Baked gingerbread mini donuts with a frosty peppermint glaze. The perfect treat for the holidays if you want to switch it up from baking chocolate cookies.
It’s full blown holiday season at the Gavin’s! We’ve got the Christmas tree up in record time, but James seems to keep wanting to pull all the decorations off. The ornaments are slowly navigating north up the tree, sound like something similar at your home? Hehe.
I made some mini peppermint gingerbread donuts that Santa and his reindeer can enjoy as they visit all of the good girls and boys!
Baked mini donuts are a fast and easy way to get your gingerbread fix in controlled portion sizes! That’s if you can eat only one. I found a mini donut pan from Michael’s. They also sell regular donut pans that I used to make caramel apple donuts. It’s helpful to purchase two mini donut pans, but they only take 6 minutes to bake so not much time waiting in between batches if you only have one.
The cake donut is a spiced mixture of gluten-free flour, molasses, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves, vanilla, and brown sugar. All of the warm winter flavors you would crave in a bite or two. The fresh gingerbread cakes then get dunked in sweet peppermint glaze.
You can’t have peppermint donuts without breaking out the mini candy canes!
Time to break out the rolling pin and crush those cute candy canes into bits!
I remember going ga-ga over these candy canes as a little girl, my parents let me eat way too much sugar. Not complaining, but it would have saved me from those extra visits to the dentist and a cavity or two, ha.
Red sprinkles and candy canes get dusted on top, the glaze sets and they are ready to be enjoyed by all of the elves roaming your kitchen.
Move over chocolate chip cookies Santa has a new favorite treat, peppermint gingerbread donuts! The kiddos will have a blast helping you mix, fill, glaze and top all of these mini donuts. They were just the right size for Baby James to nibble on and get a small sweet treat too.
Now that you’ve got your holiday baking off your checklist, have you bought and wrapped your presents yet? Amazon has been my shopping buddy, especially with the wish list option now. Fifteen-day Christmas countdown!
Recipe Science
Why do you use baking soda and baking powder in the recipe?
Baking soda and baking powder are both leavening agents to help the baked goods rise like these gingerbread donuts. Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) is alkaline and reacts with an acid (in this case molasses) to create carbon dioxide (bubbles) and water. This may not be enough to create a raised and light cake donut, so baking powder is added. It already combines both acid and base in one product, just the right amount to react together. It lifts the cake without leaving a bitter flavor because there are enough acid and base to neutralize each other.
Gingerbread Donuts with Peppermint Glaze
Ingredients
Gingerbread Donuts
- 1 cup gluten-free flour, or all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ground
- ½ teaspoon ginger, ground
- ¼ teaspoon allspice
- ⅛ teaspoon cloves
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ cup dark brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 3 tablespoons unsulphured molasses, Golden Barrel Supreme Baking
- ⅓ cup milk
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Peppermint Glaze
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- ¼ teaspoon peppermint extract
- 1 pinch kosher salt
- 2 ½ tablespoons milk
- 10 mini candy canes, crushed for topping
- sprinkles, (optional)
Instructions
Gingerbread Donuts
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly spray mini donut pan with non-stick cooking spray.
- In a large bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves, salt, and brown sugar.
- In a separate bowl whisk together egg, molasses, vanilla extract, milk, and butter.
- Stir dry mixture into the wet mixture and mix until just combined.
- Transfer batter to a pastry bag or a plastic bag with a corner cut off. Pipe batter into donut pan filling each cavity about half full.
- Bake for 5 to 6 minutes or until donut springs back when touched. Immediately remove from the pan and transfer to a wire rack to cool. While donuts are cooling, make the glaze.
Peppermint Glaze
- In a medium-sized microwave-safe bowl, whisk together powdered sugar, melted butter, peppermint, and salt. Stir in 2 tablespoons of milk, adding additional milk 1 teaspoon at a time to reach desired consistency and whisk until smooth.
- Dip the tops of donuts into the glaze, shaking off excess and return to wire rack. Use a toothpick to create a hole in the center of the donut glaze if needed.
- Top immediately with candy canes and sprinkles. If glaze begins to harden, warm in the microwave in 6 to 10-second intervals, whisk after heating. Allow glaze to harden before serving.
Equipment
Nutrition Facts
Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000-calorie diet. All nutritional information is based on estimated third-party calculations. Each recipe and nutritional value will vary depending on the brands you use, measuring methods, and portion sizes per household.
Natalie says
If I make them the day before, should I put them in the fridge overnight? Or counter?
Jessica Gavin says
Hi Natalie- If it’s just the donuts, then on the counter. If glazed, then you can leave on the counter but no more than 1 day. I like to glaze them the same day of serving 🙂
Stacy Swesey says
Could I use honey or maple syrup instead of molasses?
Jessica Gavin says
Hi Stacy- You could use maple syrup, but it won’t be as dark and have the characteristic gingerbread flavor.
Sherri Engeseth says
Could you freeze these
Jessica Gavin says
Hi Sherri- You could freeze them before you add on the coating and then rewarm in the oven before dipping and serving.
Kim Colonna says
Does it matter whether or not the flour has xantham gum in it?
Jessica Gavin says
Hi Kim- Usually for gluten-free flours the xantham gum helps with the structure of the baked good.
Ken Barfield says
Could you make this as gingerbread in a 9×9 dish and cut into squares before frosting? I don’t have a donut pan and don’t really want to buy one.
Jessica Gavin says
I think that would work Ken! The baking time would need to be increased, I would check at 10 minutes, and then every 3-5 minutes after until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Also, make sure to lightly grease the pan. Let me know how it turns out!
Juliana says
Hi there! Would I need to adjust this if I wanted to make regular sized donuts? These look delicious!
Jessica Gavin says
Hi Juliana! Bake for about 8 minutes or until edges just start to turn golden brown. Let me know how it turns out!
Jess | Make and Do Crew says
These look amazing! I wish I could just eat them right off my screen 🙂
Jessica Gavin says
Thank you Jess!