These delicious Christmas Donuts are filled with Christmas sprinkles and topped with chocolate ganache! They’re baked donuts, so are less messy than fried. They’re the perfect easy treat for holiday breakfasts and desserts!
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Christmas donuts are the perfect festive treat! With Christmas sprinkles inside and out, these baked donuts are incredibly good.
This recipe is adapted from my sprinkle-filled Birthday cake donuts. For more festive treats, try my baked Red Velvet Donuts and Christmas Sprinkle Cookies.
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Why you’ll love these donuts
- Made with pantry friendly ingredients!
- Baked not fried.
- Sprinkles inside and out!
- Quick and easy!
- Topped with two ingredient chocolate ganache!
Ingredients
Below is some useful information about some of the ingredients.
- All purpose flour: Spoon flour into measuring cup rather than dredging your measuring cup through the flour. Dredging a measuring cup packs too much flour and can result in donuts that are dry.
- Brown sugar: Use light or dark, packed brown sugar.
- 1 egg: Use a large egg. Take it out of the fridge at least 30 minutes before baking so that it’s at room temperature.
- Unsalted butter: Melt the butter in the microwave.
- Buttermilk: Use room temperature buttermilk. Buttermilk adds a delicious flavor and helps give the donuts a soft, tender texture.
- Christmas sprinkles: Make sure to use jimmies sprinkles inside the donuts and not nonpareils.
See the recipe card for the full list of ingredients.
Substitutions & Variations
- If you don’t have any on hand you can make your own! It’s not quite the same, but it works as a substitute! This Buttermilk Substitute post from My Baking Addiction will explain how.
Instructions
- Make the donut batter. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Whisk until combined then fold in the sprinkles.
- Fill the donut pans.
- Bake. 8-10 minutes until the edges are lightly golden or a toothpick comes out clean.
- Make the chocolate ganache.
- Decorate. Dunk cooled donuts in the chocolate ganache. Top with sprinkles. Allow ganache to set.
Recipe FAQs
I have heard you can bake donuts in muffin tins, but I haven’t tried it. If you try it, I would recommend adjust the baking time as needed.
I wouldn’t call these donuts healthy since they are a dessert. They are baked not fried, so they are healthier than fried donuts.
These baked donuts are best when they are freshly baked. Store leftovers in an air tight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Expert Tips
- Use room temperature ingredients. Room temperature ingredients prevents the butter from hardening when you combine it with the wet ingredients.
- Be careful not to overmix the batter. Overmixing can cause the sprinkles to bleed.
- You’ll need a donut pan. I use these donut pans and I love them. My donut pans make six donuts each. I have two pans and bake them at the same time.
- Use a large zip lock bag to pipe the batter. Spoon the batter into the bag then snip a bottom corner off. Pipe the batter evenly into the pans.
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Christmas Donuts
Ingredients
FOR THE CHRISTMAS DONUTS
- 1¼ cup (156.25 g) all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon (1 teaspoon) baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon (1/4 teaspoon) nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon (1/2 teaspoon) cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon (1/2 teaspoon) salt
- 1/4 cup (55 g) brown sugar packed, light or dark
- 1/4 cup (50 g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon (1 teaspoon) pure vanilla extract
- 1 (1) egg room temperature*
- 4 tablespoons (56 g) unsalted butter melted
- 1/2 cup (118.29 ml) buttermilk * room temperature
- 1/3 cup (53.33 g) Christmas sprinkles plus more for decoration, optional
FOR THE CHOCOLATE GANACHE
- 4 ounces (113.4 g) semi-sweet chocolate chopped
- 1/4 cup (59.15 ml) heavy cream or heavy whipping cream
Instructions
Donuts
- Preheat the oven to 350 F and grease donut pans well with butter (preferable- for flavor) or nonstick spray. Lightly dust pans with flour. Tap out excess flour.
- In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon, sugars and salt.
- In a medium bowl whisk together the buttermilk, egg, vanilla, and melted butter. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Stir in the sprinkles. Be careful not to overmix. Overmixing may cause the sprinkles to bleed.
- Use a piping bag or zip lock bag with a corner snipped off or spoon to fill the dough into the molds evenly. For average sized baked donuts, fill molds half full. For larger donuts, fill them between 2/3 and 3/4 full.
- Bake 10-12 minutes until toothpick comes out dry or edges are lightly browned. Check for doneness with a toothpick. Let cool in the pans for 2-3 minutes then remove from pan and let donuts cool completely on wire rack.
Chocolate Ganache
- Chop chocolate using a serrated knife. Place the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl. In a small saucepan on low heat, heat the heavy cream til just before it starts to boil. Pour over the chopped chocolate. Do not stir.
- Allow to sit for 3 minutes then stir till smooth.
- Dunk cooled donuts into the ganache. Set donuts on a baking rack. Sprinkle with additional Christmas sprinkles, if desired. Allow ganache to set. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Please note that nutritional values are created by an online calculator and should only be used as an estimate.
*This site contains affiliate links which means that I may receive commissions for purchases made through these links. Please know I only link to products that I use and can recommend based on my experience!
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