Homemade donuts are quite possibly the most delicious treat you can make! They are a sure to impress dessert for any occasion, or just a fun treat to make. I actually thought they would be way more complicated, and the first couple recipes I tested out were, so I simplified them. Now while there are more steps in these than my typical recipes, they are worth it- I promise! Being a Canadian, Tim Horton’s donuts are just a right of passage, but these will put a Tim’s donut to shame… If I do say so myself!
Now many donuts are fried in and can contain vegetable oil, I am pretty strict about the oils I use in my home, so we will not be using any vegetable or canola oil in these. We will be using avocado oil or lard for frying the donuts, and butter or ghee in the dough! Now that being said, If you like vegetable oil, you can use it as a substitute.
Homemade donuts can have many flavour variations, and they don’t need to be filled with jam or custard. They can be left unfilled, or they could have a donut hole punched out as well! I really enjoy jam and custard stuffed donuts, but they do take some extra work! I also love doing mini versions for the kids. So if you have a smaller cookie cutter, or a smaller mouth jar ring, give some minis a try!
What You’ll Need:
- Stand Mixer (You could knead the dough by hand, a mixer is just easier)
- Rolling Pin
- Round 2-3″ Cookie Cutter or a Mason Jar Ring works well
- Dutch Oven or Heavy Bottom Pot
- Slotted Spoon
- Candy or Meat Thermometer
Ingredients:
For the Dough:
- 4 cups All-Purpose Flour
- ¼ cups Sugar
- 1 ½ tbsp Yeast Instant or Quick Rise will work
- 1 tsp Salt
- 2 Large Eggs or 3 Small Eggs
- ⅓ cups Ghee, Melted Butter, or Avocado Oil
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- 1 cup Water
- 4 cups Avocado Oil or Lard For Frying
Chocolate Dip:
- ½ cup Chocolate Chips For dipping
- 2 tbsp Cream or Milk For dipping
Custard Filling:
- 2 cups Milk
- 2 Eggs
- 3 Tbsp All Purpose Flour
- 4 Tbsp Sugar (I leave this out entirely sometimes)
- 1/2 cup Butter
- 1 Tsp Vanilla
Jam Filled:
- 1-2 Cup Berry Jam
- 1/2 Cup Powdered or Granulated Sugar
How to Make Homemade Donuts:
Make The Custard Filling:
Start by heating milk in a saucepan, until it is starting to steam, but not boiling. Whisking constantly so it does not scald. In a separate bowl mix 2 eggs, 3 tbsp flour, 4 tbsp sugar, 1 tsp vanilla extract, and mix well.
Once your milk has heated, it is time to “temper” your eggs, so that they don’t cook in the hot milk. Start by adding 1/4 cup of the hot milk to your egg mixture, and whisk well. Add another 1/4 cup of milk to the eggs and continue to whisk and mix really well. Now that your eggs have come up to temperature, add the egg and sugar mixture to the saucepan of hot milk. Keeping on a low heat, whisk continuously until mixture thickens.
Once thickened, remove from heat and add your 1/2 cup butter. Mix thoroughly and allow mixture to cool for a few minutes. Pour into a bowl and cover very tightly with plastic wrap, and place in the refrigerator, until it is completely cooled.
Make the Donut Dough:
In the bowl of a stand mixer, add 4 cups all purpose flour, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 1/2 tbsp yeast, and 1 tsp salt, whisk to combine all the dry ingredients. To the dry ingredients, add 1 cup water (room temperature- slightly warm), 2 eggs, 1/3 cup ghee or melted butter, 1 tsp vanilla extract. Using a dough hook, mix everything together on low until a dough starts to form. If the dough seems really dry, add 1-2 tbsp of water. If your eggs were small, use 3 instead of 2. Turn mixer up to medium and knead for 5-10 minutes, your dough should be very smooth and silky when it is done.
After your dough has been kneaded, and is ready to rise, cover the bowl with a tightly fitted lid or plastic wrap, and allow it to rest for 1-2 hours. During this time your dough should double in size. If you are using instant or quick rise yeast, the time frame could be less. Keep an eye on it and when it is doubled in size, you know it’s ready.
Shaping Donuts:
Once the dough has doubled in size, it is time to roll it out and shape your donuts. I find the easiest way is to punch your dough down, and bring it out onto a floured surface. Roll the dough out until it is about 1/4″ thick, and then using a round cookie cutter- or a mason jar ring, to make cut outs in the dough. Getting as many donuts as you can, gather the scrap edges of the dough and roll it back out to make more cut outs. Once all of your donuts are cut out, place them on parchment lined baking sheet. If your donuts are feeling sticky at all, lightly flour your parchment, so that the donuts do not stick.
Cover baking sheet in a clean kitchen towel, and allow to rise for 30 minutes.
Frying Homemade Donuts:
When the 30 minutes is just about up, heat 4 cups of avocado oil or lard in a heavy bottom pot. The temperature of the oil is really important, you want your oil to be at 160C (320F). If it is too low, the oil will soak into the donuts making them really soggy and oily. If the oil is too hot, the outsides will overcook, while the inside will be undercooked. So try to keep it right around the right temperature- checking frequently.
