Pink Sprinkle Donuts

Classic, fluffy and flavored with orange, these pink sprinkle donuts are topped with a pink glaze made from hibiscus orange tea and colorful sprinkles.

What is the pink glaze made of?

Traditionally pink sprinkle donuts are made with a strawberry frosting. To me they usually just taste sweet so for this recipe I wanted them to taste pink if ya know what I mean. This recipe uses hibiscus tea and a splash of lemon juice but blood orange juice or cherry juice will work too!

What type of pot is best for frying donuts?

I like to use a cast iron dutch oven for frying. The walls of a dutch oven are tall and the pot is thick which means it will retain the heat well. A thinner pot will often overheat the oil or lead to it cooling off too fast.

Raised Donuts vs. Cake Donuts

I love a traditional cake donut but there’s something about a soft, fluffy raised donut that I love with a bright tart glaze. Cake donuts are raised using baking powder whereas raised donuts are made using yeast. Don’t be intimidated by raised donuts, they’re much easier than you think!

Additional Recipes to try:

• Bavarian Cream Donuts
• Chocolate Cake Donuts
• Cream and Jam filled Donuts

Tips for making Classic Glazed Donuts

• The key to a flavorful donut is the orange zest and nutmeg in the dough so don’t leave these out!
• Yeasted dough is not complicated as long as you follow a few rules. Eggs and butter should be room temperature, your milk should be slightly warmer than room temperature, and the salt should never come in direct contact with the yeast.
• This is a sticky dough but it will come together, just be patient. I often turn the mixer to a higher speed at the start just to get the dough going and then turn it down once the dough comes together.
• Heat the oil low and slow. Start heating the oil before the donuts are ready and do it over medium low heat. If you turn the heat on high to quickly heat the oil it will get too hot and be difficult to bring it back down.
• Use a thermometer! I use a candy thermometer for the oil, just make sure you are checking the temperature regularly. Don’t let the oil get over 360 F or below 340 F.
• The donuts should be puffy before frying. But not too puffy, they should be about twice as tall as when you first cut them out. Because they will be soft and puffy be gentle when handling them so you don’t dent them.
• These are best glazed warm but not hot. If they’re too hot the glaze will just dissolve into the donuts so let them cool a bit first.

Ingredients

• Sugar: White granulated sugar is used in the dough and powdered sugar is used for the glaze.
• Orange Zest: The zest of one orange is used to flavor the dough of these doughnuts.
• All purpose flour: All purpose flour is best for these doughnuts, I haven’t tried any other flours for this recipe.
• Nutmeg: A bit of freshly grated nutmeg is not overpowering but adds delicious flavor to the donuts.
• Yeast: This recipe uses instant dry yeast but fresh yeast works too, just be sure to adjust the amount.
• Egg: One whole large egg is used in the dough, make sure it is at room temperature.
• Butter: A little butter gives the dough its soft richness. I used unsalted and added salt but salted butter works too.
• Milk: Any milk should work for this dough, I usually use whole milk!
• Salt: A little fine sea salt enhances the flavors of the donuts. Plus I like to top them with a bit of flaky salt but that’s totally optional!
• Vanilla: A splash of vanilla extract enhances the flavors in the dough.
• Oil: A neutral oil is used to fry the donuts. I use vegetable oil but canola or avocado oil will work too! Just be sure to use a neutral oil with a high smoke point.
• Hibiscus tea: I used the passion tea from tazo which is hibiscus and orange but to be honest a pure hibiscus tea would be better! That being said any bright and zingy pink tea will work.
• Lemon juice: a little squeeze of lemon juice balances out the sweetness of the powdered sugar in the glaze.

How to make Pink Sprinkle Donuts

• Boil water and pour 100 grams of hot water over 2 hibiscus tea bags into a heat safe mug. Set aside to brew, don’t worry about the recommended steeping time.

Dough

• In the bowl of a stand mixer add in the granulated sugar and orange zest. Rub the zest into the sugar with your fingers until the sugar clumps and is fragrant.
• Add in the flour, yeast, and freshly grated nutmeg. Whisk to combine.
• Next, add in the egg, soft butter, vanilla, milk, and salt.
• Use the dough hook attachment and knead until smooth. This can take up to 20 minutes so be patient. It’s also a small amount of dough so scrape the sides of the bowl as needed.
• I like to start the mixer on a higher speed to bring the dough together and then turn the speed down for kneading.
• Once smooth shape the dough into a ball and place back in the mixing bowl. Cover with a lid or plastic and set somewhere warm until puffy and doubled in size.

Cut the doughnuts

• Liberally dust a baking sheet with flour.
• Once big and puffy, knock the air out of the dough and use a bit of flour to roll the dough out until it’s about 1/2″ thick.
• Use a round biscuit cutter (or a glass) that’s 4″-5″ in diameter to cut out as many circles as you can. I can usually cut 4 from the first go. Then use a smaller circle cutter between 1/2″-3/4″ diameter to cut out the centers.
• Place the cut donuts on the floured baking sheet along with their donut holes (aka the centers you cut out).
• Knead the dough scraps back together and set back in the bowl and cover. Leave to rest in the bowl for about 10 minutes.
• Meanwhile, cover the already cut donuts with a sheet of plastic so they don’t dry out.

Frying

• Add a thermometer to the side of a large heavy bottomed pot, such as a cast iron dutch oven. Then pour in 1.5 liters of a neutral oil.
• Place the pot over medium low heat and bring it to 360 F while the donuts puff. Make sure it doesn’t go past 360 F.
• After 10 minutes, take the remaining dough out of the bowl and roll it out again and try to cut two more doughnuts out. Add them to the floured baking sheet.
• Place a wire cooling rack onto a second baking sheet and place it close to the oil pot.
• Once the oil is hot and the first doughnuts have puffed to twice as tall it’s time to fry.
• Gently lower two donuts into the hot oil, one at a time and fry for about 1 minute or until golden brown. Then flip and fry for another minute. Make sure the oil stays around 350 F.
• Once brown on both sides, use a fork or a metal spider to lift the doughnuts out of the hot oil and onto the wire rack.
• Allow the oil to reheat to between 350 F and 360 F if not already and then continue frying the doughnuts in batches of two.
• Last but not least fry any doughnut holes you cut out.

Glazing

• Once the doughnuts have all been fried whisk together 200 grams of powdered sugar with two teaspoons of lemon juice and as much of the hibiscus tea as you need to get a glaze that is slightly thicker than honey. If it get’s too runny, add more powdered sugar.
• Working with one doughnut at a time, dunk the top side of the donut into the glaze, gently press down and give it a little twist as you pull it back out of the glaze.
• Quickly flip it upright, place it back on the wire rack and sprinkle with your sprinkles of choice. Optionally also add a little flaky salt on top!
• Enjoy fresh and warm.

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