The holidays are here and the smell of Grinch Donuts is in the air. Imagine the surprise of your guests when you pull out these donuts to be enjoyed this festive season. They are homemade with green dusting sugar and a large red heart sprinkle!
Don’t force yourself to eat regular donuts this holiday season, when you can have Grinch Donuts. There is just something fun about biting into a donut that’s green with red sprinkles. It truly makes you feel festive. Also, the fact that you can make these from home without going to the store makes them even more special!
Grinch Donuts
If you are looking for a great Christmas morning breakfast then these baked Grinch Donuts are just what you need to get your day started off right. Baked and not fried these donuts are an easy breakfast that the entire family is going to love.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Baked not Fried – You’ll love these donuts because they’re baked, not fried. This means you can make them any time of year instead of just during the holidays.
Festive – These donuts are decked out in green sprinkles, making them the perfect treat for Christmas.
Easy – These donuts are easy to make and only require a few simple ingredients.
Kid-Friendly – These donuts are perfect for kids, who will love the festive green donut on Christmas morning.
Ingredients
While you need a handful of ingredients to make these festive Christmas donuts, you should have the majority of these ingredients already on hand.
- All Purpose Flour
- Powdered Sugar
- Unsalted Butter, melted (½ cup)
- Egg
- Brown Sugar
- Whole Milk
- Greek Yogurt
- Vanilla Extract
- Baking Powder
- Cinnamon
- Nutmeg
- Baking Soda
- Sea Salt
- Neon Green Gel Food Coloring
- Large Red Heart Sprinkles
- Green Dusting Sugar
See the recipe card below for quantities.
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray your mini donut pan with nonstick cooking spray.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the ¼ cup milk, yogurt, egg, vanilla, and brown sugar. Add in the butter and whisk until combined.
Add in the dry mixture, along with a bit of neon green dye, and whisk until combined. Add a bit more neon gel dye until the desired color is reached.
Place the mixture in a frosting bag or big baggie and snip the corner of the bag off using scissors.
Pipe the mixture into each donut cavity until ⅔ full. Tap on the counter aggressively to flatten out the batter. It’s thick, so it needs a harder tap to spread.
Bake for 7 minutes or until very lightly golden brown on the outside and fluffed up.
Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before moving to a cooling rack to finish cooling all the way through.
While the donuts are cooling, combine the powdered sugar and remaining milk. Mix until the icing has formed. Add some neon green dye and mix. Only mix in a little bit at a time and keep adding until the desired mixture has been reached.
Add your dusting sugar to a bowl. Dip the top of each donut into the icing, tapping it on the side of the bowl to ensure excess frosting falls away.
Dip the top of each donut into the dusting sugar and place one heart sprinkle in the upper-right corner of each donut.
Let sit and dry for a few minutes and enjoy!
Substitutions
Don’t have everything you need on hand to make this recipe? Here are some of my favorite tried and true.
- Milk – instead of using traditional milk, feel free to use almond milk.
- Butter – if you cannot use regular butter, then perhaps Vegan butter would work best for this recipe.
- Powdered sugar – when you cannot use powdered sugar, you can use cornstarch and Splenda. You’ll put both in a blender until the consistency is like powdered sugar.
If for some reason you can’t use a regular ingredient, there is always a proper substitution for it.
Variations
Do you want to change up this recipe and make it your own? Here are some ways that you can do that!
- Skip the red heart sprinkle – if you’re making this recipe with kids, you should know that they love ALL the sprinkles. You may be using more than one heart sprinkle.
- Draw on a face– these are grinch donuts so feel free to let the kids draw on the donuts.
- Plain donuts from the store – if you don’t have time to make the homemade donuts, then grab donuts from the store and decorate them with the instructions provided.
See these Red Velvet Donuts for another delicious donut recipe!
Equipment
- Mini Donut Pan
- Frosting Bag or Large Baggie
- Scissors
- Cooking Spray
- 2 Large Mixing Bowls
- Whisk
- Rubber Spatula
Storage
Always place donuts on an airtight container and then place them in the fridge. They can be stored in the fridge for up to 4 days.
You can freeze these donuts BEFORE decorating them. Save the decoration for when you’re about to serve them.
Tips
- If you were to place these donuts on the table and store them, they would only be good for about 1-2 days. Placing them in the fridge allows for them to last longer.
- Make sure you store the donuts in a container that’s big enough to store them if they are already decorated. You don’t want to mess up the decorations.
