Baked Lemon Blueberry Donuts

                                These Baked Lemon Blueberry Donuts are fluffy, packed with citrus flavor and bursting with blueberries and covered in a tangy glaze! Baked donuts are the perfect healthy breakfast or snack. 

It was a big day here on The Recipe Rebel the day these first appeared: my first successful batch of baked donuts.

I have no idea why it took me so long to get on board.

I first posted this recipe more than ago (what?!?) but it needed a little love and a new recipe , and — well — I needed another batch of these doughnuts.

I received a doughnut/donut pan way too long ago for Eid . I baked doughnuts once, they sucked, and then I put it on the bottom of my stack of baking pans for a couple years.

When we were grocery shopping the other day, my husband told me he’d seen a mini doughnut maker in the clearance section for $9, and I had to buy it. Because if there’s anything better than eating a homemade doughnut, it’s eating a dozen mini homemade doughnuts.

(I also saw a pumpkin shaped cake pop pan for 94 cents, and absolutely wasn’t going to leave it there. But then I thought about sharing some pumpkin cake pops on the blog, and Step 3 being “now whip out your pumpkin-shaped cake pop pan”, and all of you leaving and never returning. So I left it there.)

So I bring home my mini doughnut maker and some blueberries and lemons.

Lemon Blueberry Doughnuts.

I had a big hankering for citrus and warm weather, so I mixed up some doughnut batter, and stir in some lemon zest and blueberries. The batter is thick, and I’m a little worried they’re going to be dense and chewy like my first batch.

Nevertheless, I scoop it into a large disposable piping bag and try piping it into the mini doughnut maker but the blueberries are just too big and it’s not really working.

Back to my trusty doughnut pan.

Turns out, they weren’t dense and chewy at all. They are soft, and cakey, and lemony, and springy, and PERFECT.

And they’ve made me a hardcore believer in the homemade baked doughnut. So there’s a good chance you’ll see about 713 variations of them in the next couple months.

I hope you won’t be mad?

Ingredients

①1/4 cup unsalted butter melted

② 1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil

③3/4 cup granulated sugar 150 g

④2 large eggs

 ⑤2 tsp vanilla extract

 ⑥1-2 tsp grated lemon zest depending on your tastes

⑦1 cup buttermilk or substitute regular milk

 ⑧ 2 2/3 all-purpose flour 350g

 ⑨1 1/2 tsp baking powder

①Ⓞ1/4 tsp baking soda

①①1/2 tsp salt

①②1 cup fresh blueberries

Glaze:

①2 cups powdered icing sugar

 ②1-2 tsp lemon zest (optional)

 ③7-8 tbsp fresh lemon juice or milk see 

Instructions

①Preheat oven to 425 degrees F and grease your doughnut pans with butter or non-stick spray.

②In a large bowl, combine butter, oil and sugar and whisk until smooth and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

③Add in eggs, vanilla, lemon zest and buttermilk and whisk until smooth.

④Add flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, and whisk just until combined. Stir in blueberries. Batter will be thick (see notes).

 ⑤Spoon batter into a large disposable piping bag or freezer bag (optional method – see notes. You can also spoon batter into doughnut pan). Cut off the end of the bag so your opening is about ½-3/4” wide (big enough for the blueberries to get through). Pipe batter once around each doughnut hole – the batter shouldn’t quite fill the hole as they’ll expand and rise.

 ⑥Bake for 7-8 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool 10 minutes before removing from the doughnut pan to cool completely.

⑦Make the glaze:In a medium bowl (not too deep as you’ll want to be able to dip your doughnuts), combine sugar, zest, and 6 tbsp of juice or milk. Add an additional 1-2 tbsp of liquid if needed. You want your glaze to be thin enough to evenly coat your doughnuts, but thick enough that it will set and become dry to the touch.

⑧ When doughnuts are completely cool, dip tops of doughnuts into the glaze and overturn so the glaze runs down the sides. Set aside for the glaze to set (or, just shove them right in your mouth!).

Notes

*The batter will be thick – that’s okay! I find the easiest way to get it into the pan is using a piping bag, but you can scoop with a spoon if you don’t have one.

*If you like more lemon flavour, use fresh lemon juice for the glaze. If you like less lemon flavour, use milk.

*If you’re making these ahead of time, I recommend baking them, letting them cool, and storing in an airtight container, then glazing up to a few hours before serving them. The glazed doughnuts become softer and stickier when stored in an airtight container. I baked and glazed them in themorning, and let them sit on the counter the whole day so the glaze would stay set.