These Mini Pink Lemon Baked Donuts are lemony & slightly tart. Enjoy them for breakfast or serve in a party. Since they are mini, it’s totally acceptable to have more than 1 (or 2, 3, 6)!
Remember the Coffee Glazed Baked Chocolate Chip Donuts last year? Bryan and I loved them so much that I thought they will always remain our favorite baked donuts. I have to say I love these Pink Lemon Baked Donuts just as much or maybe even a little bit more. Nom…. Lemony donuts!
Before getting into the donuts, let’s talk about lemons!
Two weeks ago, I saw these gorgeous pink lemons in supermarket. Oh wow, I have never seen anything like that. These lemons have stripes. The young one have green stripes and the maturer one have pink stripes. The flesh inside is pink, like a grapefruit. How beautiful! Pink lemonade is not a myth! The taste of these lemons are slightly less tart than regular lemons. If you have some lucks, you maybe able to find them in Bristol Farms (where I got them).
These lemon donuts are based on the coffee donuts’ recipe. Instead of using chocolate chips and coffee glaze, I switched out for lemon zest and lemon juice. The main reason for using the same recipe is because of the great texture. The donuts are a little cakey with a bite to it. Perfect baked donuts! With the addition of the lemon zest, these donuts were lemony and fragrant. The acidity from the lemon juice make an excellent glaze. Everything was just right! Delicious goodness! I could easily eat a dozen of these at once. 😀
Mini Pink Lemon Baked Donuts
Ingredients
- ¼ cup sugar
- Zest from 2 pink lemons (Meyer lemon or regular lemon)
- 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons light brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter (at room temperature)
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 large egg
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup whole milk
Pink Lemon Glaze:
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon whole milk
- 2 – 3 tablespoons pink lemon juice
- pink food coloring (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425˚F (218˚C). Lightly grease a mini donut pan (If you have 2 pans, grease 2 pans.).
- In a small bowl, mix the sugar and lemon zests together. Add brown sugar. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter for 2 minutes. Add lemon sugars and vegetable oil. Beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg and beat to combine. With a spatula, stir in the baking powder, baking soda, salt and vanilla. Mix well.
- Continue using a spatula, stir and add the flour and milk to the butter mixture alternately in 3 additions, by starting and finishing with the flour. Mix until just combined. Do not overmix.
- Spoon the batter into a pipping bag or Ziploc bag, fill the donut pan with batter all the way up to the rim.
- Bake in the oven for about 6 – 8 minutes. Test the donuts with a toothpick for doneness. The toothpick should come out clean. Remove from oven and cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Transfer the donuts to a cooling rack and cool completely. If you have extra batter, clean and dry the donut pan. Lightly grease and repeat filling the pan.
- For the glaze, in a medium bowl, add powdered sugar. Add the milk, 1½ tablespoons lemon juice & pink food coloring (if using). Whisk until smooth. Add more lemon juice if the frosting is too thick. Glaze the donuts and let them set for 20 minutes.
Notes
- If your donut pan is a silicone one, add a baking sheet at the bottom for support while baking.
- For regular size donuts, bake for about 10 minutes. Use a toothpick to check the doness.
- These donuts don’t take on much color when baking, so don’t worry about that.
- Even though pink lemons have pink flesh, the juice don’t have a strong color and the glaze needs only very little amount of juice. It doesn’t give the glaze a visible pink color, so I added pink food coloring. It is optional.
- Donuts can be stored at room temperate for up to 2 days, but best to serve the same day. If you plan to serve the donuts the next day, glaze it the next day.
These donuts look amazing! Love the pretty pink glaze!
Thank you so much Bethany! That color is just in time for Spring. 😉
Would it be okay to use skim milk or is it necessary to use whole milk?
Also, can I use regular lemons?
Hi Abbi, you can definitely use regular lemons or any other citrus. For the milk, since skim milk has no fat, it could affect the texture of the cake. I highly recommend using whole milk in this recipe. Hope this helps. 😉
Hey, I wanted to make this for Mother’s day, but i’m new to baking. I don’t have an electronic mixer with a paddle attachment just the regular mixing tool, so is there a way to get around this step maybe? And what exactly do you mean by step 4? Also I’m looking into getting a donut pan but can i try it on a regular baking sheet?
Hello! If you have a hand mixer, that sure works. If not, you can do with by hand but it could be pretty tiring. You can check out the following link that shows you how to do that by hand. (https://food52.com/blog/9923-how-to-cream-butter-and-sugar-without-a-mixer)
For step 4, it means you add flour and milk alternately. First, add little flour in the butter mixture. Then add some milk. More flour, then milk. Flour, then milk. Finish with flour. Therefore, everything is well blended together.
About the pan, I have not used this recipe in other baking pan or sheet. I can’t say how it would turn out. I highly recommend you getting a donut pan if donuts are what you looking for!
Hope this will help! 🙂
Hi! How many donuts does this recipe make?
Hi Felicia, sorry about that. I don’t know why that part gone missing in the recipe. But this recipe makes 22 – 23 mini donuts (2-inch).