- When dipping the donuts, be careful to not have too much of the icing before dipping it into the sanding sugar. If so, the sides will drip down and not look as good. The sugar won’t hold as well either.
- If having trouble with the batter evening out after piping it into the donut spots, use a toothpick to level them out before tapping the pan on the counter.
- Don’t overcook your donuts. They will finish cooking after you pull them out of the oven. If you cook them until they’re fully finished in the oven, you’ll end up with some tough and dry donuts. You want them to feel finished on the outside, but just pillowy soft when you lightly press on them.
- If you would rather your donuts be a normal color with the green topping, just don’t add the food dye to the batter and you’re set to go.
- Each donut pan will give a different look. You don’t have to use the one I used, but be aware a different pan may not result in the same look as my donuts.
FAQ
Do you have questions about this recipe? Here are the answers to the most commonly asked questions.
If you plan on reheating frozen donuts, then you will want to place them on an ungreased baking sheet. Cover the donuts with foil, lightly. Turn the oven to 350 degrees and heat the donuts for about 10 minutes. Of course, do this to the undecorated donuts.
If the donuts you’re eating are stale, then you can pop them in the microwave. Only do 15-second intervals to ensure the donuts become un-stale.
If you’re making fresh donuts, they are going to be delicious warm. BUT – you’ll want to let them cool off before you bite into them.
More Grinch Recipes
Do you enjoy Grinch recipes? Try these delicious recipes:
Grinch Donuts
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Mini Grinch Baked Donuts
Equipment
- Mini Donut Pan
- Frosting Bag or Large Baggie
- Scissors
- Cooking Spray
- 2 Large Mixing Bowls
- whisk
- Rubber Spatula
Ingredients
- 1 cup All Purpose Flour
- 1 cup Powdered Sugar
- 1 stick Unsalted Butter melted (½ cup)
- 1 egg Egg
- ⅓ cup Brown Sugar
- ¼ cup Whole Milk plus 2 tablespoons
- ¼ cup Greek Yogurt
- 1 tablespoon Vanilla Extract
- 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon Nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon Baking Soda
- ¼ teaspoon Sea Salt
- Neon Green Gel Food Coloring
- Large Red Heart Sprinkles
- Green Dusting Sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray your mini donut pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the ¼ cup milk, yogurt, egg, vanilla, and brown sugar. Add in the butter and whisk until combined.
- Add in the dry mixture, along with a bit of neon green dye, and whisk until combined. Add a bit more neon gel dye until desired color is reached.
- Place the mixture in a frosting bag or big baggie and snip the corner of the bag off using scissors.
- Pipe the mixture into each donut cavity until ⅔ full. Tap on the counter aggressively to flatten out the batter. It’s thick, so it needs a harder tap to spread.
- Bake for 7 minutes or until very lightly golden brown on the outside and fluffed up.
- Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before moving to a cooling rack to finish cooling all the way through.
- While the donuts are cooling, combine the powdered sugar and remaining milk. Mix until an icing has formed. Add some neon green dye and mix. Only mix in a little bit at a time and keep adding until the desired mixture has been reached.
- Add your dusting sugar to a bowl. Dip the top of each donut into the icing, tapping it on the side of the bowl to ensure excess frosting falls away.
- Dip the top of each donut into the dusting sugar and place one heart sprinkle in the upper-right corner of each donut.
- Let sit and dry for a few minutes and enjoy!
Notes
- If you were to place these donuts on the table and store them, they would only be good for about 1-2 days. Placing them in the fridge allows for them to last longer.
- Make sure you store the donuts in a container that’s big enough to store them if they are already decorated. You don’t want to mess up the decorations.
- When dipping the donuts, be careful to not have too much of the icing before dipping it into the sanding sugar. If so, the sides will drip down and not look as good. The sugar won’t hold as well either.
- If having trouble with the batter evening out after piping it into the donut spots, use a toothpick to level them out before tapping the pan on the counter.
- Don’t overcook your donuts. They will finish cooking after you pull them out of the oven. If you cook them until they’re fully finished in the oven, you’ll end up with some tough and dry donuts. You want them to feel finished on the outside, but just pillowy soft when you lightly press on them.
- If you would rather your donuts be a normal color with the green topping, just don’t add the food dye to the batter and you’re set to go.
- Each donut pan will give a different look. You don’t have to use the one I used, but be aware a different pan may not result in the same look as my donuts.
Nutrition
