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So, my son, the one who is away at camp, finally deigned to call me last night. No big deal, I don’t need to talk to him every day or anything. I’m just his mother.
You know, the lady who grew him? The lady who chewed Tums like they were candy because of the heartburn he caused? The lady whose body he sprung forth from. The lady whose mouth he vomited in when he was a baby.
Yeah, that lady. Me. His mother.
He called me. Finally. And he totally broke one of the many rules that I left him with when I dropped him off at camp. He went swimming in Lake Michigan without me. Oh, I’m not worried about him drowning or concerned he’ll get sun burnt. No, I just didn’t want him to enjoy the sand and the waves while I was at home scrubbing toilets and cooking my daughter seventeen meals a day. She’s going through a growth spurt, man.
So, to console myself, I made donuts. The donuts themselves are really, really good. They are by far the best baked donuts I’ve made to date. (I generally prefer the fried version, myself.) The kicker, though? The browned butter glaze. Ho. Lee. Hay-ull. You guys wouldn’t believe me if I told you that I ate the leftover glaze with a spoon and licked the glaze off the top of the two remaining donuts this afternoon, but it happened. <–Truth.
Please go make this happen in your kitchen.
Browned Butter Glazed Cinnamon Donuts
Ingredients
For the donuts:
- 1 cup flour
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons white sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup buttermilk
- 1 egg beaten
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 1/2 teaspoons butter melted
For the Browned Butter glaze:
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons milk or cream
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
To make the donuts:
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease a donut pan.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt.
- In a small bowl, stir together the butter milk, egg, and butter.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir with a wooden spoon until fully incorporated.
- Fill the donut pan and bake for 8 minutes or until lightly browned and cooked through.
- Remove from the oven and cool in the pan for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
To make the glaze:
- While the donuts are cooling in the pan, melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat until it browned, about 8 minutes.
- Pour the butter into a small bowl, leaving behind most of the blackened sediment on the bottom of the pan, and whisk in the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla until smooth.
- Dip the donut tops (slightly warm or cool) in the glaze and enjoy.
Jenny says
Is it possible to use gluten free flour in place of your flour measurements? Has anyone tried this?
Karly says
@Jenny,
I’m not sure that it would work as a 1:1 swap, but I don’t know much about baking with gluten free flour. I would probably just search for a gluten free donut recipe and then top that recipe with this glaze. 🙂
Deborah says
I made these for my first batch of donuts EVER! They were utterly delicious. Like the others, I increased the time of cooking. My oven (I miss my gas stove!) also made my brown butter take a little longer, but I’m convinced that was my ghetto oven. Thanks for the recipe!
Anna says
Agreed- at 325, it took 12-15 minutes, using a mini-donut pan.
Karly says
Hmm, just updated the recipe. It’s totally possible that I miscounted my time. 🙂
Michelle E. says
I made these this morning and they were delicious. It was the maiden voyage of my donut pan that I purchased just because I found this recipe and had to try it. I’m wondering, though, if the temperature should be 425 degrees instead of 325. It took my donuts about 15 minutes to cook instead of the listed 8 minutes, although the final result was perfect. The brown butter glaze was amazing. Thanks for getting our Sunday off to great start!
Heather says
These look so yummy! Just found your blog and made the cheesy zucchini rice. Yum! But I’d love to know the name of the font you used above. Love it! (the browned butter cinnamon donut part)
Karly says
@Heather,
Sorry it’s taken so long to respond! I have way too many fonts, so it took me awhile to find! It’s called “Hill House.” 🙂
brighteyedbaker says
These look so good! I love the way you add typography to all of your photos too. But oh my gosh I would be linking the glaze off of that spatula too. I was thinking about making doughnuts last night; this must be a sign that it’s meant to be. 🙂 I really must get a doughnut pan, though.
Lorile says
How many doughnuts does this recipe make? I’d like to make a few dozen for the guys at the factory…..
Thanks!
Lori
Karly says
@Lorile,
It makes 6 donuts. 🙂
Jessica@AKitchenAddiction says
I need a couple of these right now!! You just can’t go wrong with browned butter!
JulieD says
Everything is better with browned butter. I mean it. These look so divine!!
Kim Stebbins says
And Btw, I am not a huge doughnut fan but these sound fabulous! Must be the browned butter!
Kim Stebbins says
That’s very cool! Mine never went to techy camp– just regular camp. But my son did go to a Nike tennis camp once and stayed in a dorm at Vanderbilt– and I was thinking the same kind of thoughts– especially since he stayed in my old dorm hall! Scarey! And he was a debater so he went to debate camps at college campuses too. But now he’s in law school, so I guess camp didn’t hurt one bit!
DARLENE EPPS says
IM THE MOTHER OF A 32 YEAR OLD AND 19 YR AND 14. I CALL MY 32 YR OLD IF I DONT HERE FROM HIM EVERY OTHER DAY. LOL
CANT WAIT TO TRY THE DONUTS.
Kim Stebbins says
Oh WOW! Your son gets to call you from camp?!? My kids were never allowed to call– only write once per week as required. Um, I bought them fill-in-the-blank-writing from camp stationery. ( yes, you can purchase that at fine stationere’s everywhere). I even pre-addressed and stamped the envelopes.i was lucky to get 2 letters– and they went for a month!
Karly says
@Kim Stebbins,
Fill in the blank stationery? How fun!
He’s at a computer camp learning to program video games, so it’s pretty techy. 😉
Joanne says
I think you two are probably even. He swam in lake michigan…,you ate these donuts. Fair trade?
Karly says
@Joanne,
I dunno. There’s not much I love more than a beach. Although, I suppose browned butter is right up there.
Pam says
He threw up in your mouth??? I thought I had some good Momma stories but you win!
Karly says
@Pam,
Hmm, can’t wait to see what my trophy looks like for that! 😉