These easy homemade donut holes are baked not fried! They are dunked in a homemade strawberry glaze, making this donut hole recipe the perfect spring dessert or brunch!
Sometimes in life you get lucky.
Like when you find an unexpected $5 dollars hidden under your car seat.
Or when you find a hidden stash of Oreos back behind your cereal.
Or when you go to college minutes away from a 24-hour donut shop that was also named (multiple times) L.A.’s best donut shop. Midnight Donut Man runs for fresh Tiger Tails and Chocolate Sprinkle Donuts were the best. The absolute best.
I don’t live all that close to it anymore, and that’s probably good for health reasons, so, instead, I have to make do with homemade donuts, like these strawberry donut holes, maple bacon donuts, or coconut lemon donuts.
So, in honor of Donut Man and National Donut Day, I bring you these little beauties. Donut Man is known for its iconic fresh strawberry donut, which I’m sad to say I never tried (it was a whopping 3 bucks and when you’re hijacking your laundry quarters so that you can eat a donut, you’re lucky just to get 1 dollar), but these baked donut holes are my homage to Donut Man’s strawberry donut.
Petite and entirely poppable into the mouth whole, these little donuts are like a cross between a muffin and a fried donut hole. So, even though these are made out of flour and sugar and things like that, I consider these a healthy donut.
They are not the healthiest food in the world, but in comparison to traditional donuts, they are a healthy donut. And it’s great. All the donut fun without the donut guilt.
This recipe is incredibly simple and can be made in a matter of minutes, which is so handy when you are craving something better than a bowl of cereal but donut (see what I did there? =) ) want to spend a ton of time in the kitchen.
This recipe makes about 24 donut holes. The batter is thick and will rise quite a bit, so it’s important to fill the mini muffin cups only 1/2 -3/4 full.
In a bowl, mix flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar. In a separate bowl, mix milk, yogurt, melted butter, egg, vanilla extract, and almond extract. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, pour in the wet, stir gently until just combined, divvy into a mini muffin pan, and bake for 7-8 minutes.
That’s it. I know. Easy peasy–no lemon squeezy because one, there’s no lemon in this recipe despite my recent obsession with lemon, and two, squeezing a lemon isn’t easy despite the misconception with this phrase.
Anyway, onto the glaze. Powdered sugar and pureed strawberries. Dunk donuts twice. Done.
I dunk the donuts twice because I think the glaze is stronger, which is something I love. If you are looking for a more subtle taste, you can just dunk once.
Happy donut eating!
- 1 cup flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/3 cup white sugar
- 1/4 cup almond milk (or any kind)
- 1/4 cup Greek yogurt or regular
- 1 egg
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 1/8 cup strawberries, pureed (about 3 big strawberries)
- 2-3 cup powdered sugar
- 1 Tbsp heavy cream
- Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 24-cup mini muffin tin.
- In a large bowl, mix flour, baking powder, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg together.
- In a second bowl, mix melted butter with milk, almond and vanilla extracts, egg and yogurt.
- Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, and pour the wet ingredients into the well.
- Stir gently, until just combined. Batter will be thick.
- Disperse batter into muffin tins evenly, about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way full.
- Bake for 7-8 minutes or until golden brown.
- To make the glaze, puree strawberries in a blender or food processor. Mix with cream and 2 cups of powdered sugar, adding an additional cup of powdered sugar if the consistency is too runny. When it comes to making icing, it really depends upon personal preference if you want a stiff or a softer glaze.
- Dunk donut in the glaze. I dunked the whole thing, but you could also just dip the tops. Allow glaze to set before doing a second coating.
Here are some other donut recipes you might love:
Baby June says
Sounds delicious! Love how they’re baked in mini muffin pans, that sounds like a great use for those little tins! 🙂
Michelle says
Thanks, June!
dina says
i’d like to snack on those!
Michelle says
Thanks, Dina! =)
Kaitlin says
mm these remind me of the donut plant’s strawberry donut with the flecks of strawberry!
Michelle says
I’ve never been to Donut Plant, but it’s been on my list to check out because their donuts look amazing! Thanks, Kaitlin!
Kathy Rowe says
The ingredients don’t list baking soda but the narrative says to add baking powder, baking soda, etc. now much baking soda is needed?
Thanks.
Michelle says
Hi Kathy! You’re right, I do say that in the narrative (fixing now), but you actually do not need any baking soda in the recipe (I must have been on a roll when writing and just started listing the ‘usual’ baking ingredients 😜). The recipe, as is, is correct! Thank you for pointing that out ❤️ Have a great day!