Jess here with an especially sweet Perfect Bite. Today I’d like to celebrate the most important meal of the day…breakfast. On the weekends I like to step up my breakfast game with a more indulgent, often more time-consuming meal, but weekdays are typically reserved for quick breakfast bars or a hurried bowl of cereal. Clearly, my weekday brekky needs some work.
By God’s good graces, today’s recipe is quick enough to throw together before running out of my house for work. After the batter is whipped up, they bake about 15 minutes and then take a quick dip in butter and a cinnamon and sugar mixture. Simple and quick! And that’s how I bring a little weekend to my workweek, ladies and gentleman. Keep reading for the recipe!
Baked French Breakfast Donuts
Adapted from Cooks.com
Ingredients:
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 cup milk (I used whole milk)
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat donut pan generously with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
- Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Add egg; mix well.
- Sift flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg together. Add dry ingredients alternately with milk.
- Fill donut tins half full. Bake 15-20 minutes. Take out of pan immediately and swirl tops into melted butter, then sugar and cinnamon mixture. Makes 6-7 big donuts.
*Note: These work just as well in a muffin tin, too!
Oh my, these look crazy delicious!! They would be perfect for a cozy Sunday breakfast.
xo Andrea
Wonderful and Marvelous
Wow! These look amazing. Nice work, Jess.
xo,
Ashley
Thanks, Ashley! 🙂
These look incredible. I can’t wait to try out the recipe! I love that they’re baked and not friend–makes me feel a little less guilty!
-Alyssa
The Glossy Life
Exactly, Alyssa! Practically health food! 😉
They look amazing. I’ve got to try the muffin version. And your photos are wonderful, as usual.
Thanks so much, Kayleigh! 🙂
Mmm … 🙂
I don’t have a donut pan, but I do have a donut cutter. Can you use that instead?
Because these are baked and not fried, a donut cutter probably won’t help. I’d just pop them in a muffin tin instead, Aimee!
I want to try these
These were amazing. I made them earlier tonight. Thanks 🙂
SO great to hear, Ann! 🙂 xo
these look delicious! and I love that they don’t need any fancy ingredients.
Wow, those look great!
They look like they need more sugar…
The donut itself isn’t overly sweet because of the extra-sweet topping. 😉
I just heart Jess… These look amazing.
I heart you back, Tiff! xo
After reading the recipe I def want to make them. I think they might be nice with jam and butter? Rather than dipped in sugar
Terrific can,t wite
I’ve made something very similar to these out if the PW Cooks cookbook. They are called French Breakfast Puffs and are in muffin form. I love theidea of putting these into a donut. I can wait to try them!!
Ugh, I hate typos!!
To clarity, I can’t wait to try them! Lol.
These look amazing! Does the cooking time need to be adjusted if using the muffin tin instead?
I would imagine that it would still be in the same range. Set the timer for 15 minutes and just keep an eye on them. 😉
This sounds much like a recipe I use for muffins, called french puffs. While they are still warm I dip them in melted butter and then roll in cinnamon/sugar. Delish!!
Made these today and they are amazing. Fluffy and sugary. I made the muffin version and was very happy! Thanks for sharing
SO pleased to hear that, Laura!! Glad you liked them! xo
SO pleased to hear that, Laura!! Glad you liked them! xo
These doughnuts look incredible!! I love that they are baked and not fried! 🙂
Wow, these look amazing!
I do not have a muffin tin or a donut pan. I also don’t have a cookie sheet. Would it be possible to put this mixture in a 9×13 pan and make something like a donut cake or what would be a better alternative I solve this dilemma. I really would like to try these soon! Please help!
I doubled the recipe and baked it in a 13×9 pan. It turned out wonderful and tastes so good!
I sometimes go to Cooks.com to search for recipes, but have to admit that the original wouldn’t have inspired me… it’s your lovely food photography that did the trick! I noticed you also increased the nutmeg (which I LOve). The texture looks lovely, & I like that they are not fried! I’ll be trying these for sure (although I think I might use buttermilk instead of milk for a slightly moister texture (substituting 1/4 tsp of baking soda for the baking powder) and because I love the subtle flavour you get from using buttermilk in baked goods).
Thanks for posting this cheerful recipe!
~ marie, the EpicureanPiranha
these look amazing for the muffin tin method how many spoons are you putting into each muffin tin?
I just made these!!! My house smells unbelievable! I did half whole wheat flour and half all purpose and added cinnamon to the dough with the nutmeg! Delish!! Thanks!
Whipped these up this morning for sunday breakfast, super easy and so light and delicious, perfect balance of sweet and buttery! Thanks!
