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Grandma’s famous melt-in-your-mouth homemade donuts are utterly addicting and absolutely worth the effort!!
We Love Grandma’s Famous Donuts!
This donut recipe is an ALL-TIME family favorite!!
Whenever it gets cold or rainy, one of us kids is bound to text or call Mom and kindly ask if she’s up for making some homemade donuts.
She’s made them for decades and luckily passed down her famous recipe! There is no donut we love more – none. They are soft and fluffy with the perfect hint of sweetness. The signature glaze is PERFECTION!
Whether for breakfast or just a treat, these are sure to knock off anyone’s socks! Best served warm, these goodies are right up there with our Homemade Cinnamon Rolls!
WHY WE LOVE IT:
- Easy steps. There are several steps to make these donuts, but we promise you they are still quite simple.
- They are beyond delicious! They’re soft, warm, covered in a tasty glaze and just melt in your mouth.
- FAMOUS! These donuts are famous in our family, and they are so good. We love to make them in the winter, especially around Christmas (along with our Old Fashioned Donuts)!!
Ingredients
PREP TIME: 20 minutes RISE TIME: 3 hours COOK TIME: 30 minutes
Dough
- 2 tablespoons rapid rise yeast – Since you bloom the yeast in water, you can also use active dry yeast.
- ¾ cup lukewarm water (110-115 degrees F) – see How to Activate Yeast
- 2 cups milk – 2% or whole milk
- ½ cup vegetable shortening, room temperature – regular or butter-flavored shortening
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon – or an equal amount of Pumpkin Pie Spice
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 4 large eggs – Room temperature eggs will incorporate best.
- 7-7½ cups all-purpose flour – see How to Measure Flour
- vegetable oil, for frying – canola oil or peanut oil. You’ll need enough to maintain ½-1 inch of oil in the frying pan.
Glaze
- 7 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- ⅔ cup water – For a thicker frosting, replace the water with milk and reduce the amount to the desired thickness.
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract – or lemon, orange, or almond extract
- optional chocolate – Add a bit of cocoa powder to this glaze for a chocolate version.
- optional cinnamon sugar – Coat both sides in a cinnamon sugar mixture.
How to Make Homemade Donuts
- YEAST. Dissolve 2 tablespoons yeast in ¾ cup lukewarm water. Set aside. Heat 2 cups milk in microwave for 2-3 minutes.
- DOUGH. While milk is heating add ½ cup shortening (room temp) to a large bowl. Pour hot milk over it and whisk until mixed (there will still be some clumps).
- Add 2 teaspoons salt, ⅔ cup sugar, 1 teaspoon nutmeg, and ½ teaspoon cinnamon. Stir well with a wooden spoon. Add 4 eggs and mix well.
- Add yeast mixture to the batter and mix. Add 2 cups of flour and mix with a wooden spoon. Mix well. Add 2 more cups and mix. Add 2 more cups and mix. The batter should not be runny and resemble dough. Add 1 more cup of flour, give or take ½ cup.
- Mix just until the dough is smooth.
- RISE. Gently knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until it is not sticky to the touch.
- Place the soft dough into a lightly oiled bowl. Cover the bowl and let rise for 1 to 1½ hours (about double in size when done).
- Do not over-proof the dough! It can create more air bubbles than the structure of the dough can sustain and it will collapse. A warmer environment will cause the dough to rise faster so watch for the dough to rise to about double in size.
- 2ND RISE. Place dough on a lightly floured surface and roll out to about a 1-inch thickness. Cut the donuts out using a doughnut cutter as closely as possible. Save the middles for doughnut holes.
- Move donuts and holes to a clean surface. Cover and let rise for 1 to 1½ hours.
- FRY. Once the donuts and holes are done rising, fry them in a large frying pan, deep fryer, or Dutch oven with vegetable oil until golden brown. Let drain on a cooling rack.
Glaze
- Combine 7 cups powdered sugar with ⅔ cup water and 1 tablespoon vanilla. Add donuts to glaze as soon as they are done frying and make sure both sides are covered.
- Place on a plate or wire rack to let the excess vanilla glaze drain.
Cooking Variations
- Bake. Place on a lightly greased cookie tray and brush the tops with melted butter. Bake in a preheated oven at 375°F for 10-12 minutes, rotating donuts halfway in between, and bake until golden brown.
- Air fry. The finished texture may be different from an oil-fried donut. Working in batches, place some donuts into the basket making sure they are not touching. Close the air fryer, set to 350°F. Fry for 6-10 minutes. The length of time will depend on the size of your donuts. For donut holes fry for 3-5 minutes.
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Homemade Donuts
Grandma's famous melt-in-your-mouth glazed homemade donuts are utterly addicting and absolutely worth the effort!!
Ingredients
Dough
- 2 tablespoons rapid rise yeast
- ¾ cup lukewarm water, (110-115°F)
- 2 cups milk
- ½ cup vegetable shortening, room temperature
- ⅔ cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 4 large eggs
- 7-7½ cups all-purpose flour
- vegetable oil, for frying
Glaze
- 7 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- ⅔ cup water
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Make the dough. Dissolve yeast in lukewarm water. Set aside.
- Heat milk in the microwave for 2-3 minutes.
- While milk is heating, place shortening in a large bowl. Pour hot milk over it and whisk until mixed (there will still be a few shortening clumps).
- Add sugar, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg and mix well with a wooden spoon or the mixer whisk attachment. Add eggs and continue to mix, then stir in the yeast mixture.
