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Baked Donut Holes deliver everything you love about the donut shop box, soft vanilla cake, sweet double dipped glaze, a shower of toasted coconut, with zero frying and one mini muffin tin, and the batch I pulled out on a slow Saturday morning had Maddie and Lizzie negotiating over the last one by nine. If baked breakfast treats are your weakness, my baked chocolate chip cake donuts are the full size sibling.
Seventeen minutes start to finish, and the double glaze dip is the secret that makes them taste bakery bought.
Baked Donut Holes Quick Look
- 🕒 Prep Time: 10 minutes
- 🌡️ Cook Time: 7 minutes
- ⏳ Total Time: 17 minutes
- 🍽️ Serving: 20 donut holes
- ⚡ Calories: 93kcal
- 🌶️ Flavor Profile: Soft vanilla cake under sweet glaze with nutty toasted coconut
- ✋ Difficulty: Easy, it is muffin method simple, right on par with my banana nut muffins
Quick Answer
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a mini muffin tin. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in one bowl, and mix melted butter, egg, vanilla, sugar, and milk in another. Combine the wet and dry, fold in toasted coconut, and fill the mini muffin cups halfway. Bake 6 to 7 minutes, cool on a rack, then whisk powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk into a glaze. Dip each donut hole once, let it set, dip again, and top immediately with more coconut.
Jump to:
Why This Recipe Works
Click to see the technique science
- The mini muffin tin is the donut hole mold. Half filled cups bake into perfectly round two bite domes, no special donut pan and no pot of oil required.
- Muffin method keeps them tender. Mixing wet into dry just until combined develops minimal gluten, which is why the crumb stays soft instead of bready.
- Six minutes is really all they need. Tiny portions bake fast, and pulling them the second a toothpick comes out clean is what keeps them moist.
- The double dip builds a real glaze shell. Coat one sets a thin base, coat two clings to it and dries into that crackly donut shop finish a single dip cannot manage.
- Toasted coconut goes on wet glaze. Garnishing immediately after the second dip glues the coconut in place before the glaze sets.
- Room temperature egg blends better. It emulsifies into the melted butter instead of seizing it, giving an even batter and even domes.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- No fryer, no yeast, no waiting, real donut flavor in 17 minutes flat.
- The double dipped glaze plus toasted coconut makes them look and taste like a fancy bakery box.
- They vanish from a brunch table faster than my strawberry scones.
Key Ingredients
Pantry staples, one mini muffin tin, zero fryer.
- All Purpose Flour: The base. Spooned and leveled, not packed, so the crumb bakes light and cakey.
- Toasted Coconut: The signature. Folded into the batter and showered on top, toasting deepens it from sweet to nutty.
- Melted Butter: The richness. Cooled slightly so it blends with the egg instead of scrambling it.
- Powdered Sugar: The glaze. Whisked with milk and vanilla into the double dip coating that makes these taste like the donut shop.
- Baking Powder: The lift. Three quarters of a teaspoon domes each mini muffin cup into a perfect little sphere.
See recipe card for exact quantities.
Variations and Substitutions
One little donut, a full rotation of costumes.
- Cinnamon sugar: Skip the glaze, brush the warm donut holes with melted butter, and roll them in cinnamon sugar.
- Chocolate glazed: Whisk 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder into the glaze for the chocolate frosted version.
- Lemon poppy seed: Add lemon zest to the batter and swap the glaze milk for lemon juice.
- Bunny tails: Use plain shredded coconut on half the batch for an adorable Easter basket look.
- Pancake energy: Love a breakfast dessert hybrid? My pancake cupcakes take the same idea to the frosting aisle.
How to Make Baked Donut Holes
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and grease a mini muffin tin with baking spray. In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, and salt, then set it aside.
- In a separate bowl, mix the cooled melted butter with the vanilla and egg. Whisk in the sugar and milk until fully combined.
- Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients and mix just until no dry lumps remain, do not overmix. Fold in the toasted coconut.
- Fill the mini muffin cups halfway. Bake for 6 to 7 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Turn the donut holes out onto a wire rack to cool.
- While they cool, whisk the powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk together until the glaze is smooth and runny. Using two forks or your fingers, dip each donut hole until fully coated and set it back on the rack.
- Dip each donut hole a second time, using up all the glaze. Immediately after the second dip, top with more toasted coconut or plain shredded coconut so it sticks. Let the glaze set, then serve.
Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Fill the cups only halfway. That is the difference between round two bite domes and flat topped mini muffins.
- Watch the oven like a hawk. At 6 to 7 minutes there is no margin, an extra two minutes bakes them dry.
- Cool before glazing. Warm donut holes melt the glaze into a puddle, ten patient minutes earns you the pretty shell.
- Set a rack over parchment. The double dip drips, and parchment under the rack turns cleanup into one crumple.
- Toast the coconut in a dry skillet. Two to three minutes, stirring constantly, transforms it from sweet confetti to deep nutty crunch.
- Thin the glaze as you go. It thickens while it sits, a half teaspoon of milk brings it right back to dipping consistency.