These were great & super easy…no buttermilk that so many doughnut recipes call for!! My kids don’t like nutmeg so I used cinnamon instead and added 1/2 tsp of vanilla. Made about 60 mini doughnuts.
I’ve made this recipe twice now but the last time I reduced a cup of apple cider down to about a 1/4 cup and added it my mixture for apple cider donuts. They came out as fluffy and delicious as the first time AND had the delicious apple cider flavor I had been craving!
These look great! How much would you say the salt amounts to in grams?
Made these tonight and I must say, they are awesome and so easy! Love it! Thanks for sharing!
Have a muffin pan in the oven right now, I used a “special” butter so I’ll probably forget to tell you if they were good. 🙂
Do they keep overnight well to have the next morning? I wanted to bake them the day before an early work meeting?
They keep overnight! They were great in the morning! I doubled the recipe and made them in muffin tins. Got 18 muffins. They were very yummy!
I made the muffin version used half the sugar/butter and whole wheat flour. Delicious! Husband digs them too! Thanks!
Almost baked!!!! MMMM they smell great…I’ll let you know soon.
..
I just finished eating two of these yummy donuts /muffins‚ ave my husband two & BROUGHT TWO TO MY NEIGHBOR ~ She called just now and LOVED THEM)
They are quite good ~ I ate one very hot and another just a bit warm I personally liked the warm one best because I could taste the nutmeg and the texture was more like a doughnut. 🙂 ALL THAT SAID‚ THEY were very good. BTW ~The batter was fantastic:).
They took about 30 minutes to back.Every stove may be different?
I’m a messy baker and this was fast with easy clean-up time.
.~ SIMPLE? OUI !!
These look very good will have to give them a try
I wonder if not dipped in sugar how they might be with butter and jam…thoughts?
Do you think you could use almond milk instead? My daughter can’t have soy or any dairy so would almond milk be an ok substitute??? Thanks (I was planning on just trying to make these with her nutlex
I just made these this morning in muffin form and they are so good! Light and fluffy with a hint of spice and a super delicious cinnamon sugar topping. These would be perfect for a brunch because they look and taste like they were a lot of work, but they’re not 😀
I made these today and was blown away! They are easy and full of flavor. Simply Sinful!
Am making them tomorrow for brunch…they look wonderful!!! Merci
So easy & delicious. I whipped them up before a new client dropped in & I think I’ll need a plate of them for every wedding appointment.
Delicious. Baked them in Texas muffin pans and they took 10 mins longer but worth the wait.
Hi,
I baked them in a muffin pan for 20 minutes. I added some more milk and they turned out very nice. In my case the nutmeg is a little too strong (I grated a nutmeg nut and didn’t measure),
but this is something I could make more often. It’s light and sweet. Thank you for sharing!
These were delicious!! My daughters (9 &11) just made them in the Babycakes donut maker. Cooked in about 3 minutes and tasted great! 🙂 Had a little trouble getting the topping to the right consistency but it didn’t affect the taste at all! Thanks for sharing!
These look wonderful. Do you think substituting almond milk for the milk would still work?
Just made the muffin version of these with some minor amendments based on what was in my cupboard. I ended up with a rich flavour and delicate texture. I think they can be considered a big success!
These are amazing and so easy. They will be repeated in my household.
Not very good at all. Dry and cakey. About to throw all of mine away. Ugh. I hate wasting supplies!
These were a HUGE success with my family. Personally, I liked them better after they had completely cooled =)
Aaaaamazing! !!! I didn’t have a donut pan so I made mini muffins. .. the kids inhaled them
I am making these as I speak are in the oven, I am using a muffin tray ^_^ the better tasted nice ^_^
I am 6 months pregnant and got a craving for donuts and remembered that I had pinned this a while back. They were so easy to make and tasted so light and airy. I thought the nutmeg might be too heavy but when I tasted it with the cinnamon sugar it was perfect! I definitely agree with the other reviews that these taste better at room temperature. I used a muffin tin and now I can’t wait to go out and get a donut pan to make these again!
I just finished baking, my son, he is a donuts lover, he said its great.
I used less milk, than use pastry cutter, to me its more test like health scones, but really good.
How many “muffins” does it make?
Is it 360 degrees F or C ?
Love your photos and the recipe !!
Awesome donuts, so easy to make! I injected jam in the middle of them, the kids loved it.
I made these today for Christmas breakfast and everybody loved them!
I made them today and they came out perfect! Thanks for the recipe! Love it!
Can i use a donut maker with this recipe?
These were a big hit! Nice and easy too! Thanks!