By Don’t Waste the Crumbs

If you haven’t already guessed it, I’m on a strawberry lemonade kick this summer.

First it was no-cook strawberry jam, then it was strawberry lemonade kombucha, and now it’s strawberry lemonade donuts.

Hey, can you blame me? Who wouldn’t want the epitome of summer baked into a donut?!

If you don’t have a donut pan though, your summer fun doesn’t cease to exist. There’s a solution: any baked donut recipe (including this one and my pumpkin donut recipe) can be baked in a muffin tin!

For full-size muffin tins like these, fill each muffin cup 1/4 to 1/3 full and you’ll have cute little donut muffins.

Mini-muffin tins like these will give a muffin that looks more like a donut hole. I bet if you tell your kids that’s what it is, they won’t even second guess you. After all, they still taste like donuts!

With all that said though, I really enjoy making my kids donuts on the weekends.

Growing up, donuts on Saturday mornings were a big treat and it’s one of the family traditions I want to pass on to my kids.

One time though when we went to a donut shop, I saw big 5 gallon buckets of hydrogenated vegetable oil in the front of the store. The buckets were empty and the shop was selling them for $2 each.

My first thought was that those buckets would be great for storing whole grains.

My second thought was that those buckets were empty for a reason… that unhealthy fat was put into the donuts I was about to buy.

And hydrogenated oils are one of the ingredients we are adamant about not feeding our kids.

Note: Deciding your food priorities makes a big difference in how you spend your grocery budget. I teach about this in Grocery Budget Bootcamp. It will look different for every family but the principles remain the same!

We’ve cut back drastically on how often we eat donuts since that day, and now we don’t buy them at all. There’s no reason too when you have a delicious homemade donut recipe like this one!

Strawberry Lemonade Donuts

Speaking of this recipe, let’s talk about it.

1. We’re using whole fresh strawberries.

No jam, no jellies and no concentrates here. Just fresh strawberries, diced finely so that they bake evenly into the donut and you get juicy bits of strawberry in every bite.

2. We’re using lots of lemon.

If you’re making strawberry lemonade donuts, you MUST be able to taste the lemon. That’s why we’re using lemon juice AND lemon zest in the batter itself.

And if that wasn’t enough, we’re making a simple lemon glaze that will knock this donut out of the park.

3. This recipe is naturally sweetened!

The downside of store-bought donuts? Sugar. Lots and lots of sugar. Not a good thing when you’re trying to quit sugar.

The upside to homemade donuts? Using less sugar AND increasing the quality. We’re using honey and/or maple syrup here – your choice!

4. These can be made egg-free and gluten free!

I’ve tested this recipe with and without eggs, and while the egg version held up better, the egg-free batch would pass for those with egg allergies.

I also tested using all-purpose flour and einkorn flour with success. I bet you could use any all-purpose gluten-free flour successfully.

Probably the most important aspect of this recipe, is that it whips up REALLY fast.

The most time consuming aspect is the baking time, but even 12 minutes isn’t that long when you consider the alternative of loading up the car, driving to the donut shop, waiting in line, driving home…

Donut Making Tools

There are a few tools I use in this recipe that I want to highlight, because they make the donut-making process super easy.

• Donut Pan – I have this exact pan, but I bought mine from Michaels with a 50% off coupon. If you don’t have a Michaels or a similar craft store nearby, the price on Amazon is still a good deal.
• Donut Hole Pan – I also bought this exact donut hole pan from Michaels with a coupon. Anytime I make donuts, I double the recipe and make both donuts and donut holes. I admit that the donut holes are addicting, but I can usually set enough aside to get breakfast for an extra day or two.
• Cookie Scoop – I have this #50 cookie scoop and it holds 1 1/4 Tablespoons of dough. Three scoops makes one donut, and one slightly rounded scoop makes one donut hole. It helps to keep my donuts and donut holes uniform in size (and I also LOVE it for making meatballs and energy bites!).

Welcome back Saturday morning donuts!

Strawberry Lemonade Donuts

Print

Serves: 6-7 donuts OR 20-24 donut holes

Ingredients

• ¼ cup milk
• 2 tsp lemon juice (about 1 large lemon, with extra)
• ¼ tsp vanilla (how to make homemade vanilla)
• ⅓ cup honey OR maple syrup (if you use honey, you will taste it in the final donut)
• 3½ Tbsp butter, melted
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup flour (I used all-purpose)
• 1 tsp lemon zest (about 1 large lemon, with extra)
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ cup finely diced strawberries
• 1 batch lemon glaze (recipe below)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350F and grease your donut pan(s).
2. In a small bowl, combine milk, lemon juice, vanilla, honey OR maple syrup, melted butter and eggs. Whisk well and set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, combine flour, lemon zest, salt and baking powder.
4. Add wet ingredients to dry, stirring JUST until the ingredients are mixed. Do not overmix!
5. Fold in the strawberries gently.
6. Portion dough into the donut pan(s), about 3½ tablespoons per donut, or 1 slightly heaping tablespoon per donut hole.
7. Bake for 12-14 minutes for donuts, or 9-11 minutes for donut holes, or until the donuts have risen and are golden in color.
8. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before removing from the pan, and then allow to cool completely before glazing.

Notes

Inspired by Chocolate Covered Katie.

And don’t forget the lemon glaze!

5.0 from 2 reviews

Lemon Glaze for Strawberry Lemonade Donuts

Print

Ingredients

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice (about 1 large lemon)
• 1 tsp lemon zest (about 1 large lemon)
• 1-3 tsp milk, to thin if necessary

Instructions

1. In a small bowl, whisk powdered sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest very well.
2. Only if necessary, thin by adding milk 1 tsp at a time. Adding milk dilutes the lemon flavor, so use it sparingly and only if necessary.
3. Dunk completely cooled donuts in glaze and enjoy!