Serving Ideas and Suggestions
Baked donut holes are brunch table gold, pile them into a pyramid on a cake stand and serve with coffee, the two bite size means everyone takes three. Set them out for brunch next to my sour cream coffee cake and watch which plate empties first.
They are also a genius holiday breakfast, the coconut snow makes them Christmas ready and the bunny tail version owns Easter morning. My eggnog French toast holds down the fork and knife end of the same holiday brunch.
For parties, stick a toothpick in each and call it a donut hole board, they disappear like popcorn. For a dessert board, pile them beside my sprinkle covered cake truffles, two bite treats all around.
They are best the day they are made, but a night in an airtight container just makes the glaze soak in like a crumb donut, which is its own kind of wonderful.
Baked Donut Holes FAQs
Store baked donut holes in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days. The glaze slowly soaks into the cake, so day two tastes like a glazed crumb donut rather than a crisp shelled one, still delicious, just softer. Skip the refrigerator, it dries out the crumb. If you want to hold them longer, freeze them unglazed and dip them fresh after thawing.
Yes, and the best strategy is freezing them naked. Bake, cool completely, and freeze the unglazed donut holes in a freezer bag for up to 2 months, then thaw at room temperature and double dip in fresh glaze before serving, they taste just baked. Fully glazed donut holes can also be frozen, but the glaze turns matte and slightly sticky as it thaws, so save that route for leftovers only.
Two culprits cover almost every dry batch, overbaking and overmixing. At 350 degrees these need only 6 to 7 minutes, and every minute past a clean toothpick costs you moisture, tiny cakes have no buffer. When combining wet and dry, stir just until the flour disappears, a few small lumps are fine. Overmixing develops gluten and turns the tender crumb bready. Also measure flour spooned and leveled, packed flour makes a stiff batter.
A mini muffin pan gives the truest two bite donut hole, but a regular muffin tin works, fill the cups a third full and bake 9 to 11 minutes for donut tops instead of holes. A cake pop pan is the other great option and bakes fully round spheres with the same batter and timing. Whatever pan you use, grease it well, the glaze forgives a lot but a stuck donut hole does not.
They are certainly lighter, at about 93 calories per glazed donut hole, since baking skips the oil absorption that frying adds, and there is no yeast dough soaking up a fryer. They are still a glazed treat, not a health food, but the portion control of a two bite dome plus no frying oil makes them the gentler choice, and your kitchen does not smell like a fry station afterward.
A simple vanilla glaze of powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla is the classic, and the double dip technique matters more than the recipe, the first coat seals the crumb and the second builds that donut shop shell. You want it smooth and runny, about the thickness of heavy cream. From that base, swap in cocoa for chocolate, lemon juice for citrus, or maple syrup for part of the milk, the dipping method never changes.
Made these baked donut holes? Leave a comment and a star rating below, and tell me, toasted coconut or the fluffy bunny tail look?
Baked Donut Holes
Ingredients
Donuts:
- 3/4 Cup all-purpose flour not packed
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 Tbls unsalted butter melted and cooled slightly
- 1 large egg room temp
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 Cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 Cup milk
- 2 tablespoons toasted coconut or flake coconut
Vanilla Glaze:
- 1 3/4 Cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 Cup milk
- plus more coconut for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a mini muffin tin with baking spray. Mix the flour with the baking powder and salt in a medium-sized bowl, set aside
- In a separate bowl, mix in the cooled melted butter with the vanilla and egg. Whisk in the sugar and milk until combined.
- Add the wet mixture to dry and mix until there are no dry lumps, do not overmix. Fold in the coconut.
- Fill the mini muffin tins halfway up. Bake for 6-7 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool.
Vanilla Glaze:
- While donuts are cooling, make the glaze by whisking the powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk together until smooth and runny.
- Using two fork or your fingers, dip each donut hole until fully coated. Place the dipped donuts back onto the wire rack.
- Repeat and dip the donuts again in the glaze using it all. Immediately after the second dunking, top with either more toasted coconut or plain shredded coconut. Serve and enjoy!
Video
Notes
- If you want a more potent coconut flavor you can swap out the vanilla in the donuts or glaze for coconut extract.
- You can easily double this recipe to make more.
- We like to use regular coconut and toasted coconut as toppings, you can do both or just one.
- These can be frozen, see my tips above.
Nutrition
Love This Recipe?
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Amazingly delicious! Thanks for linking up with What’s Cookin’ Wednesday!
Hi there! Visiting from the Bewitchin’ Projects link party. This looks yummy and adorable! Thanks so much for sharing the recipe!
My kids would love these! Thank you for sharing on Show Me Saturday!
wholly molly, I can almost taste this yumminess, Definitely on my my must make list. Thank you for sharing at the Thursday Favorite Things blog hop. Watch for your feature on Monday xo
Adorable! And there’s coconut- pinned! =)
You had me at donut! (0: especially donut holes, those are my favorite! And what a cute way to incorporate them into spring!
Yum! Anything with coconut gets pinned!
I think I’d love to have some of these on my breakfast table! I’m following on Pinterest!
Thanks for sharing with VMG206 Brag About It
Dana, your recipes always look so amazing. These look divine.