Baked Cinnamon Sugar Doughnuts

These baked cinnamon sugar doughnuts are soft, delicious and so easy to make at home, you can have fresh doughnuts ready to eat in under 20 minutes! This recipe makes just 9 doughnuts and is also dairy-free and uses ingredients you probably already have in the pantry.

This recipe was originally published in August 2019 and has been updated with new photos and more helpful content. The recipe remains the same!

Cinnamon doughnuts have always been my favourite. I will always choose the simple cinnamon doughnut when presented with a cabinet of brightly coloured glazed or iced versions, every single time.

While doughnuts are traditionally fried, I love the idea of baked doughnuts. They are so much easier to make at home, a little healthier, and require much less cleanup. The result is a doughnut that is a little more on the cakey side, but still has that distinct flavour as if from your favourite bakery.

This recipe is also great as it’s a smaller batch making just 9 doughnuts meaning that you don’t end up with a huge amount of leftovers and can just enjoy them while still warm, fresh from the oven.

DOUGHNUT OR DONUT?

When writing up this recipe I stopped and pondered a few moments on the spelling of doughnut. Was it doughnut or donut? On googling this question it told me that doughnut was the British/Australian English spelling while donut was the American English spelling. Both were acceptable.

As doughnuts are traditionally associated as an American food vs a British one, would the spelling of donut make more sense when referencing a recipe even though I am Australian? Would spelling it donut make the recipe more accessible globally?

But then I asked some American food bloggers and the debate began. Doughnut is still considered the correct English spelling in the US however it is the rise of companies just as Dunkin Donuts that have popularised the alternate spelling.

For this reason, the colloquial spelling of the shortened donut has become acceptable and pretty common. Even in Australian the popular food chain Donut King has kept the US spelling.

So after spending way too much time learning about the history of the word, I decided to stick with the original spelling of doughnut, but no matter how you spell it, these baked treats are still amazing.

Key Ingredients

These doughnuts are a great option when you want to make something without needing to go and pick up specialty ingredients as it uses basic pantry staples. I can usually guarantee that I will have everything ready to go to make a batch of baked doughnuts.

• Plain flour – also known as all purpose in the US.
• Baking powder – keeps the doughnuts light and fluffy.
• Cinnamon – used in both the doughnut batter and the cinnamon sugar coating.
• Nutmeg – This is the key to that traditional bakery doughnut flavour and you absolutely do not want to leave it out.
• Egg – at room temperature.
• White sugar – used in the doughnuts themselves plus extra for the cinnamon sugar coating.
• Vanilla – make sure to use vanilla extract instead of imitation vanilla essence.
• Canola oil – makes them soft and moist. You can use any light-tasting / flavourless oil.
• Dairy-free milk – I use oat milk in the batter, but you could use soy or almond, or even regular if you do not need these to be dairy-free.
• Dairy-free butter – dunking the doughnuts in melted dairy-free butter gives the doughnuts an extra richness as well as giving the cinnamon sugar something to stick onto. I use Nuttelex buttery for the best flavour, the closest US alternative I believe is Earth Balance.

Step-By-Step Instructions

This baked doughnut recipe is pretty simple with just a few steps and no electric mixer needed. You’ll need a bowl, a whisk and a doughnut pan.

Doughnut pans are pretty easy to find in most homewares stores, and Kmart now sells one. After you’ve made these once, you’ll realise that the special pan is 100% worth it for easy, fresh doughnuts at home.

Start by mixing together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. This step helps ensure that the dry ingredients will combine more evenly into the wet ingredients without needing to overmix.

In a separate large mixing bowl, whisk together the egg, sugar, vanilla and oil.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix together with the dairy-free milk until you have a thick batter.

Pour the batter into a doughnut pan that has been lightly greased with cooking oil and bake for 8 minutes or until the tops spring back when lightly touched.

Depending on how big your doughnut pan is, you may need to do this in two batches like I do.

While the doughnuts are baking, melt the dairy free butter and mix together the extra cinnamon and sugar.

Once the doughnuts are cool enough to handle, turn them out onto a wire rack and dunk each in the dairy-free butter and then cinnamon sugar mixture to coat completely. Set aside and repeat with all.

These doughnuts are best served immediately while still a little warm.

More baked doughnut recipes:

Baked Chocolate Doughnuts
Crumb Cake Doughnuts
Vegan Maple Glazed Doughnuts
Biscoff Baked Doughnuts
Glazed Baked Doughnuts

Baked Cinnamon Sugar Doughnuts

These baked cinnamon sugar doughnuts are soft, delicious and so easy to make at home, you can have fresh doughnuts ready to eat in under 20 minutes! This recipe makes just 9 doughnuts and is also dairy-free and uses ingredients you probably already have in the pantry.

5 from 9 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Morning Tea

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 8 minutes

Total Time: 18 minutes

Servings: 9 doughnuts

Author: Sally

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Ingredients

For the doughnuts:

• 1 ¼ cups plain flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 egg room temperature
• ½ cup white sugar
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• ½ cup dairy-free milk

For the coating:

• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• ⅓ cup (80 grams) dairy-free butter melted

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 180°C and lightly spray a doughnut pan with cooking oil.
• In a medium size bowl sift flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and mix gently with a spatula to combine.
• In a large bowl, whisk together egg, sugar and vanilla. Add in oil and whisk until combined. Add in dry ingredients and whisk, slowly add in the dairy-free milk until batter is smooth.
• Pour batter into a large piping bag or ziplock bag and cut off the tip. Pipe batter into the doughnut pan ensuring each hole is only half full.
• Place in the oven and bake for 8 minutes or until the tops spring back when lightly touched. Let cool in the pan for 2 minutes and turn out onto a wire rack.
• Mix together the sugar and cinnamon for the coating in a small bowl and set aside. In another small bowl, melt the dairy-free butter in the microwave.
• Once they are cool enough to handle, dunk the cooked doughnuts in the melted dairy-free butter and then in the cinnamon sugar mixture until coated. Repeat with all doughnuts. These are best enjoyed straight away but will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for 2 days.

Notes

I have a 6 hole doughnut pan, so I repeat steps 4 and 5 with the remaining batter to make 9 doughnuts in total.

Dairy-Free Milk: For this recipe I used oat milk, but almond or soy would work perfectly as well.

I use Nuttelex Buttery to replace butter in most of my recipes as it is vegan and gives a ‘buttery’ flavour without being greasy. As this is an Australian product, the closest US alternative I believe is Earth Balance. Otherwise any dairy-free butter will work.

Nutrition

Calories: 277kcal | Carbohydrates: 48g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 18mg | Sodium: 242mg | Potassium: 49mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 34g | Vitamin A: 80IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 56mg | Iron: 1mg

Nutritional information is provided as a guide only and is calculated using automated online tools, therefore we cannot guarantee the accuracy. We encourage you to make your own calculations based on the actual ingredients used in your recipe.

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