- Add 2 cups of flour and mix with a wooden spoon. Continue to add flour 1-2 cups at a time until the batter is no longer runny and is smooth.
- Place dough on a clean, lightly floured surface and gently knead dough until the surface is not too sticky to the touch. The dough should be very soft, but not so sticky that you cannot handle it fairly easily. Place the soft dough into a lightly greased bowl. Cover the bowl and let rise for 1-1½ hours at room temperature. The dough should be about double in size when it's ready.
- Place dough on a lightly floured surface and roll out to a 1-inch thickness. Use a 3½-inch donut cutter to cut donuts out, cutting as closely as possible together and saving the middles for doughnut holes. Move donuts and holes to a clean surface, cover, and let rise at room temperature for 1-1½ hours.
- Make the glaze: Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Set aside.
- Once the donuts and holes are done rising, fill a large frying pan with 1½ inches of vegetable oil and heat to 365-380°F. Working in batches, fry the donuts and holes until golden brown, 2-3 minutes per side for donuts and about 2 minutes per side for donut holes.
- Remove each donut from the oil and immediately transfer to the bowl with the glaze. Turn to make sure both sides are coated, then place on a wire rack over parchment paper to let the excess glaze drain. Repeat to make the remaining donuts.
Video
Notes
Prep ahead. Shape the dough into donuts, cover, and refrigerate until the next day. When ready to fry, let them come to room temperature and rise for an hour.
Make filled donuts. Instead of using a donut cutter that creates the signature doughnut hole, use a large round cookie cutter. Rise and fry as directed. Once cool, use a piping tool to add your filling of choice (pudding, jelly, Nutella) through the side of the donut.
Store loosely covered at room temperature for 1-2 days, in the refrigerator for 5-6 days, or in a freezer Ziploc and freeze for up to 3 months.
Nutrition
Serving: 1donut, Calories: 396kcal, Carbohydrates: 79g, Protein: 8g, Fat: 5g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 2g, Trans Fat: 0.5g, Cholesterol: 24mg, Sodium: 172mg, Potassium: 101mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 33g, Vitamin A: 58IU, Vitamin C: 0.004mg, Calcium: 34mg, Iron: 3mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe FAQ
How to make filled donuts?
Instead of using a donut cutter that creates the signature doughnut hole, use a large round cookie cutter. Rise and fry as directed. Once cool, use a piping tool to add your filling of choice (pudding, jelly, Nutella) through the side of the donut.
Prep ahead of time?
Shape the dough into donuts, cover, and refrigerate until the next day. When ready to fry, let them come to room temperature and rise for an hour.
How to store homemade donuts?
Homemade donuts will dry out if not stored properly but can become soggy if completely sealed. Store loosely covered at room temperature for 1-2 days, in the refrigerator for 5-6 days, or in a freezer Ziploc and freeze for up to 3 months.
Love the donuts!!!
Thank you so much!
Yayyyyy say my taste buds!!First time making donuts !! love it and so does everyone else!!!( just ate 10 of them)- and I’m a gourmet eater!! 10 stars!!!
LOL..love this!! Thank you so much for trying them 🙂
really good but i had to make a couple revisions. The glaze was way to thick, more like icing, i added more water until i could dip the donuts easier.
It wasn’t enough flour when making the donuts, i had to add more. Not sure why they came out differsnt for me, but they’re still delicious! And the recipe is so simple and easy to follow, even for someone like me who sucks at cooking!
Lol..you’ll get it! Not sure why that happened either! Glad you liked them! Thank you!
Lovely and very helpful
Thank you so much 🙂
These doughnuts are amazing! It’s true, they take some time, but my kids will tell you it’s worth the wait:) I used coconut oil to fry the doughnuts and added maple syrup to the glaze. Delicious!
Thank you so much for saying that! I am so glad you tried them 🙂 They are our favorite fall treat!
You say To make glaze mix 7 cups powdered sugar with ⅔ cup water and 2 tsp. vanilla. Then you say if you want more of a frosting we recommend using less milk. But the glaze says to use water…im confused.
It is with water, but if you want more of a frosting use milk, but less than the water amount. It just makes it thicker.
Wow,it came out very well as I tried it at my home. Very delicious recipe, would like to get more recipes like this from here.
I hope you find more to try! Glad you liked them! Thank you!
Made these yesterday with my 12 yr old daugHter. All went well except after cutting into DOUGHNUT shapes and letting rise, the middles of the DouGhnUts rose sO much they closed up and looked like bagels 🙁
The glaze wAs also Pretty thick, following this reCipe to a T, so i would watch that when mixing. It all depends on the humidity and temp and your likIng. 🙂
Great taste and texture and a big hit otherwise! First time using yeast for My daUghter and first time frying anytHing as well!
I am sorry they rose so much..haven’t had that happen before. I would add a tad more water to the glaze recipe, to get it the consistency you like. Glad you tried them! You’ll get it! 🙂
Love this recipe! I have never made homemade donuts before, but i decided to give it a shot. My family devoured these and they were awesome! i let the dough rise for an extremely long time, as i was busy and wasn’t able to make them exactly after the recommended rise time, but I think that helped. Definitely will be making again!
That makes me so happy to hear! They go fast! Thanks for sharing that!
Hi,
Can i make the dough sitting over night nad make the donuts in the morning?
Thanks!
Yes. You can make them up until step 5. Then cover and refrigerate until the next day. When ready to make, let come to room temp and let rise for an hour. Enjoy!!