Baked Gingerbread Donuts with Lemon Yogurt Glaze
Bake up these gingerbread donuts for a special breakfast treat! The tangy lemon yogurt glaze is a great compliment to all the ginger and warm spice, and the whole wheat adds a subtle nuttiness.
Did you guys see the post I contributed to KitchenAid earlier this week? All those yummy cupcakes?
Do you know what really surprised me? Out of all the varieties in that selection, the one my kids loved the most was the gingerbread! I couldn’t believe it because my kids are so notoriously picky. And my gingerbread has a lotta bold flavor going on. ???
Mine is not to question why, I just know that when I land on something they actually like, I’d best be making more of it.
So I thought maybe they’d enjoy a leeeeetle bit of a healthier twist on that idea, for a special Christmas morning breakfast!
If you like a really pronounced, spicy gingerbread flavor, then you are going to luuuuuurve these baked donuts. They utilize 2 kinds of ginger, fresh and crystallized. Very gingery. Plus there’s lots of cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove to really give you those warm holiday fuzzies.
If you like a milder flavor, you can cut back a little on the fresh ginger, and omit the crystallized ginger altogether. Or you could just replace the fresh ginger with ground.
I like to use whole nutmeg, which I just grate into my mixing bowl or whatever, using a microplane grater. The flavor is amazing! If you don’t keep whole nutmeg on hand, go a little heavier on the pre-ground stuff. It’s much less potent so you can get away with adding a little more.
I’m topping my gingerbread with a drizzly lemon yogurt glaze. The tangy lemon is a perfect foil to all the spice! But if you’re looking to keep your breakfast on the healthier side, a light dusting of powdered sugar would be lovely too…
The addition of whole wheat flour works really well with these donuts. I really think your family will enjoy the added texture and subtly nutty flavor.
The donuts can be made up to 2 days ahead, and stored at room temperature in an airtight container, or frozen up to 2 weeks ahead,. The glaze can also be made ahead, but you’ll probably want to wait until a few hours before serving to drizzle it on.
PS- If you don’t already have a donut pan, you can purchase one here. Or you can make these into muffins instead, but they will probably need a longer bake time. 😉
PPS- If you want to dress your gingerbread donuts up with sugar pearls, the way I did, you can purchase them here. Just sprinkle them on while the glaze is still wet!
Do you make a special Christmas morning breakfast? Or are you too busy fighting with wire packaging ties, searching for batteries, and picking up wrapping paper shreds off the carpet?
*This post was featured on Simply Gloria’s Showstopper Saturday Link Party*
*This post was featured on Little Miss Celebration’s Best of the Weekend Link Party*
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Baked Gingerbread Donuts with Lemon Yogurt Glaze
Ingredients
For the Lemon Yogurt Glaze
- 1 cup (120 g) powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons greek yogurt, (I used fat free)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest, (zest of half a lemon)
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
For the Baked Gingerbread Donuts
- 2/3 cup (83.33 g) all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup (40 g) whole wheat flour
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons crystallized ginger,, minced
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 cup (118.29 ml) buttermilk, (or 1/4 cup milk + 1/4 cup greek yogurt)
- 1/4 cup (59.15 ml) vegetable oil
- 3 tablespoons molasses
- 1 egg, (large)
- 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
To Make the Lemon Yogurt Glaze
- Whisk all the glaze ingredients together until well incorporated.
To Make the Baked Gingerbread Donuts
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Lightly grease a donut pan.
- Combine the first 8 ingredients in a medium sized mixing bowl.
- Combine the remaining ingredients in a smaller bowl.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and mix just until barely combined. (Do not overmix or the donuts could come out tough. The batter should be lumpy.)
- Pipe or spoon the batter equally into the 6 wells of the donut pan.
- Bake for 14 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
- Cool the donuts completely and top with Lemon Yogurt Glaze.
Just the best!!! So delicious! I try a ton of recipes & have been baking for decades, so hard to impress. Made these for a girlfriends’ Christmas breakfast party and everyone loved & begged for the recipe! Everyone thought they were so fancy & elaborate, but SOOOO easy! I made as directed, except didn’t have fresh ginger, so substituted about 1 teaspoon powdered, and made the icing a little thinner w/ little more lemon juice, & omitted pearls. I will make these every breakfast I host this holiday! Yum! Thank you!!!
I’m so happy you liked them Diane! Thank you so much for the positive feedback!
THese sound amazing. I’d like to make them to take to family Xmas this weekend… will they keep for a couple of days? Maybe put the glaze in a jar, heat up the donuts for 10 min in the oven and then glaze them just before serving?
Yes to everything Audrey! Just be careful about heating them in the oven, they could get dried out and glazing them warm might be tricky. I hope you enjoy!
My donut addiction continues, I must have these! Thanks for linking up with What’s Cookin’ Wednesday!
My pleasure, Karly! Thank you so much for stopping by, and for hosting the party 😉