Wake up to warm baked cinnamon sugar donuts! Ready in 45 minutes, this simple from-scratch recipe yields perfectly spiced and ultra moist donuts. Always a crowd pleaser, I recommend making a double batch for larger gatherings.
Do you have a donut pan? Add this fun baking tool to your collection because today we’re making baked cinnamon sugar donuts. Most of my donut recipes are baked, not fried, so you have many delicious ways to use that pan!
Why You’ll Love These Baked Donuts:
- No electric mixer required
- Baked, not fried
- Buttery and flavorful
- Soft and cakey
- Spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg
- Sweetened with brown sugar
- Generously coated in cinnamon sugar
- Just like your favorite donuts from a bakery
Two Parts to Baked Cinnamon Sugar Donuts
- Donuts: Weโre using my standard baked donut recipe as the base. Itโs what I use for my baked maple donuts, chocolate frosted donuts, lemon poppy seed donuts, and banana donuts. In fact, today’s donuts are just like my chai spice donuts but without the chai spices. Itโs a very thick batter that produces tight-crumbed, cakey donuts. You’ll need a small handful of basic ingredients like flour, egg, leaveners, and milk. I like to add a little Greek yogurt to the donut batter for a moisture punch (sour cream works too) and prefer sweetening them with brown sugar. Add cinnamon as well as a little nutmegโit truly gives these donuts that special bakery taste and aroma.
- Cinnamon Sugar Topping: A mixture of cinnamon and sugar finishes off these donuts. Dip each donut into melted butter, then generously dunk each into the cinnamon sugar. If you love this cinnamon sugar addition, you will flip for these Nutella stuffed cinnamon sugar muffins! Prefer icing on your donuts instead? Try my strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla donut frostings instead.
Quick Overview: How to Make Baked Cinnamon Sugar Donuts
You only need a couple bowls and a silicone spatulaโno mixer required.
- Make the donut batter. Combine the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another bowl. Whisk to combine both. So easy!
- Fill the donut cavities. Transferring donut batter into the donut pan can be tricky, so I always suggest using a zipped-top bag to pipe the batter. (You can see me doing this in my pumpkin donuts post.) Just spoon the batter into a large zipped-top bag, trim off a bottom corner, and squeeze the batter into the pan. The donut batter is thicker than youโd expect, so it pipes pretty neatly.
- Bake. They bake up VERY quickly!
- Make the topping. Combine the cinnamon and sugar together in one bowl and melt the butter in another. I usually do this as the donuts bake.
- Dip into topping. Dip the warm donuts into the melted butter, then dunk each into the cinnamon sugar mixture. Make sure to coat every side!
No donut pan? Use a muffin pan instead! For 8-10 donut muffins, bake at 350ยฐF (177ยฐC) for 18-20 minutes or until lightly browned.
Baked Cinnamon Sugar Donuts Video Tutorial
More Donut Recipes
- Glazed Doughnuts (fried)
- Baked Sprinkle Donuts
- Pumpkin Donuts
- Apple Cider Donuts
- Maple Bacon Doughnuts (fried)
- Powdered Sugar Donut Muffins
Baked Cinnamon Sugar Donuts
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 8 donuts
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
There is nothing like waking up to fresh-baked cinnamon sugar donuts, but what makes this recipe a winner is how EASY it is.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (125g) all-purpose flourย (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoonย ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1/3 cup (65g) packed light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup (60ml) milk*
- 1/4 cup (60g) yogurt*
- 2 Tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter, melted
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Topping
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, melted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ยฐF (177ยฐC). Spray a donut pan with non-stick spray. Set aside.
- Makeย the donuts:ย Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg together in a medium bowl. Set aside. Whisk the egg, brown sugar, milk, and yogurt together until smooth. Add the melted butter and vanilla, whisking until fully combined.ย Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Do not overmix. The batter will be very thick.
- Spoon the batter into the donut cavitiesโI highly recommend using a large zipped-top bag for ease. Cut a corner off the bottom of the bag and pipe the batter into each donut cup, filling 2/3 to 3/4 of the way full.
- Bake for 9-10 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned. Allow to cool for about two minutes and transfer to a wire rack set on a large piece of parchment paper or on a large baking sheet. Bake the remaining donut batter (there is usually enough batter for 1-2 more donuts) and once baked, transfer to the wire rack. Cool donuts for at least 10 minutes before topping.
- Top the donuts: Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Dip the donuts in the melted butter, then dunk into the cinnamon sugar mixture coating all sides.
