The most delicious high altitude baked gingerbread doughnuts, flavored with molasses and a blend of warm spices, then coated in cinnamon sugar. You’ll love this easy baked gingerbread doughnuts recipe for a special holiday breakfast!
Looking for more high altitude gingerbread recipes? Don’t miss this gingerbread sheet cake with powdered sugar snowflakes, decorated gingerbread cookies, and gingerbread maple crumb coffee cake.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Simple and Easy. You only need simple pantry ingredients for today’s recipe, and the cake batter comes together with just a bowl, whisk and spatula. These have all the flavor of gingerbread cookies in a soft, fluffy baked donut. And since they’re so quick to make, you’ll be spending less time in the kitchen, and more time with your loved ones.
Soft, Fluffy, Buttery. The combination of all purpose flour and whole wheat flour adds a wholesome flavor, but with sour cream and melted butter in the cake, they are tender, soft, buttery, and simply wonderful.
Make Ahead. Because these donuts stay soft and moist for days, you can even bake them at night, then coat them in the cinnamon sugar mixture in the morning before serving. These are perfect for any special occasion, from birthdays to Thanksgiving or Christmas morning, where you don’t want to spend too much time in the kitchen. A holiday breakfast has never been quicker!
High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients and Tools
- Flour. Use a combination of all purpose flour and whole wheat flour to give the donuts structure, strength and a wholesome flavor.
- Sugar. Granulated sugar and dark brown sugar adds sweetness and moisture to the cake. You’ll also need some sugar for the cinnamon sugar coating after baking the donuts.
- Baking Powder. Leavening agent, so the donuts rise.
- Salt. Balances the sweetness.
- Spices. A blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger and allspice is just delicious in these baked gingerbread doughnuts.
- Egg. Adds moisture and strength.
- Sour Cream, Milk and Butter. The fat and moisture in these ingredients add flavor, richness, and a tender texture.
- Vanilla Extract. Flavor.
- Molasses. The molasses, as well as the spices, gives these doughnuts a classic gingerbread flavor. Be sure to use “original” molasses, and not Blackstrap, as Blackstrap molasses are too dark and bitter.
Instructions
Doughnuts
- Preheat the oven to 375 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Spray your doughnut pans with non-stick baking spray.This recipe makes enough batter for about 12 standard-sized donuts (around 2 1/2 – 3 inches) or 3 dozen mini donuts. If you don’t have enough pans, let the batter rest at room temperature while you bake the donuts in batches.
- In a bowl, whisk together both flours with the granulated sugar, baking powder, salt and spices, until everything is evenly distributed.
- Separately, whisk together the egg, sour cream and milk. Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients, along with the brown sugar, melted butter, vanilla extract and molasses. Use a spatula or a whisk to briefly stir everything together into a thick batter.
- Fill a 16-inch disposable piping bag half full with the batter (you can refill as needed), and snip off the tip. Pipe the batter into the greased donut pans, filling the molds half full. Don’t overfill your donut pans, or the batter will spill over the molds, creating a little muffin top on the donuts.
- Bake the donuts for about 12 minutes (for standard sized donuts) or around 8-10 minutes (for mini sized donuts), until the donuts spring back when gently touched. Cool in the pans for several minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack.
Cinnamon Sugar
- In a bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon. While the donuts are still warm, coat them in the cinnamon sugar.
- Baker’s Note: Sometimes baked donuts can have a slight “crust” on them right after baking, so that the sugar doesn’t want to stick very well. You can opt to very lightly brush (do not dip or submerge) the donuts in melted butter, to help the sugar stick.
- But if you have the time to wait a bit, another easy solution, without adding extra butter, is to coat them in the sugar while warm, then place them in an airtight container. Place the lid on and let the donuts sit for at least 30 minutes to cool. The steam will be trapped inside the container, and the moisture will soften the crust on the donuts. Coat the donuts again in the cinnamon sugar, and it will stick much better.
- You can even bake the donuts the night before, store them in an airtight container at room temperature overnight, and coat them in the cinnamon sugar in the morning. They’ll be just as soft and moist as they are when freshly baked.
Recipe Variations
Baked Spice Donuts
For easy baked spiced donuts without the gingerbread flavor, you can make a few simple adjustments:
- Omit the molasses, and replace with an equal amount of granulated sugar.
- Instead of dark brown sugar, you can use light brown sugar, or even just granulated sugar for a lighter flavor.
