Soft and Fluffy yeasted cinnamon doughnuts. This doughnut dough is quick and easy to make, and fries up into light doughnuts which are tossed in cinnamon sugar. This recipe only makes eight doughnuts so is perfect for a smaller crowd.
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Table of contents
Cinnamon Sugar Doughnuts
Hi hi! Popping in to share the recipe for these Cinnamon Sugar Doughnuts with you today! This is a small batch ish recipe - it makes a couple less than my regular doughnut recipe, and the process is a bit more chill. The doughnuts are super light and fluffy - this is an oil based dough rather than a butter based, so the doughnuts are a bit lighter in flavour, making them the perfect vessel for a delicious spicy cinnamon sugar coating. I love them, and I know that you will too.
How to make Cinnamon Sugar Donuts
These Cinnamon Sugar Doughnuts are pretty simple - there aren't too many steps! The dough can be made ahead of time so that it's just hanging out in the fridge ready for you!
- Make the dough - Yeast is bloomed in lukewarm milk with a little sugar, then everything else is dumped in. Flour, salt, vanilla bean paste, an egg, and some Filippo Berio Extra Light Olive Oil. Then the dough is left to mix until smooth and elastic.
- Do the first rise - The dough for these doughnuts is slightly on the wetter side (read: super soft fluffy doughnuts), so it is easier to work with when chilled. I do the first rise in the fridge. It needs a minimum of 2 ½ to 3 hours, but overnight is great too if you like to prepare ahead.
- Roll out the dough and cut out the doughnuts - The dough is rolled out on a lightly floured surface, and then the doughnuts are cut out. I don't have a doughnut cutter, but I just use a round cutter and then a slightly smaller one to make doughnut shapes. I went for a 3 ¾" round with a 1" circle cut out of the middle, but you can make these smaller if you like!
- Fry the doughnuts - The doughnuts are fried until perfectly golden brown. I love deep frying things and pretending I have my own wee doughnut shop.
- Toss in cinnamon sugar - Once the doughnuts are done in the fryer and have had a wee second to drain, they are tossed in a cinnamon sugar mixture. You should probably wait for them to cool but I really can't go past a hot, fresh, cinnamon sugar covered doughnut.
What is the best oil to use for frying?
For this cinnamon sugar doughnut recipe (and for all my fried doughnut recipes), I use Filippo Berio Extra Light Olive Oil. It has a high smoke point (410°f-446°f), so is perfect for frying in. It doesn't stink up the house. While I love a good fruity Olive Oil, I also love this Extra Light from Filippo Berio. It is extremely light tasting, so can be used in any application in which a neutral oil is used.
I used the oil to fry the doughnuts in, but also within the dough, which provided moisture and fat and kept things light and chill. I do love a brioche doughnut but the lightness and fluffiness of these oil-based doughnuts is just something special. Not to mention the dough comes together super fast - you just dump it all in the mixer and it does its thing, without the need to incorporate the butter!
Because of this, this recipe lends itself better to be made without a mixer, if you want to make it by hand. Just pop everything into a bowl and bring it together, and then turn out onto a surface and knead until smooth and elastic. It may take a little to come together, but try not to add more flour if you can. You may need to use a bench scraper to help you move the dough around while you get it going.
Tips for frying yeasted doughnuts
I used to be pretty intimidated by frying doughnuts. However, once I worked out how to do it, it wasn't too bad at all. There are a few key things to take note of that will make your life much easier.
- Choose the right sort of vessel. I use a small deep fryer (I have this one and it is great). A cast iron dutch oven works super well too. Cast iron is great to fry in because it retains heat. This means it doesn't fluctuate too much in temperature and helps keep the oil at the right temperature.
- Do a tester. I always do one test fry of a doughnut. I usually use the one which has been cut out of the scraps, so is always a bit wonky. Doing a tester helps to make sure that your oil is the right temperature, the doughnuts are correctly proofed, the frying time is correct, and the coating sugar tastes good. Fry one off and then toss it in the sugar and give it a wee taste. Then adjust things as needed.
- Use a thermometer. If you don't have a deep fryer, a thermometer is a crucial piece of equipment to have when frying. You want your oil to stay at 350°f / 180°c and so it is important to keep checking. Check it between frying each batch of doughnuts.
