Strawberry Baked Donuts

Donuts are a weekly treat in our house. AG and I stop once a week for a donut on Friday mornings on the way to school and we have also been known to go once on the weekend. The kids favorite part are always the sprinkles, most of the time only eating the top portion of the donuts just to get all the good stuff. I’m a fan too, except for the calories that come with.

When we lived in Texas, I used to make donuts every weekend instead of buying them. There wasn’t a Dunkin Donuts anywhere in the area, so making them became something I looked forward to. I tried out a bunch of recipes, finding favorite combinations as I dabbled. But it’s been years since that weekend tradition.

We are finally coming out of the rainy season, and I’m looking out to a gorgeous, green, and sunny scene from my window.

This is worth celebrating!

I recommend starting this kind of day with a treat that tastes as fresh and summery as the weather feels: strawberry donuts!

These days, the kids have LOVED to help in the kitchen. Whether it’s baking or cooking, they’ll jump at any opportunity to mix something in a bowl, add sprinkles or attempt the cracking of an egg. Time with them in the kitchen is something I look forward to. With their love of donuts and baking, I decided it was time to bring back the baked donuts on the weekends. Not every weekend, but definitely at least once a month. My go to donut recipes use a cake mix, these take no time and are tasty! I use this donut pan my mom bought me and it hasn’t failed me thus far.

These are baked, so they’re super-simple to make.

I hope you have a donut pan! They’re relatively cheap and easy to find, and they turn out perfect donuts every time. Here’s an affiliate link to the kind I have.

If you really don’t want to use a donut pan, you can also bake these as muffins. Just keep an eye on the bake time because it might be slightly different.

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp butter , at room temperature
• 2 cups (270g) all-purpose flour, plus more for doughnut pan
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 1/4 cup +2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2/3 cup finely chopped strawberries
• Strawberry Glaze
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup finely chopped strawberries*
• 1/2 cup (6g) freeze dried strawberries, finely crushed to powder (place in a Ziploc bag, crush with rolling pin)**

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter doughnut pans with room temperature butter, then sprinkle lightly with flour and shake upside down to remove excess flour. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda and salt, make a well in center of mixture and set aside. 
2. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together buttermilk, vegetable oil, vanilla and eggs (mixture will appear to curdle a bit which is fine), then pour into well in flour. Using a wooden spoon, stir mixture just until combined, then fold in 2/3 cup finely chopped strawberries. 
3. Spoon 2 1/2 Tbsp batter evenly into each well of the doughnut pans. Bake in preheated oven 11 - 13 minutes until toothpick inserted into center of doughnut comes out clean. 
4. Allow to cool several minutes in doughnut pan then invert onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely. Once cool dip top halves of doughnuts into glaze and allow some of excess to run off, then return to wire rack, glazed side facing upward. Transfer doughnuts to freezer to allow glaze to set, about 5 minutes.

For the Strawberry Glaze:

1. Prepare glaze just before dipping cooled doughnuts. In a mixing bowl, combine 1/2 cup finely chopped strawberries and half of the powdered sugar. Stir until mixture starts to become moistened, then allow to rest 1 minute. 
2. Add in remaining powdered sugar and freeze dried strawberry powder and stir until well combine***. Use glaze immediately.

Recipe Notes

• *For the 1/2 cup finely chopped strawberries for the glaze, don't chop until just before adding to glaze mixture (so they don't break down and become too watery) and don't prepare glaze mixture until doughnuts have cooled completely and are ready to be glazed.
• **I would say this is optional, if you omit it you just wont get as much strawberry flavor. Still a delicious doughnut just a lighter flavor. Also if used, the color will be more vibrantly reddish pink than the first picture posted.
• ***At this point mixture should be have the consistency of a thick glaze, and have a dip-able consistency, if not allow to rest another minute or two until some of the liquids have been extracted from the strawberries then stir again. I would not recommend adding water to thin. Just allow it to rest if needed until the strawberries begin to break down.

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