Baked Eggnog Doughnuts
I’ve been on a bit of an eggnog kick lately. We bought a bottle to make these eggnog waffles, and I’ve been making my way down my ever-growing list of eggnog baked goods. Since doughnuts are one of Clara’s favorite treats, they were at the top of my list. And since I don’t have a regular sized doughnut pan, mini doughnuts were in order. Let me just go ahead and put this out there – if you’re making mini doughnuts and only have one pan, be prepared to be making them for a while. I don’t think I’ll ever make another 6-7 dozen yield recipe without a second pan. Or maybe a regular sized pan. Because I definitely felt like I was baking them all day, long after Clara lost interest and wanted to make frosting instead.
Despite the time it took me to get all of these baked, mixing them up is super easy. You don’t even need a stand mixer, and I let Clara do most of the whisking. The batter is thick, though, so she needed some help at the end. Eggnog is baked into the doughnuts and used to make the glaze. These cake-y little bites are a perfect treat to package up for friends and are a nice change from all the cookies (which, don’t get me wrong, I totally love). And hey, they’re more acceptable to eat for breakfast, so there’s that. After we dipped most of the doughnuts, I added bourbon to the glaze mixture because bourbon + eggnog = love. Clara loves sprinkles, so we added festive sprinkles to most, but I grated nutmeg over the bourbon glazed ones. The fragrant nutmeg and bourbon really brings out the eggnog.
These are totally irresistible. If you don’t want a few of them to go missing off the cooling rack, take my advice and move them to the back of the counter where little hands can’t reach. Not that I know from experience or anything.
- COOK TIME:
- YIELD: 6-7 dozen mini/12 regular
For the doughnuts:
2 cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon nutmeg
1 large egg, at room temperature
¾ cup eggnog, at room temperature
4 tablespoons butter, melted
For the glaze:
1½ cups confectioners’ sugar
3 tablespoons eggnog
1 tablespoon bourbon, optional
Sprinkles and/or freshly grated nutmeg to garnish, optional
- 1
Heat oven to 325º. Lightly mist doughnut pans with cooking spray and set aside.
- 2
In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. In a small bowl or glass measuring cup, whisk together the egg, eggnog and melted butter together, then add to the dry ingredients.
Continue whisking until the batter is mixed, swapping out your whisk for a rubber spatula if needed. The batter will be very thick. Transfer it to a pastry bag and pipe the batter into the wells of the doughnut pans. For full-size pans, fill about ½-¾ full. For mini pans, you’ll need even less.
- 3
Bake the doughnuts for about 8 minutes (for mini) or 10-12 minutes (for full-size). Allow to cool slightly in the pans before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining batter.
- 4
While the doughnuts are cooling, prepare the glaze. Whisk together the confectioners’ sugar, eggnog and bourbon, if using, in a shallow dish. Dip the doughnuts and return to the cooling rack. Add sprinkles/nutmeg while the glaze is still wet. Allow the glaze to set before serving. Store in an airtight container.
Making this on Saturday, yummy yummy!
Aww such a fun holiday baking project! I love it. I’m pretty sure I only have one mini donut pan also, though….so off to buy a new one!
It was a lot of fun, but having two pans is definitely the way to go.
Doughnuts—-one of my all time favorite yum yums. I just bought a baked doughnut pan too.