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Donuts, Glazed or Filled!

Donuts, Glazed or Filled. A great basic recipe for yeast raised doughnuts that you can experiment with to try different fillings or glazes.

Chocolate glazed homemade donuts on white serving plate

Chocolate glazed homemade donuts.

2019 update: While going through some old archived photos, I discovered some additional pictures of making these homemade donuts with the kids 12 years ago!! I’ve updated the recipe post to include the photos and updated the recipe instructions to add a printable copy.

Homemade donuts with holes on a wire rack.

Cooling  on a wire rack.

Today’s recipe comes at the request of a reader desperately seeking a good homemade donut recipe. Regrettably, there are no decent donut shops here in St. John’s.

Homemade donuts being dipped in chocolate glaze

Dipping them in chocolate glaze.

 

Homemade donuts after being chocolate glazed.

Chocolate glazed.

 

Since Tim Horton’s stopped making donuts in their stores and started shipping its product as pre-frozen, partially cooked dough from some mass production facility on the mainland, this town is a decent donut desert!

Homemade round donuts fried and waiting to be filled.

Homemade round donuts fried and waiting to be filled.

Long gone are the days of fresh bow ties and lemon wedges that I so much enjoyed in my formative years. What is available at Tim’s today are pale pretenders to what once was. Sorry Timmy’s but it’s true.

Homemade donuts being dipped in vanilla glaze

Homemade donuts being dipped in vanilla glaze

Now, when the lamenting of decent donut days long gone gets too strong, we roll up our sleeves and make our own. As you can imagine, the kids LOVE this activity as much as they love sampling the results of their labours.

Partridgeberry Apple Jam filled homemade donuts

Partridgeberry Apple Jam filled homemade donuts.

Experiment with glazes for your donuts.

For a little extra flair to your glazes, try adding lemon or orange zest to the vanilla glaze recipe. Berry purees like blueberry and raspberry can also be added to the vanilla glaze for these donuts. Just a few tablespoons will do

Partridgeberry Apple Jam Filled glazed donuts Apple Jam Filled glazed donuts

Partridgeberry Apple Jam Filled.

Just adjust the icing sugar amount to add a little more if the glaze thins too much. Also, try adding the berry puree first and then adjusting the amount of milk as needed.

If you like this recipe, be sure to check out out collection of Favourite After School Cookies!

After School Cookies Collection

Like this Donuts recipe?

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Homemade donuts image with title text for Pinterest

Originally published December 7, 2007.

Chocolate glazed homemade donuts on white serving plate
Yield: 24 donuts

Donuts, Glazed or Filled

Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 4 minutes
Chilling and rising time: 4 hours
Total Time: 4 hours 34 minutes

Donuts, Glazed or Filled. A great basic recipe for yeast raised doughnuts that you can experiment with to try different fillings or glazes.

Ingredients

For the donut dough

  • 2 pkgs. yeast, 4 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
  • 1/2 c. warm water
  • 1/2 cup scalded milk
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 3 1/2 cup flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/3 cup shortening
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

For the Vanilla Glaze

  • 1 ¼ cups icing sugar
  • 2 tsp. milk
  • 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Chocolate glaze:

  • ½ cup butter
  • ¼ cup warm milk
  • 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 4 ounces semi sweet chocolate chips
  • 2 cups sifted icing sugar

Instructions

  1. Soften yeast in warm water. Set aside for 10 minutes.
  2. In large bowl combine milk, shortening, sugar, salt and vanilla and cool to lukewarm.
  3. Add 1 cup of the flour and beat well.
  4. Beat in yeast, water and eggs. Add remaining flour and make soft dough. Knead well.
  5. Place in greased bowl. Cover and chill 3 hours (or overnight). If it raises in refrigerator, punch it down.
  6. Turn on lightly floured surface. Roll 1/3 inch thick.
  7. Cut with floured donut cutter. Let the donuts rise about an hour or until they double in size.
  8. Fry in canola or sunflower oil (350 degrees) about 2 minutes per side or until brown.
  9. Turn only once or the doughnuts will soak up too much oil.
  10. Drain on a wire rack. Cool completely before attempting to glaze or fill the donuts.
  11. Fill donuts with partridgeberry/apple jam using a piping bag or dip in glaze or shake in a bag of cinnamon sugar.

For the vanilla glaze

  1. Simply stir all of the ingredients in the glaze together until smooth,
  2. Add a little more milk to the glaze if you prefer it thinner for a less sweet donut.

For the chocolate glaze.

  1. In medium saucepan and heat over medium-low heat combine the butter, milk, corn syrup, and vanilla until butter is melted.
  2. Turn off the heat and add chocolate chips stirring until the chocolate is melted.
  3. Add the icing sugar and whisk until smooth. If you are glazing a lot of doughnuts you may need to keep the glaze warm in the top of a double boiler.
  4. Let the glaze set up for 30 minutes before serving.

Notes

Get the recipe for my Partridgeberry Apple Jam here.

Some people prefer a simpler old fashioned chocolate  glaze using cocoa. Simple Chocolate Glaze: 2 cups icing sugar 4-6 tbsp cocoa A few tbsp hot water, enough to bring the glaze to a syrupy consistency. Whisk all together until smooth.

For a little extra flair to your glazes, try adding lemon or orange zest to the vanilla glaze recipe. Berry purees like blueberry and raspberry can also be added to the vanilla glaze for these donuts. Just a few tablespoons will do

Just adjust the icing sugar amount to add a little more if the glaze thins too much. Also, try adding the berry puree first and then adjusting the amount of milk as needed.

The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.

Nutrition Information

Yield

24

Serving Size

1 donut

Amount Per Serving Calories 240Total Fat 9gSaturated Fat 4gUnsaturated Fat 0gCholesterol 24mgSodium 124mgCarbohydrates 36gSugar 21gProtein 2g

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Janice Thatcher

Thursday 11th of April 2019

I am in serious need of several Boston Cream doughnuts. For some reason, they don't seem to be available in Italy. I love every recipe I've tried that you have published, so I am going to go for it! Would the filling and glaze from a Boston Cream Pie recipe have the right consistency to be used on doughnuts? Thanks for the website.

Barry C. Parsons

Thursday 11th of April 2019

Wait until June, I'll bring ya some! LOL! Yes, a good old fashioned custard recipe will work too. Like the vanilla custard in our OLD FASHIONED VANILLA CUSTARD PIEOld Fashioned Vanilla Custard Pie recipe.

Marianne

Friday 11th of January 2019

Can you fry them in a cast iron frying pan, or is that too shallow?

Annette

Wednesday 21st of January 2015

I don't suppose you have a recipe for a baked donut??

Barry C. Parsons

Wednesday 28th of January 2015

Afraid not. Might try one soon though.

Barry C. Parsons

Saturday 16th of March 2013

Icing sugar is just powdered sugar. That should be easily found in the baking aisle.

Anonymous

Saturday 16th of March 2013

Where can I find the icing sugar. Went to the store and couldn't find it in the sugar isle. The kids would like these in the am. Thanks for your time.

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