Baked Gingerbread Donuts

These baked gingerbread donuts are tender and fluffy and spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, and other holiday spices. They’re a very merry way to celebrate the holiday season.

gingerbread donuts topped with icing.

Baked gingerbread donuts topped with a drippy vanilla glaze are my idea of a fun, festive, and easy way to usher in the holiday season. Think mugs of coffee or hot chocolate, cozy pajamas, and a plate of these baked donuts to pass around – the holiday feels are built right in.

Because they’re baked, they’re so easy to make. The recipe is a modified quick bread recipe turned into donuts. They’re easy enough to make the morning of or bake and glaze a batch a day ahead to make things even easier.

ingredients for gingerbread donuts.

Ingredients

  • Molasses: I use unsulphered molasses for this recipe. It’s the type most commonly used in baking. Molasses is the key ingredient in gingerbread – it has a caramel, slightly bitter, rich flavor. A little goes a long way.
  • Spices: Cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves also help enhance the gingerbread flavor, and you probably already have most of them in your spice rack. If you have some gingerbread spice mix (a blend of all these spices), you can use two teaspoons instead of the individual spices.
  • All-purpose flour
  • Baking soda
  • Brown sugar
  • Melted butter
  • Large egg

How to Make Them

โ˜‘๏ธ Make the Batter

Whisk the all-purpose flour, baking powder, ground ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves in a medium bowl.

Whisk the melted butter, brown sugar, and molasses in a separate bowl. Add the egg and vanilla and whisk to combine.

Add the dry ingredients and milk alternately to the wet ingredients. Mix the batter just until it’s combined.

the donut batter in a bowl.

โ˜‘๏ธ Bake the Donuts

Pipe the batter evenly into the prepared donut pans, filling each mold about 2/3 full.

Bake the donuts for 10 to 12 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one comes out clean. Leave the donuts in the pan for five minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

You can serve them plain or add the glaze or cinnamon-sugar topping (see the recipe notes for details)

Recipe Tips

When you measure the flour, use the spoon and level method. This ensures you don’t add too much flour, which can happen if you scoop the flour out of the package with the measuring cup. I like to stir the flour in the container and lightly spoon it into the dry measuring cup before leveling it off with a knife.

Alternating the flour mixture and milk to the wet ingredients makes it easier to incorporate the flour without overmixing the batter. Also, mixing by hand instead of with a mixer will help, too.

You can make the donuts ahead and store them in an airtight container at room temperature. They will keep for several days.

You can freeze them, too. Store plain donuts in a freezer container. They will keep for several months. Thaw them at room temperature and then add the glaze or cinnamon topping.

a stack of donuts.
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Baked Gingerbread Donuts

gingerbread donuts topped with icing.

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These gingerbread donuts are a fun holiday breakfast! The donuts are tender and fluffy, lightly sweetened, and have a hint of warm spices.ย 

  • Author: April Anderson
  • Prep Time: 20 minutes
  • Cook Time: 10 minutes
  • Total Time: 30 minutes
  • Yield: 12 baked donuts 1x
  • Category: Breakfast
  • Method: Bake
  • Cuisine: American

Ingredients

Scale
  • Cooking spray
  • 1 ยฝ cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • ยพ teaspoon ground ginger
  • ยพ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ยผ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • ยผ teaspoon ground cloves
  • 4 tablespoons butter, melted
  • ยฝ cup brown sugar
  • ยผ cup molassesย 
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • ยฝ cup whole milk
  • For topping: vanilla glaze or cinnamon sugar (see notes)

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350ยฐF. Grease two donut pans with non-stick cooking spray and set them aside.
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk the all-purpose flour, baking powder, ground ginger, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, and ground cloves.
  3. In a separate bowl, whisk the melted butter, brown sugar, and molasses. Add the egg and vanilla and whisk to combine.
  4. Alternate adding the dry ingredients and milk to the wet ingredientsโ€“ first add โ…“ of the flour mixture, then half of the milk, another third of the flour, the rest of the milk, and finally the remaining flour. Mix just until combined.
  5. Transfer the batter to a piping bag (or a large ziplock bag with the corner cut off) and pipe the batter evenly into the prepared donut pan, filling each one about 2/3 full.
  6. Bake the donuts for 10 to 12 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a donut comes out clean.
  7. Leave the donuts in the pan for five minutes and then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. You can serve them plain or add the glaze or cinnamon-sugar topping (see the recipe notes for details)

Notes

These donuts are delicious plain, or you can coat them with cinnamon sugar or top them with an easy vanilla glaze.

Cinnamon-sugar: Melt 4 tablespoons of butter in a shallow bowl wide enough to dip a donut in. In a separate bowl, mix 1/2 cup of granulated sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon. Dip the donuts in the melted butter and then into the bowl with the cinnamon-sugar mixture.

Vanilla glaze: Whisk 1 cup of powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract, and 2 tablespoons of milk in a bowl. Drizzle the glaze over the donuts, or you can dip the tops of the donuts to coat them in the glaze. If you’re feeling fancy, transfer the glaze to a ziplock bag, seal it, snip off the corner, and pipe it onto the donuts. Allow the glaze to set for 10 minutes before serving.

The nutrition estimate does not include the glaze or cinnamon-sugar topping.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 donut
  • Calories: 161
  • Sugar: 14g
  • Sodium: 47.9mg
  • Fat: 5g
  • Saturated Fat: 2.8g
  • Unsaturated Fat: 1.8g
  • Trans Fat: 0.2g
  • Carbohydrates: 27g
  • Fiber: 0.6g
  • Protein: 2.5g
  • Cholesterol: 26.7mg

Do you love this recipe? Don’t forget to leave a comment and your recipe star rating!

The nutrition is an estimate only. It was calculated using Nutrifox, an online nutrition calculator.

More Christmas Recipes

If you love gingerbread, these baked donuts are a fun recipe to try! I hope you love them.

Happy baking,

April
a donut with a bite taken out of it.

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