding the sugar coating.

F.A.Q’s

So, with a little bit of time, you can create these amazing treats at home in the comfort of your own kitchen. They’re, delicious, make a great sweet snack and are definitely healthier than the deep-fried version so why not treat yourself?

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