- Don't overcrowd your fryer. When you add the doughnuts, the temperature of the oil drops. If you add too many at a time, then the oil is going to drop in temperature too much and the doughnuts are going to soak up the oil, giving you soggy doughnuts. And that's not fun. Two at a time works great for me.
- Have a timer nearby to use. A timer is great to make sure that your doughnuts are consistently frying. Set it for the time you need, and flip half way through the frying process.
- Proof the doughnuts on squares of paper. I cut up pieces of parchment paper and put each doughnut on its own piece. This means you aren't handling the doughnut itself when you lower it into the fryer. Touching the doughnut may leave little finger marks in it, which don't affect the taste, they just change the look. You can put the whole thing, paper included, into the fryer, and the paper will release. Then fish the paper out and throw it away.
- Have everything ready to go. Have your setup ready. Your oil hot, then a sheet pan with a rack on it to drain the doughnuts, and then the sugar ready to go to toss the hot doughnuts in. Having it all set up makes the frying process much easier.
Troubleshooting fried doughnuts.
- If your doughnut is soggy : The oil temperature is likely too low. This means the outside isn't frying fast enough and is soaking up all the oil. Tweak your temperature and make sure it is correct. Make sure if you are using a thermometer it isn't sitting on the bottom of the pot. This will give you a false reading.
- The Doughnut is raw in the middle: The oil is too hot. This means the outside cooks before the inside gets a chance to. Turn the oil temperature down.
- If your doughnut is dense: It may not have proofed enough. To tell if the doughnuts are proofed, press one lightly with your fingertip. If a small indentation which bounces back a little is left, they are ready. Fry off the wonkiest one first and break it open just to check. The proofing will take anywhere between 30 minutes to an hour, depending on the weather and the temperature in your kitchen.
FAQ for Cinnamon Sugar Doughnuts
You can if you want, but they will basically just be a hamburger bun. If you want to make baked doughnuts I suggest searching for a baked doughnut recipe.
I re-use frying oil a few times. Just strain it back into the bottle once it has cooled, then store in a cool dark place. Make sure that you label it so you know it's deep frying oil. Only fry similar things in the oil if you are re-using it - save anything like fish or something with a seasoned coating until the last time that you use the oil.
Fry them off! When you cut out the doughnuts, keep the holes punched out from the middle, and then cut up any excess dough into pieces. It doesn't matter if they aren't even - you are just going for little bits of dough about the same size as the doughnut holes. Rise them along with the doughnuts (they will take a little less time), then fry them up and toss them in the sugar too. Warm doughnut scraps are just the best.
I used one, but you definitely don't need one. You could absolutely mix this by hand, particularly because it doesn't require the butter to be incorporated, thanks to the oil. Just pop everything into a bowl and bring it together, and then turn out onto a surface and knead until smooth and elastic. It may take a little to come together, but try not to add more flour if you can. You may need to use a bench scraper to help you move the dough around while you get it going.
A few wee tips for cinnamon sugar doughnuts
- The dough for these is pretty soft, so I like to do the first rise in the fridge. It needs a minimum of 3 hours in the fridge, but overnight works great too. Just don't leave it more than 24 hours as the yeast loses its rising power.
- This doughnut recipe is a super solid base recipe - so you can finish them off any way that you want. You could add a glaze, or icing and sprinkles, or mix up the sugar that you toss them in. Mix and match within the batch.
- My cinnamon sugar is pretty strong - dial it back a little if you don't want them super spicy. If you make it and find it is too spicy for you when you do a tester, just add more sugar.
- The oil takes about 15 to 20 minutes to heat up. Make sure that you allocate time for this while the doughnuts are proofing. Sometimes I will heat it up to temp then let it cool slightly near the start of the rising process. This means that it isn't totally cold when I get close to needing it in case I forget, then I can just warm it up the rest of the way as needed. You don't want to have to wait for your oil to heat up when your doughnuts are ready, and risk them over proofing. Starting heating it about 20 minutes in to the second rise works great for me.
For more recipes using Filippo Berio Olive Oil, check out:
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Answers to your baking questions
Over the years, many of you have asked me questions about:
- baking in grams
- adjusting oven temperatures
- what kind of salt to use
- and many more!
I've curated and answered them all for your easy reference in this frequently asked questions post!
