Gingerbread Donuts
Gingerbread donuts are a festive way to celebrate Christmas morning. Coated in cinnamon sugar, these baked donuts are easy to make in a donut tin.
The holidays wouldn’t be the same without some gingerbread, now would it? Baked gingerbread donuts are just what you need this time of year. Coated in ginger cinnamon sugar, these donuts are fluffy and flavorful. The recipe calls for festive spices—cinnamon, ginger, all spice and cloves. If you have a donut tin, these donuts couldn’t be easier to make!
Homemade donuts are so good. I always forget how good until I get a sudden urge for the breakfast treat and head into the kitchen and bake them. The cake-like texturea nd generous sprinkling of ginger cinnamon sugar makes me come back for more!
How to make gingerbread donuts
The recipe is easy to follow—simply whisk together the dry ingredients in one bowl and mix the wet ingredients in another, then combine the two and stir until incorporated! Transfer the batter to a donut tin and bake at 350 F for 15 minutes.
Gingerbread donuts with molasses
The key flavor ingredients in this recipe are the spices (especially the ginger) and the molasses. Together they create the undeniable gingerbread taste that immediately puts you in the Christmas mood. Molasses also adds moisture to donuts so they are moist.
Cinnamon sugar coated donuts
The donuts bake in about 15 minutes. I like to dip them in melted butter and cinnamon sugar while they are still warm so I can eat them fresh out of the oven with my morning coffee. To make these donuts a little different, I added some ground ginger to the cinnamon sugar coating to ensure the most festive flavor. The coating literally melts in your mouth when you take the first bite.
More gingerbread recipes
Is gingerbread your favorite flavor of the season? If so, here are a few recipes you might enjoy.
- Gingerbread crinkle cookies
- Gingerbread cupcakes
- Gingerbread biscotti
- Gingerbread loaf
- Gingerbread muffins
- Gingerbread pancakes
Bake yourself a batch of donuts, pour yourself some coffee and enjoy!
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Get the Recipe: Gingerbread Donuts
Ingredients
Gingerbread Donuts
- 1 ¼ cup (156 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon ground ginger
- pinch ground cloves, (optional)
- pinch ground allspice, (optional)
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- ¼ cup (50 g) packed brown sugar
- ¼ cup molasses
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup (120 ml) milk, (whole or low-fat)
- 3 tablespoons fat-free Greek yogurt
Cinnamon Sugar Coating
- ⅓ cup (66 g) granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ cup (56 g) unsalted butter, melted
Instructions
Gingerbread Donuts
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease two 6-count donut pans and set aside.1
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, ginger, cinnamon, ground cloves, ground all spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In a separate large bowl, whisk together butter, brown sugar and molasses until combined, about 1 minute. Add egg and whisk to combine, another minute. Mix in milk and yogurt. Stir until all ingredients are incorporated.2
- Add flour mixture to the wet ingredients and stir just until combined. Avoid over mixing.
- Using a spoon, pour batter into donut tins. The tins will be full.
- Bake for about 13 to 15 minutes, or until donut springs back when lightly touched.
Ginger Cinnamon Sugar
- In a wide, shallow dish, whisk together the granulated sugar, cinnamon, and ginger.
- Dip the tops and bottoms of warm donuts into the melted butter, then immediately into the spiced sugar mixture. Serve immediately.
Notes
- The donut pans I used had cavities 3.25 inches in diameter.
- You may see tiny bits of yogurt in the batter. That is okay. Avoid over mixing the batter.
Note: This post was formerly a sponsored post containing this disclaimer: “This post is sponsored by Hamilton Beach. While I was compensated for my time, all opinions are my own. #coffeemoments #flexbrew” It has been modified to better serve my readers.
33 Comments on “Gingerbread Donuts”
I have a donut pan that creates six donuts so do you suggest filling them to the top or half full?
Which mini donut pan do you like?
Hi Deb! I suggest filling them to the top regardless of what size donut pan you have. I have a mini donut pan made by KitchenAid that I found at HomeGoods. Wilton makes a similar one that you can find on Amazon – https://amzn.to/2K2poll
Can you roll these out
Hi Dianne – You cannot roll out donut batter as these are cake donuts.
