Grinch Donuts
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Delicious Grinch Donuts are green colored baked Vanilla Donuts topped with a green glaze and red heart sprinkles! These are perfect for the holidays!
One of the most iconic characters of the Christmas season has to be the Grinch. This grumpy green character who tries to steal Christmas is on shirts, hats, wrapping paper, and the TV throughout the holiday season.
Who is the Grinch?
The Grinch is a fictional book character from the book How the Grinch Stole Christmas!. He is a grumpy, green creature who hates Christmas and the joy that comes with it. He lives in a cave with his dog Max and plots to steal Christmas from the Whos. The Whos are the cheerful residents of Whoville.
While trying to steal Christmas the Grinch experiences a change of heart when he realizes that the spirit of Christmas goes beyond the presents and decorations. This transformation is the theme of the story.
More and more I’ve been seeing green desserts with red hearts on them to honor the Grinch. I’m no exception. I’ve made these super easy and fun to make Grinch Rice Krispies Treats. I’ve also made Grinch Hot Cocoa Bombs which turn green when you mix them.
Since I’ve been on the Grinch train I was looking for another fun and easy dessert to make. I came up with Baked Grinch Donuts.
I found several recipes for them but I really didn’t like any of them. I decided to use the base of my baked vanilla donuts and go from there.
I made a baked donut because I hate the mess of a fried donut and they always taste so greasy to me. I like to have the more cake flavor donut that is baked in a pan.
How do you make baked donuts?
Baked donuts are made by mixing up a batter. The batter is then piped into a specialized donut pan. The donuts are then baked, removed from the pan, and decorated.
I dyed the donut batter with Americolor Gel Electric Green food coloring. You can use regular green but you will not get that bright green color you are looking for.
The hearts are what always give me trouble. I can’t always find Heart Sprinkles when it isn’t Valentine’s Day. Sometimes I will pipe red candy melt hearts onto waxed paper, let them dry, and then peel them off and stick them on my donuts and other desserts.
Ingredients:
- all purpose flour
- baking powder
- salt
- unsalted butter (you can also use salted if you prefer)
- granulated sugar
- eggs
- vanilla extract
- buttermilk (or you can use regular whole milk)
- lime green food coloring
To make the donuts preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Spray a donut pan with cooking spray.
In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl combine the butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and food coloring and mix well.
Add half of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well. Pour in the milk and mix until combined. Add the remaining dry ingredients and mix until the batter is smooth.
Place the batter into a piping bag (I prefer disposable so I can just toss) or a zip top baggie. Cut off the end and pipe the batter into the donut pan filling each hole 2/3 of the way full. If you have a little more than 2/3 of the way full it will be fine.
Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the top of the donuts springs back when it is poked. The tops of the donuts will not be brown. This is ok as you will be glazing the top. The bottom side should be brown.
To make the glaze whisk together the powdered sugar, milk, vanilla, and green food coloring. Dip the top of each donut into the glaze, allow excess to drip off, and place on a wire rack. Quickly put a few heart sprinkles on top.
Can I change the flavor of the glaze?
You can change the flavor of the glaze if you want something other than vanilla. Simply use a different extract. Almond extract, orange extract, or lemon extract would all be good choices.
These donuts were delicious. They were light and had a nice vanilla flavor. The glaze added extract flavor and the bright green color was perfect for the holidays.
How to serve Grinch donuts:
If you are serving these at a holiday party or want to take them to a dinner party or gathering I found that I could put the donuts in a cupcake liner and then place them on a tray. It looked nice and made it easier for people to grab donuts without them sticking together or people touching all of the donuts.
You can store the donuts in an air tight container for up to 3 days but they are best eaten in the first 24 hours.
If you’ve tried my Grinch Donuts or other recipes on Hezzi-D’s Recipe Box please take a minute to rate the recipe and leave a comment letting me know how you liked it. I love hearing from you! You can FOLLOW ME on:
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 c. flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter melted
- 1/2 c. granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- lime green food coloring
- 3/4 c. buttermilk milk
For the glaze:
- 1 c powdered sugar
- 2-3 Tablespoons milk
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- lime green food coloring
- heart sprinkles
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Spray a donut pan with cooking spray and set aside.
- In a medium sized mixing bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl mix together the butter and sugar.
- Add in the eggs, vanilla, and green food coloring and mix well to combine.
- Add half the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well.
- Add the milk and stir until combined.
- Add remaining dry ingredients and mix well to combine.
- Pour the donut batter into a piping bag or a zip top baggie. Cut off the end and pipe the donut batter into the donut pan filling it about 2/3 of the way full.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the top of the donut springs back when touched.
- Remove from oven. Remove from donut pan and cool on a wire rack.
- In a small bowl whisk together the powdered sugar, milk, vanilla extract, and food coloring. The glaze should be thick.
- Dip the top of each donut into the glaze and allow excess to drip off. Place back on the wire rack. Sprinkle the top with heart sprinkles.
- Let the donuts sit for 15 minutes so that the glaze hardens.
Notes