Cinnamon Sugar Doughnuts
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes plus rising time
- Yield: 8 Doughnuts 1x
- Category: Doughnuts
- Cuisine: American
Description
Soft and Fluffy yeasted cinnamon doughnuts. This doughnut dough is quick and easy to make, and fries up into light doughnuts which are tossed in cinnamon sugar. This recipe only makes eight doughnuts so is perfect for a smaller crowd.
Ingredients
Doughnut Dough
- 230g whole milk, lukewarm
- 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 2 tsp active, dry yeast
- 425g all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 large egg, at room temperature, lightly beaten
- 50g Filippo Berio Extra Light Olive Oil
- To fry - Filippo Berio Extra Light Olive Oil
Cinnamon Sugar
- 100g granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp cinnamon (do less if you want these less spicy)
- ½ tsp ground cardamom (optional)
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
DOUGHNUTS
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the lukewarm milk, sugar, and yeast, and leave to stand for 5-10 minutes or until foamy.
- Add the flour, salt, egg and oil, and mix on low speed until the dough comes together. Continue to mix for a further 10-12 minutes until the dough is soft and smooth, and when a little is stretched, you can see light through it (the window pane test).
- Shape the dough into a ball and place into a bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for a minimum of 3 hours and up to overnight.
- Turn the dough out onto very lightly floured surface. Roll out to about ½" (1.2cm) thickness. Roll the dough out to about ½” (1.2cm) thick. Using a circle cutter (I used a 3 ¼” circle), cut out circles of dough. Cut holes from the middles of the circles using a 1” circle cutter.
- Place each onto a square of parchment paper then place onto a baking sheet, leaving room between. Place the doughnut holes on the sheet to proof alongside the doughnuts.
- Press together scraps, re-roll, and cut out more doughnuts, or cut up into pieces and proof alongside the doughnuts to fry as snacks (my preferred method).
- Cover and leave the doughnuts to proof for a further 35 to 45 minutes. When you poke them lightly with your finger, it should leave a small indentation that springs back.
- While the doughnuts are proofing, heat Filippo Berio Extra Light Olive Oil in a large heavy-bottomed pot (cast iron works great) or deep fryer. Heat the oil to 350°f / 180°c. Place a wire rack over a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Combine the ingredients for the cinnamon sugar and place into a shallow bowl.
- Once the oil has come to temperature, test it with a few scraps of dough, or the wonkiest doughnut (see tips for frying in body of post). Gently lower the doughnuts, two at a time, into the hot oil. Leave on the parchment paper if you like - it will release when added to the oil and you can fish out with tongs. Cook for about 3 minutes, flipping half way through, until golden brown. Remove from the oil using a slotted spoon and place on a cooling rack.
- Allow to cool for 30 seconds before tossing in the sugar. Repeat the process with the rest of the doughnuts. Allow to cool on a rack.
Best eaten the day they are made. Store leftovers lightly covered at room temperature. Refresh in the microwave before eating if desired.
Keywords: Doughnuts, donuts, cinnamon sugar, cinnamon donuts, filippo berio
Comments
These look tooo good 🙂
★★★★★
So good! x
Hi! These look so good! I was wondering if you think it's possible to bake them in the oven instead of frying them? I don't own a fryer and I'm not confident enough to fry them on the stove. I've seen baked donuts recipes but most are cooked in a donut pan. Is there an alternative with this type of dough --rolled up then baked on a cookie sheet? Thank you for your answer (and delicious recipes) !
Hi! If you fry them they will be like bread rolls - baked doughnuts are more like a cake batter baked into a pan whereas doughnuts like this are yeast raised. So they do need to be fried to be doughnuts, baking will give them a different texture but you could try! Otherwise frying on the stove isn't as scary as it looks as long as you have a thermometer! x
Thanks! I'll try it out!
Of course!
Can you tell us eggless options please
Hi! I don't have one unfortunately - you can try searching for an eggless dough is probably your best option!
If I want to change the dry yeast for fresh yeast, can you tell me the grams please?
★★★★★
Hi! I'm not 100% sure sorry! I haven't worked with fresh yeast before. Would love to hear how you do get on if you use it though 🙂
I am curious on how to make the doughnut chocolate. Any advice on amounts of cocoa to add to the dough?
