I usually mix-and-match multiple flavors in my bakes. I love coming up with delicious (and sometimes unexpected) flavor combinations. But, there are times that there's a single flavor that deserves all the spotlight! These Honey Doughnuts with Vanilla Honey Glaze are a delicious celebration of the wonderful floral flavor of honey!
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Honey Doughnuts with Vanilla Honey Glaze are soft, fluffy baked honey doughnuts with a flavorful vanilla bean-honey glaze! Perfect for breakfast, brunch, or an afternoon pick-me-up!
If you enjoy this recipe, check out the posts for my Honey Cookies, Strawberry Powdered Sugar Doughnuts, and Apple Cider Doughnuts!
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Ingredients
Honey Doughnut Ingredients
- Flour - Gives the doughnuts structure. I used all-purpose flour.
- Sugar - For sweetness and keeping the doughnuts soft and moist.
- Baking Powder & Baking Soda - For leavening.
- Cinnamon - For flavor. You can skip this if you'd like, but I enjoyed the little hint of cinnamon.
- Salt - To balance and enhance the flavors of the doughnuts.
- Eggs - To provide structure and a little leavening. You want your eggs to be at room temperature.
- Buttermilk - For flavor, richness, and moisture. You also want your buttermilk to be at room temperature. (Check out the Substitutions section below or the recipe notes for a quick substitution if you don't have any on-hand!)
- Honey - For flavor, sweetness, and moisture.
- Unsalted Butter, melted - For moisture and richness. Unsalted so that you control the amount of salt in the recipe.
- Vanilla Bean Paste - For flavor! It's no secret that I love vanilla bean paste. It's soooo tasty without the vanilla bean price tag (and it pretty much stays good forever). If you prefer to substitute, you can use an equal measure of vanilla extract.
If you're hesitant to buy buttermilk for just this recipe, check out my post with 15+ Recipes Using Buttermilk with tips on how to store it (you can freeze it!) and recipes to use it up!
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Vanilla Honey Glaze Ingredients
- Powdered Sugar - For sweetness, and because it dissolves and gives the glaze a smooth texture.
- Honey - For flavor, sweetness, and moisture.
- Vanilla Bean Paste - For flavor.
- Milk - To thin the glaze to the appropriate consistency. I used whole milk.
Instructions
With a few simple steps, you'll have freshly baked doughnuts! These honey glazed doughnuts are sure to please a crowd!
Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl and set aside.
Combine remaining ingredients in a small bowl and whisk to combine.
Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix until just incorporated.
Spoon or pipe the batter into a greased doughnut pan.
Hint: Take note of how filled the cavities are in the doughnut pan above! If you underfill or overfill, the doughnuts won't have quite an appropriate (round) shape.
Substitutions
Instead of buttermilk: If you don't have buttermilk, put 1 ¼ teaspoons vinegar OR lemon juice into a liquid measuring cup, then add enough milk (I find that 2% milkfat or greater works best) to come up to the 1 ¼ cup line. Let sit for 5 minutes, then it's ready for use!
Instead of vanilla bean paste: If you don't have it on-hand, you can use an equal measure of vanilla extract instead.
Instead of butter: If you don't have butter or prefer not to use it, you can use an equal measure of vegetable oil instead.
Variations
Honey Lavender: for this vibe, add 1 teaspoon of lavender paste to the doughnut batter or (½ teaspoon to the glaze).
Honey Strawberry: instead of the vanilla honey glaze, glaze the doughnuts with the strawberry glaze from my Lavender Pound Cake with Strawberry Glaze!
Honey Raspberry: instead of the vanilla honey glaze, use the glaze from my Raspberry and White Chocolate Loaf Cake instead!
Honey Blackberry: instead of the vanilla honey glaze, use the glaze from my Blackberry Lemon Bread!
Equipment
The one piece of equipment that you need to have for this recipe: a doughnut pan! I have owned a few brands of doughnut pans, and I like the one linked here best by far. If you prefer to make mini doughnuts, you can find a mini doughnut pan here.
Storage
I'll be up front: homemade doughnuts are best the same day. If you really want to make them in advance, I suggest making them the day before, cooling them completely, and storing in airtight containers. Wait to glaze until closer to when you plan to serve them. The longer these doughnuts sit, the more they absorb the glaze and the stickier they get. That said, we still had one left on day three, and my youngest ate it with gusto, sticky or not.
FAQ
You can make a quick substitution if you don't have buttermilk on-hand. For this recipe, put 1 ¼ teaspoons vinegar OR lemon juice into a liquid measuring cup, then add enough milk (I find that 2% milkfat or greater works best) to come up to the 1 ¼ cup line. Let sit for 5 minutes, then it's ready for use!
No. A different type (typically yeasted) dough is used for fried doughnuts. These doughnuts use a batter that can't be shaped for frying.
The little pieces of "honeycomb" are just melted white chocolate that I poured into molds. If you're interested in getting the molds for yourself, you can find them here.
Other Recipes You May Like
Honey Doughnuts with Vanilla-Honey Glaze
Ingredients
Honey Doughnuts:
- 2 cups flour
- 1½ cups sugar
- 1½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
- 1¼ cups buttermilk, at room temperature (see note)
- ¼ cup honey
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted
- 2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (see note)
Vanilla-Honey Glaze:
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (see note)
- 1-2 tablespoon milk (I used whole milk)
Instructions
For Doughnuts:
- Preheat oven to 325° F. Grease two doughnut pans (see note) and set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt). Set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk (see note), honey, melted butter, and vanilla bean paste (see note).
- Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Mix just until combined. Spoon or pipe the batter into the prepared pans (see note).
- Bake 12-14 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the doughnut comes out clean. (Mini doughnuts will bake in 8-10 minutes.) Allow doughnuts to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
For Glaze:
- In a small bowl, combine all glaze ingredients. I start with one tablespoon of milk, and then add more if the glaze seems too thick. Dip the tops of the doughnuts in the glaze. Allow glaze to set before serving.Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition information is provided as a courtesy and is only an estimate.
VictoriaK
These are so good! And that glaze...yum!
Amee
Yay! I'm so glad you enjoyed them, Victoria! Thanks so much for your review!
Rebecca
Just love how honey is the star in these! Yum!!
Amee
So glad you enjoyed them, Rebecca! Thanks so much for your review!