Baked Powdered Donuts
Instead of the granulated cinnamon sugar coating, try a powdered sugar coating. These are a bit messier to eat, though! If you think you’ll have leftover donuts, wait to coat them in powdered sugar until just before serving, so it doesn’t melt and become sticky.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!
Frequently Asked Questions
Store leftover donuts in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days to keep them soft and fresh tasting.
No, you cannot. You need the molded pan for the batter to bake into a ring shape. Most “standard” sized donut pans have rings measuring about 2 1/2 – 3 inches in diameter.
You can just use all-purpose flour instead of the whole wheat flour, if you prefer, but the texture of the whole wheat flour is so good.
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Did you love today’s recipe? Please rate the recipe and let me know in the comments what you thought! Also, be sure to follow Curly Girl Kitchen on Instagram, and tag me when you try one of my recipes so I can see all your delicious creations!
High Altitude Baked Gingerbread Doughnuts
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
Ingredients
Doughnuts
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- ¾ cup whole wheat flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- ¼ tsp ground allspice
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup full fat sour cream
- ¼ cup whole milk
- ½ cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp molasses
Cinnamon Sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
Instructions
Doughnuts
- Preheat the oven to 375 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Spray your doughnut pans with non-stick baking spray.
- This recipe makes enough batter for about 12 standard-sized donuts (around 2 1/2 – 3 inches) or 3 dozen mini donuts. If you don't have enough pans, let the batter rest at room temperature while you bake the donuts in batches.
- In a bowl, whisk together both flours with the granulated sugar, baking powder, salt and spices, until everything is evenly distributed.
- Separately, whisk together the egg, sour cream and milk. Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients, along with the brown sugar, melted butter, vanilla extract and molasses. Use a spatula or a whisk to briefly stir everything together into a thick batter.
- Fill a 16-inch disposable piping bag half full with the batter (you can refill as needed), and snip off the tip. Pipe the batter into the greased donut pans, filling the molds half full. Don't overfill your donut pans, or the batter will spill over the molds, creating a little muffin top on the donuts.
- Bake the donuts for about 12 minutes (for standard sized donuts) or around 8-10 minutes (for mini sized donuts), until the donuts spring back when gently touched. Cool in the pans for several minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack.
Cinnamon Sugar
- In a bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon. While the donuts are still warm, coat them in the cinnamon sugar.
- Baker's Note: Sometimes baked donuts can have a slight "crust" on them right after baking, so that the sugar doesn't want to stick very well. You can opt to very lightly brush (do not dip or submerge) the donuts in melted butter, to help the sugar stick.But if you have the time to wait a bit, another easy solution, without adding extra butter, is to coat them in the sugar while warm, then place them in an airtight container. Place the lid on and let the donuts sit for at least 30 minutes to cool. The steam will be trapped inside the container, and the moisture will soften the crust on the donuts. Coat the donuts again in the cinnamon sugar, and it will stick much better.You can even bake the donuts the night before, store them in an airtight container at room temperature overnight, and coat them in the cinnamon sugar in the morning. They'll be just as soft and moist as they are when freshly baked.
Christy P
Delicious! Thank you for the wonderful recipe. Light and flavorful.
Lauran
I’m obsessed!!!! And now I’m in the middle of Spring, about to be in a complete and total baking binge because of the hopes and excitement for all of the other recipes. Your page is wonderfully dangerous! Forever thankful for your recipes! I’d like to sub and try new things as well. And play with texture on this one. I’m new at baking and it helps to have a recipe that matches the desired outcome so I can learn how to get different outcomes for different recipes!
Pam
Hi, what adjustments would we make for low altitude please? We want to make these delicious donuts!
Thank you.
Heather Smoke
Please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for various altitudes: https://curlygirlkitchen.com/baking-faqs/
Jennifer
The flavor is great, I made two mistakes and will definitely try again! 1) I needed to spray more non-stick spray, especially along the top edge and center spot. Most got stuck and that was a bummer, and 2) my pan may be small, it would make 12 plus maybe two muffins?
Will be trying again this week as I want to take to a party so this was a trial run. They do taste wonderful m!
Heather Smoke
Even “standard” doughnut pans can vary in size – I have two pans that are different brands, and one is smaller than the other, but between the two of them, I do always get 12 doughnuts. Yes, be sure to spray the pans thoroughly!