I could eat these every morning with my coffee! They pair so well! They look delicious too!
These are the perfect donuts for me. I love all your flavors. Donuts and coffee the perfect pairing.
These Ginger Bread Doughnuts and its Flavor of Ginger and Cinnamon is awesome. These will be made for Christmas Breakfast for the Family.
Oh yum! My whole family would go crazy for these donuts! This is so delicious and it makes my mouth watering.
Is there anything better than coffee and really good doughnuts? I don’t think so! These sound and look amazing and your photos are gorgeous! Pinning this to make soon x
OMG Hayley, I loved these!! What a great idea with the gingerbread and donut combination of flavours, yummo!! Perfect for Christmas. Thanks for sharing, I really enjoyed reading this one and looking at the pics!
I see backing powder listed twice… should it only be 1/2 teaspoon and not 2 ( 1/2 teaspoons)
Hi Kathy – Yes, this recipe calls for 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
What can I replace molasses with please?
Thank you
Helen
Hi Helen – I don’t suggest a substitution for this as it adds a lot of flavor to the donuts. If you must substitute, use honey.
I don’t have a donut pan and I wondered if I could do the donut holes with this recipe? Will it go well? Thanks.
Hi Hannah! Yes, you can use a mini muffin tin for this recipe. Reduce the baking time to 9-10 minutes. They are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Making these gems as we speak!
Yay! I could go for another batch myself. Enjoy!
Can you use sour cream instead of the yogurt?
Tried these out and they are fantastic! Instead of the cinnamon sugar I used a salted caramel drizzle. Delicious! Thanks for sharing!
Can you omit the yogurt? I have everything to make this except for the yogurt. I am not able to go to the store to get any as I am making these for an event. Thank you.
Hi Laurie – You can substitute with sour cream. If you don’t have sour cream, try increasing the milk by 1 tablespoon.
These turned out so delicious, I had to make two batches to share them. Perfect as is.
Actually I don’t have yogurt now is it possible to substitute sour cream instead?
Hi Mae – Yes, you can substitute with sour cream.
These donuts are so flavorful! As far as gingerbread, I’ll probably add more ginger next time, but they’re really good.
The note mentions a donut pan with 2 1/4” cavities. I wonder if that was supposed to be 3 1/4”. For me, this recipe made 24 donuts in two pans that each hold 12 2 1/4” donuts plus another 9 tiny donuts. So, way more than 12! Kind of a nice surprise so I had more to share. I will definitely make these again!
Hi Becky – Thank you! You are correct, the pan size is 3 1/4 inch cavities. I’m glad it was a happy surprise!
Hi! I followed the recipe and my donuts baked all the way through but the outside is very wet. Do you have any ideas as to why this happened and how to fix it? 🙂 thank you!
Hi Ally – That is strange! It sounds like maybe the molasses you used was either not measured correctly or not mixed in well enough. Either way, if you’re coating the donuts in sugar, it shouldn’t make a big difference in the end result!
Very tasty donuts! Although the tins should not be filled all of the way, they need to be filled 3/4 of the way according to 90% of the google answers I found! The batter only makes 10-11 donuts, not 12- and I had to double the spice dipping so I’d have enough! DELICIOUS donuts, easy well written recipe. Would definitely make again. For aesthetics—I only butter dipped the top/spice dipped the top! Leaves more room to taste the gingerbread!
Made these donuts yesterday, they turned out great. I don’t have molasses as a staple in my pantry, so I substituted Golden Syrup instead.
Nice and fluffy and easy to make. I will definitely be making them again.
Thank you for a great recipe.
Love the name of your site. As a blonde I have been cooking, baking, cake decorating, creating most of my life. When I worked at the BYU bakery I changed all of the cake donut recipes and created a pumpkin donut myself. My boss wouldn’t let anyone else teach new staff. I’m anxious to try out this recipe because I love fall tastes.
Can I freeze them?