- Donuts are best served immediately. Leftovers keep well covered tightly at room temperature for up to 2 days.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: You can freeze the donuts for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and warm up to your liking in the microwave. I usually just zap ’em for a couple seconds.
- Special Tools (affiliate links):ย Donut Pan | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Silicone Spatula | Cooling Rack
- Muffins: You can make this recipe into 8-10 muffins using a muffin pan. Bake at the same temperature for 18-20 minutes or until lightly browned.
- Milk: Skim milk, 1%, 2%, whole, almond milk, soy milk, or coconut milk is OK. I like to use buttermilk. Room temperature is best for this recipe.
- Yogurt: Nonfat, low fat, vanilla, plain, Greek or regular yogurt is OK. I like to use low fat plain Greek yogurt. Room temperature is best for this recipe.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Iโd love to know if you could grate some orange zest and maybe even some finely chopped cranberries into the batter and glaze them when done, versus dipping in cinnamon sugar. What do you think, Sally? Iโve made these baked cinnamon sugar donuts and absolutely love them. They are off the chain, delicious and easy.
Hi Kathy, we havenโt tested this recipe with add-ins like orange zest or cranberries, but you certainly can! That sounds delicious! We recommend making the recipe as written and adding about 1/2-1 cup of cranberries. If you try it out, let us know how it goes!
Hi Sally, Thanks for reply! I plan to make them tomorrow. I will make one batch with your perfect recipe and try another with the orange zest and cranberries.
I will surely let you know how they turn out. Thanks again!
I’m going need to sub sour cream for yogurt because I don’t have it..yikes! Is there another better sub instead of yogurt?
Sour cream is a good substitute, Cindy!
Can you double or even triple this order to make more?
Hi Mary, yes, feel free to double this batter.
Sooo good they were the first doughnut I ever made and they were so easy. I am going to make them again soon
These taste nothing like properly made cinnamon sugar donuts. They have an almost oatmeal like quality to them. Although they looked just like the ones in the video, they wonโt worth the calories. They went straight into the garbage. Yuck!
Hi Ava, I’m sorry you had trouble with these. I wonder why yours tasted like oatmeal, or the texture of oatmeal. Did you make any substitutions? Did you accidentally under-bake them? Thanks for the feedback.
Best recipe have ever seen
Would love to know if there is a way to add blueberries?
Hi Jocelyn, We havenโt tested this recipe with blueberries but you certainly can. We recommend making the recipe as written and adding about 1/2-1 cup of blueberries. If you try it out, let us know how it goes!
This was amazing! My toddler is obsessed with donuts and this without the cinnamon and sugar is perfect for her! I was wondering has anyone ever made any variations of this? Such a using pumpkin or applesauce in place of egg or yogurt?
I could not use the bag method. I made a big mess. They smell delicious! Not quite finished yet.
Keep up the delicious recipes. I love so many, they always turn out good.
These were easy, quick, and so delicious! I’d never made doughnuts before, but these were a huge hit.
Delicious Donuts! I followed the recipe as instructed for the donuts and got 12. Using a zipped-top plastic bag to pipe the donuts is crucial and easy. I cut back on the amount of melted butter, sugar and cinnamon for the topping: 1/4 cup melted butter, 1/4 cup of sugar and approx. 1/8 tsp of cinnamon, which turned out to be the exact amount for my taste buds. Exquisite and easy!
These were delightful, great crumb and not too sweet, we enjoyed them plain with coffee, delicious! The bonus being how easy they are compared to a yeasted donut, I might even make up a batch of the dry mix to have on hand for next time, which will likely be soon. Thanks!
These donuts were delicious! My sister and I loved them. I’m not sure if they turned out different since I used sour cream in place of yogurt, but still tasted amazing!
Did you use the same amount of sour cream that was called for with yogurt?
Just wanted to add I used sour cream as well, didn’t have yogurt on hand, and used same amount. Donuts turned out great!
Had a major cake donut craving, but fried donuts kill my stomach I decided to give these a try and so glad I did. They definitely hit the donut stop!!
Yes they were really good, and the whole family loved them, which doesn’t usually happen.
I’ve had doughnut pans for a decade and after used them much after a couple less than ideal attempts. I decided today to give this recipe a try — and wow — they turned out delicious! Even without the final butter/sugar coating, they are excellent straight from the pan ๐ They taste exactly like my mother’s brown sugar cookies (without all the work of rolling out cookies).
Thank you for the recipe!