Make Donuts Yourself: 3 Different Recipes

Donuts are colorful, sweet, and delicious. You can easily make the pastry yourself. In this practical tip, we present you with three different recipes – from classic to vegan. Enjoy your meal!

Recipe 1: Make your own fried donuts with a cinnamon-sugar crust

Donuts are a traditional American pastry. The lard donuts with the hole in the middle usually consist of yeast or sponge dough. In the classic preparation method, the dough pieces are fried in oil. By the way, you don’t need a deep fryer for this. A deep pan or saucepan will suffice.

• To prepare 12 small or six larger fried donuts you need the following ingredients: 240 grams of flour, 30 grams of sugar, 1 packet of dry yeast, 45 grams of butter, 125 milliliters of milk, 1 pinch of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract, 1 egg, cinnamon and sugar for the crust and vegetable oil for frying.
• The first step is to heat the butter. When it is runny, put it in a large bowl with the rest of the dough ingredients and knead well.
• The dough must then rest in the covered bowl for half an hour. A warm place is best for this so that the yeast can rise well.
• Then roll out the dough and cut out the donut shape. Glasses are best for this (a larger one and a small one for the hole in the middle). Let the cutout dough pieces rise for another 20 minutes.
• Now it’s time to deep fry: Heat the vegetable oil in a pan. Put the dough pieces in. Caution: Depending on the size of the donuts, frying may only take a few seconds.
• Remove the donuts from the fat and immediately roll them in the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Now the donuts only have to be placed on kitchen paper to cool.

Recipe 2: Classic oven-baked donuts

If you want your donut to be less greasy, you can also bake the pastry in the oven.

• For 12 donuts you need 450 grams of flour, 1 packet of dry yeast, 180 grams of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 organic lemon, 2 eggs, 125 grams of softened butter, 200 milliliters of milk, and 6 tablespoons of powdered sugar.
• Put all the ingredients for the dough in a bowl and knead them first with the hand mixer and then with your hands to form a firm dough.
• Cover and let the dough rise for an hour.
• When the dough has visibly increased in size, roll it out on a floured work surface. Cut out pieces of dough with round cookie cutters or glasses (about 8 centimeters in diameter). You can poke the hole in the middle with a shot glass (about 2 centimeters in diameter).
• Cover and let the raw donuts rest for another 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 200 degrees (convection 180 degrees) and bake the dough pieces for about 15 minutes.
• You can then sprinkle the donuts with powdered sugar or dip them in a colored glaze.

Recipe 3: The vegan donut

There is also a delicious donut recipe for vegans that is in no way inferior to classic pastries.

• For 12 donuts you need the following ingredients: 375 grams of flour, 25 grams of starch, 1 packet of dry baking yeast, 1 pinch of salt, 60 milliliters of maple syrup, 3 tablespoons of sunflower oil or rapeseed oil, 180 milliliters of coconut milk (no coconut water!) and 120 milliliters of warm water and oil for frying.
• For the frosting, you need 150 grams of icing sugar and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice or coconut milk.
• First, put the flour, starch, yeast, salt, sugar, oil, coconut milk, and warm water in a bowl. Knead everything well with a dough hook.
• Then let the dough rise covered for 30 minutes.
• Now roll out the dough on a floured work surface. It should be about an inch thick. Cut out the donuts with two round shapes (e.g. glasses or cups with a diameter of 10 and 3 centimeters).
• Heat oil in a pan or saucepan. The oil should be about three centimeters high in the pan or pot.
• When the oil starts bubbling, you can add the dough pieces. Fry the donuts for about 30 seconds on each side. Then drain the donuts on paper towels and let them cool.
• For the glaze, mix powdered sugar with lemon juice or coconut milk. If you want, you can color the dough with food coloring.
• Brush the frosting onto the cooled donuts with a brush. Then you can decorate the whole thing with sprinkles or finely chopped nuts.