Warming spices, molasses and a orange flavoured icing sugar glaze make these gingerbread donuts simply delicious! They come together quickly and pair wonderfully with a festive holiday drink.
What excites you most about the holidays?
For me, a lot of the excitement comes from the days leading up to the big day.
Everyone is running around, getting ready. There’s all sorts of get-togethers, festive food and drinks and, let’s not forget, corny (but totally awesome) holiday movies. What’s not to love?
In the past, I would do lots of holiday baking. And while I do enjoy it (especially eating it), I prefer to try and take a more relaxed approach to the holidays and soak it all in.
That’s why these glazed gingerbread donuts are such a favourite.
They’re prepped in minutes, without fuss, and always hit the spot.
And, if you want to make things extra festive, whip up a batch of this homemade gingerbread coffee creamer to add a festive flavour to your coffee. Donuts and coffee go so well together!
How To Make Gingerbread Donuts
Full details on how to make these gingerbread donuts are in the recipe card below, but here are the basics:
Basically, in a bowl, mix together the dry ingredients (flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, ground ginger, ground nutmeg and clove).
Next, in another bowl, mix together the wet ingredients (milk, butter, molasses, egg and vanilla extract).
Then it’s just a matter of combining the wet and dry ingredients.
Spoon or pipe the donut batter into a greased donut pan, then tap the pan down on a hard surface to ensure the donut batter is settled before baking.
Place the donuts into the oven until baked. Let them cool in the pan for a bit before removing and allowing them to further cool on a cooling rack.
Baked donuts are slightly different than their fried counterpart because, well, they’re baked (versus fried) and have more of a cake-like texture.
Orange Icing Sugar Glaze
The icing sugar glaze for these gingerbread donuts is really simple. You just whisk together some icing sugar, orange juice and orange zest until smooth and combined.
Glazing the Donuts
When your gingerbread donuts are cool, they can be glazed. Don’t glaze until they are, otherwise the icing sugar glaze will soak right into the donuts.
To glaze, you simply invert (dunk) the donuts, one at a time, into the glaze.
After they’ve been glazed, set them on a cooling rack and decorate with festive sprinkles and/or some candied ginger.
Storing and Enjoying
Like most baked goods, these baked donuts are best enjoyed freshly made (the day of making). That’s when they’re the freshest and the glaze looks the prettiest.
If you want to make the donuts a day ahead, however, you can. Bake, cool and store the unglazed donuts in an airtight container. The day you are ready to enjoy/serve, glaze them.
More Fun Holiday Recipes
- Eggnog Donuts With Eggnog Icing Sugar Glaze
- Chocolate Peppermint Cake
- Chocolate Shortbread Cookies
- Banana Gingerbread
If you make these gingerbread donuts, be sure to leave a comment below!
Glazed Gingerbread Donuts
Ingredients
Gingerbread Donuts
- Cooking spray, to grease donut pan
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ⅓ cup brown sugar, packed
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- pinch ground clove
- ⅓ cup milk
- 4 tablespoons melted unsalted butter, allow it to cool slightly after melting
- 2 tablespoons molasses, I used fancy molasses
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Icing Sugar Glaze
- 1 cup icing sugar
- 2 tablespoons orange juice, more for a thinner consistency
- ½ tablespoon orange zest, from about 1 small orange
Optional Donut Toppings
- Festive sprinkles, garnish to taste
- Chopped candied ginger, garnish to taste
Instructions
Gingerbread Donuts
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a 6-unit donut pan with cooking spray and set aside.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, ginger, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and clove.
- In another mixing bowl, whisk together the milk, melted butter, molasses, egg and vanilla extract.
- Whisk the milk mixture into the flour mixture until combined.
- Spoon or pipe the donut batter into the prepared pan. Tap the pan down on a hard surface to ensure the donut batter is settled before baking.
- Bake the donuts for 7 to 9 minutes or until a wooden toothpick or cake tester inserted into the donuts comes out clean. (Mine were good at 7 minutes.)
- Let the donuts cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. Then remove the donuts from the pan and allow to fully cool on a cooling rack before glazing.
Icing Sugar Glaze
- In a small bowl, whisk together the icing sugar, orange juice and orange zest until smooth and combined.Note: If you add too much juice and the glaze is too thin, add a little more icing sugar to thicken. Alternatively, if the glaze is too thick, thin it out with a little more orange juice (a tiny bit at a time) until you reach the consistency you like best.
Glaze the Donuts
- To glaze the donuts, invert them, one at a time, into the bowl of icing sugar glaze. Then place onto a cooling rack and top with sprinkles and candied ginger (if using). You can let the glaze set for a few minutes (if you like) before digging it. Enjoy!
A note on times provided: appliances vary, any prep and/or cook times provided are estimates only.
© Girl Heart Food Inc. Photographs and content are copyright protected.
Tried this recipe?
If you do make this recipe, thank you!! It would mean so much if you could leave a comment below. Love to know how you enjoyed it, and it helps other readers too!
Sheri
I whipped these up Thanksgiving morning and brought them to my mom and dad‘s. I decided to try one on the way there, 20 minute drive, I ate 2! lol They are so delicious everyone loved them!
Dawn | Girl Heart Food
Lol, thank you very much, Sheri! I’m so happy to hear that!!
Katherine | Love In My Oven
I clearly missed this before the holidays, but its never too late for gingerbread right!? I’ve been thinking how its been a while since I made donuts for the kids. They’d love these, no matter what time of year!
Valentina
YUM!. Seriously Dawn, these scream “happy holidays!” Festive, pretty and delectable. Wishing you and yours a lovely holiday season. 🙂 ~Valentina
Laura
These donuts are soooooo tempting, Dawn! That orange in the glaze…how yummy! I’m tempted enough to go and look for a donut pan! these look like Christmas Morning must-haves!
Kathy @ Beyond the Chicken Coop
Oh these donuts are perfect for the holidays! I love how quickly they come together and all those spices are just perfect. The glaze is just the right touch to finish off these donuts.
David @ Spiced
The excitement of the Christmas season is what excites me the most, too! (Of course, now that Robbie is getting older, it’s fun to watch his excitement grow as Christmas gets closer.) Another thing that excites me? Gingerbread. And donuts. And gingerbread donuts. 🙂
Jennifer @ Seasons and Suppers
I’ll take a dozen! So pretty and festive and I always love those gingerbread flavours 🙂
Michelle
These gingerbread donut are so festive! Love all the warming spices you’ve got in these! My kids would definitely love making them!