Hmmmm I'm not too sure sorry! cocoa can sometimes behave a bit weirdly when fried and it's hard to tell when they are done, although less of an issue for a doughnut with a hole than a filled doughnut. I would go for a rich chocolate topping instead! I have made a chocolate dough for these hot cross buns but I have no idea how it would fry up 🙂 I would love to hear how you go if you get on!
These are so fluffy and I love how easy they are to make!
★★★★★
I love that! Thank you!
Super easy and so delicious! Will definitely be making them again, maybe with chocolate topping next time!
★★★★★
Love the slight olive oil flavor
★★★★★
I need to make mini ones for a wedding in the summer (NZ) so I wanted to get organised and find a great recipe now - And BAM! Of course yours were amazing. I made these on the weekend and they were divine! 😋
So soft and fluffy on the inside.
Quick question - could I add a tsp of Vanilla paste without affecting the recipe adversely?
Cheers,
Lisarna
★★★★★
Hi! Yesss it will be just fine! Slash it should be in there I just forgot it in the recipe hahahaha 💕
First attempt at doughnuts and went straight to your site! I knew you'd have a winner and these turned out perfectly! I did 1/3 cinnamon sugar, 1/3 chocolate glaze, and 1/3 just powdered sugar. Thanks for another great recipe!
★★★★★
Absolutely incredible!
I left mine as full donuts (no hole)
And piped in custard, Nutella, and jam.
Absolute heaven!
I've made donuts a few times before (using different recipes) and was pleased with the outcome each time, but they always felt a bit dense. I followed this recipe to a T, bar adding 1.5 tbsp of flour while it was mixing because it was a bit too sticky, and holy cow--I think these are the best baked good I've ever made. SOOO fluffy. My boyfriend told me they were "professional level", and my friends could not stop raving. It made me look like I'm an amazing baker but the credit is all in the recipe!! Thanks so much, will definitely be making again!!
★★★★★
Hi Erin
I need to make a bigger batch, would I be able to double the recipe without compromising it?
Thanks!
Kashifa
Hi! Yes it should be fine 🙂
these were such a hit with my husband and super easy too thanks for the recipe
★★★★★
I never made donuts before. I wanted to make them because I recently made honeysuckle jelly from flowers in my yard and thought it would be fantastic inside a donut. I used your recipe and OMG these were the best donuts I ever had. We rolled them in cinnamon sugar and never even got to the jelly. Thank you! Thank you!!! I’ll definitely make them again.
★★★★★
Easy and delicious! Its exactly what I think of when I imagine a classic doughnut!
★★★★★
Kia ora! Do you think Oat milk will be OK to use instead of regular milk?
Cheers
Kia Ora! Yep I think that will be just fine! 🙂
Thanks Erin! 🙂
WOW these are so good! SO fluffy, and such an easy dough to make! Loved that it doesn't make a huge amount so I can justify making them for just the two of us 😉 In my cooler kitchen they took about 2 hours to proof so I will factor that in next time. (For my own reference next time, I used bread flour with protein 11.5%)
★★★★★
These are absolute show-stoppers. So easy and so soft and delicious.
Had success using ‘barista’ Oat Milk to make these dairy free and they were perfect.
★★★★★
I've always been a bit afraid of deep frying but this recipe could not have been a better introduction! The oil temperature is manageable and the dough is really easy to work with. I did an overnight first proof, and the resulting donuts were incredibly fluffy and just mildly sweet. Highly recommend adding a little freshly grated nutmeg to your spiced sugar dredge too! I will absolutely be making this again!
★★★★★
These doughnuts are AMAZING! Found it such an easy to follow recipe and they are delicious 🤤 will definitely be making these again!
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Hi! Is it ok if I use bread flour? Or does it need to use all purpose? And also, do you have the tsp and tbsp measurments in grams?Thank you for all your recipes! I am a huge fan from México!
Hi, I haven't tried it with bread flour sorry! I am working on slowly converting all recipes to only grams but I am not there yet!
Hi! Thinking about making these, is there a particular reason to use light olive oil? I was planning to use canola. Thanks!
No canola will work!
Does the dough have to rise in the fridge or can it be left out to rise for less than 3 hours?
It's quite a wet dough so I prefer to roll it out when it is cold. You can do a room temp rise if you want but it may make them a little bit messy to cut out