When you are ready to cook the donuts, work in batches of 2-3 donuts, cooking for 2 minutes on each side. Transfer donuts to a cooling rack that is placed on top of paper towel to catch any excess oil run off.
Allow donuts to cool completely before filling them.
Homemade Donut Assembly:
If you are making chocolate dipped, it is time to get that ready now. Place chocolate chips and milk in a microwave safe bowl, and heat for 30 seconds, mix until smooth. If all of the chips have not melted, microwave again for 15 seconds, keep doing so in 15 second increments until chocolate is smooth.
Take each donut and make a small hole in the side using a small sharp knife. The cut should be just big enough to fit the piping end of the filling bag into the donut. If you aren’t filling the donuts, you can leave this step out and just dip or glaze the donuts.
Place the end of the piping bag, or in my case ziploc bag with the corner snipped off, in the hole you cut and squeeze filling into the donut. It disperses better than you would expect. Do not over fill them, or the filling will come out and it does get a bit messy.
Now you can dip or top donuts in whatever flavour combination you want, I like to dip my custard filled donuts in the chocolate dip. Then place on the rack to sit for a few minutes before eating! For jelly filled donuts, lightly brush them with melted butter and toss them in powdered or granulated sugar.
These homemade donuts are best enjoyed fresh or at least within the same day, you CAN store them in a sealed container for a few days but they are just better fresh. If I were going to make them ahead of time for an occasion, I would make the donuts all the way up until filling them. Store the cooked donuts in a sealed container or bag, and then fill them and top them on the day they will be eaten.
The Best Homemade Donuts
Ingredients
- 4 cups All-Purpose Flour
- ¼ cups Sugar
- 1 ½ tbsp Yeast Instant or Quick Rise will work
- 1 tsp Salt
- 2 Large Eggs or 3 Small Eggs
- ⅓ cups Ghee, Melted Butter, or Avocado Oil
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- 1 cup Water
- 4 cups Avocado Oil or Lard For Frying
Chocolate Ganache
- ½ cup Chocolate Chips For dipping
- 2 tbsp Cream or Milk For dipping
Jelly Donuts
- ½ cup Powdered or Granulated Sugar for coating
- 1-2 cups Jam for filling
Custard Filling
- 2 cups Milk
- 3 tbsp Flour
- 2 Eggs
- 4 tbsp Sugar
- ½ cup Butter
- 1 tsp Vanilla
Instructions
Custard Filling:
- Heat milk in a saucepan until it starts to steam, whisking constantly so that it does not scald.
- In a bowl milk together eggs, flour, sugar, and vanilla.
- Once milk is heated, take 1/4 cup of the milk and add it to the egg mixture, and whisk constantly. This is tempering your eggs, so that they do not cook in the milk.
- Add another 1/4 cup of the hot milk, and continue to mix.
- Then add the egg mixture into the saucepan of milk, and whisk on low heat until custard thickens.
- Once it has thickened, remove from heat and add but, stir in well.
- Allow to cool for a few moments, transfer to a bowl.
- Cover tightly with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator until cooled completely.
Making the Donuts:
- Into the bowl of a stand mixer, add flour, sugar, yeast & salt. Whisk to combine.
- Add water, eggs, ghee (or butter, avocado oil), & vanilla , and mix on low until dough starts to form.
- Knead with dough hook on medium speed for 5 – 10 minutes, until dough is smooth and elastic.
- Cover dough with tight fitting lid or plastic wrap, and let rise for 1-2 hours. Until dough has doubled in size. (If using quick rise or instant yeast, this timeline will be shorter.)
- Once dough has risen, punch it down and transfer to a floured surface.
- Roll dough out to about 1/4" thick, and using a 2-3" round cutter, cut out rounds. Re-rolling out edges, to stamp out as many as you can get.
- Transfer rounds to parchment lined baking sheet, cover with tea towel and let rise for 30 minutes.
- Add avocado oil to heavy bottom pot or dutch oven and heat on medium high heat, until oil reaches 160℃ (320℉).
- Once your donuts have rested for 30 minutes, work in batches of 2-3 donuts, frying each side for 2 minutes. It's important not to let oil get too hot, or the outside of your donuts will be overcooked and the insides will be undercooked.
- Remove and place them onto a rack positioned over paper towel, so that excess oil can drip off.
- Once all of your donuts have cooked, allow them to completely cool.
Making Chocolate Dipping:
- As they cool you can make your chocolate dip: Place chocolate chips and cream in a microwave safe dish, and heat for 30 seconds. Mix well, if all of the chocolate has not melted heat for another 15 seconds until its smooth and full melted.
Assembling The Donuts:
- Add Jam and/ or custard to piping bags, I used a ziploc bag and cut a small hole in the corner.
- Once donuts have completely cooled, slice a small hole in the side of each donut.
- Fill donuts with either jam or custard by placing the end of the piping bag into the small in the side of the donut, squeeze the filling in gently. Try not to overfill too much.
- Once you have your donuts filled, you can either dip the tops in the chocolate, and let sit on a cookie sheet until the chocolate hardens a bit.
- If you are making jam donuts, lightly brush the outside of the donut with melted butter and dip them in sugar coating.
- Donuts are best enjoyed fresh that day, or up to 24 hours after. They can be stored in a sealed container for about 5 days after, but they are definitely better eaten on the same day.
