I go back and forth a lot on what my favorite food is, but donuts are definitely in the top five and likely to be in the top spot most days. Despite that, I don’t buy them very much. I’m just not the kind of person who can eat one donut and be satisfied. And ultimately, I don’t mind staying away from donuts because then when I do eat them they taste pretty magical.
But sometimes you just get a craving that won’t go away. I’ve made homemade donuts before but was not in the mood for the hassle of cutting and frying dough and I don’t have one of those donut pans to make cake donuts in. Then I remembered this recipe for donut muffins that I printed out ages ago and decided it was finally time to give it a try. Cut to this week, now the second time I’ve made them in the past month and I think I have a problem. I can’t stop making them! No, they aren’t quite as good as real fried donuts, but they do have the exact same taste and texture of cake donuts and are extremely easy to whip up. These muffins more than satisfy my donut craving.
The original recipe is just a plain muffin that you can dip in sugar or coat in glaze. They’re delicious, of course, but I found the muffins to be a bit dry, especially if you can’t eat them all within a couple days of baking them. The second time I made the recipe I decided to experiment, so I threw in a bunch of blueberries and then coated the muffins in a lemony glaze. Now I’m not sure I’ll ever want to make the plain version again. The blueberries give the muffins the moistness they were lacking and the lemony glaze adds a little “tart” to contrast with the sweetness of the muffins.
And while these muffins are not remotely healthy, (I tried to tell myself the blueberries make them good for you– not really, but it’s better than nothing!) they are large and dense so I was full after eating one or two. When I have donuts I pretty much want to eat the whole box, so these muffins are much better for me in the long run.
I made half of the muffins with the lemon glaze and I coated the other half in cinnamon-sugar. You could also coat them in powdered sugar if you prefer. Both versions are great, though next time I think I’m going to add some lemon juice and/or lemon zest to batter, not just the glaze. Lemon and blueberries are just too good together, I wanted more lemon in there!
The only nitpick I have about this recipe is that the muffins need to be eaten within about 2 days. The plain version gets too dry after two days and the blueberry version gets soggy. You may want to half the recipe if you have a small family. Otherwise, I promise you will make your coworkers, friends or neighbors very, very happy by giving away the extra.
Lemon-glazed Blueberry Donut Muffins
adapted from Orangette
Breakfast | Servings: 12-16
Prep time: 20 min | Cook time: 30 min | Total time: 1 hour
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp. whole milk*
- 1 tsp. white vinegar**
- 3 cups flour
- 2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 3/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
- 1 1/2 sticks (6 oz.) unsalted butter, room temp
- 3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp. sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup frozen blueberries (not thawed)
*I don’t have whole milk, so I used 3/4 cup 1% milk and 2 tbsp. heavy cream.
**Alternately you can use 2 tbsp. buttermilk, but reduce the whole milk by 1 tbsp.
Lemon Glaze
Note: This is enough glaze to cover the tops of the muffins. If you want to coat the entire muffin, I would recommend doubling everything.
- 3 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 1/2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice (about half a small/medium lemon)
- 1 tbsp. hot water, plus more if necessary
Alternate coating: Cinnamon-Sugar
- 6 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1 tbsp. cinnamon
Process
- Set an oven rack in the middle of your oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees (F). Spray two muffin pans with cooking spray. I’ve made this recipe a few times and usually get more like 14-16 muffins, but they don’t rise substantially so you could probably get away with filling 12 cups very full.
- Combine the milk and vinegar in a measuring cup. Set aside.
- Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg in a medium bowl and whisk to mix them thoroughly. Set aside.
- In a the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium until soft and creamy (about half a minute should be fine). Keep the mixer running and add sugar in a steady stream. Continue beating (scraping down the sides if necessary) for a few minutes until the mixture fluffy and has lightened to a pale yellow.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until just combined.
- Turn the mixer to the lowest speed and add in 1/4 of the flour mixture until just combined. Add 1/3 of the milk mixture until just combined. Continue adding the rest of flour and milk mixtures, ending with the last of the flour. Mix until smooth, but don’t overmix. The batter will be quite thick.
- Very gently fold in the blueberries with a wooden spoon.
- Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin pans, filling each cup all the way up and making sure the blueberries are evenly distributed. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the muffins are firm to the touch and a toothpick in the center comes out clean. Let sit in the pan for at least 10 minutes or until cool enough to handle.
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Place a wire rack on top of some wax or parchment paper. In a medium bowl, mix all the ingredients for the glaze. It should be thick enough to coat something, but thin enough to be pourable. Add a little more hot water if necessary. Dip the top and sides (if you want) of each muffin into the glaze and place on the wire rack to dry.
Alternately, if you’d like to coat your muffins in cinnamon sugar: Microwave the butter in small bowl. Mix the cinnamon sugar in a wide bowl. Use a pastry brush to coat the top and sides of a muffin with butter and then roll it in the cinnamon sugar until coated. Repeat with the remaining muffins.
These muffins are best the same day you bake them or the day after, after a couple of days they will start to get a bit soggy. Store in an air-tight container.
The batter can be stored in the fridge, covered, for up to three days, but don’t add the blueberries until you’re ready to bake. Let the batter come to room temperature and add in the blueberries last.
OMG WANT RT @Emiline220 {new post} Lemon-glazed Blueberry Donut Muffins https://t.co/q7VdoMt #recipe
These look SO good. Like dangerously good. When I’ve made donut muffins in the past, I’ve found they’re best enjoyed within a few days too. Not that I mind having an excuse to eat them as fast as possible 🙂
Those look wonderful! I love your pretty pictures!
How veryvery beautiful! Your photos have such a gorgeous quality to them, and these little muffins just speak for themselves. They sounds DIVINE! Im definitely putting a big fat save on these lovelies 🙂
I just love these. Every bit of them sounds amazing. And not to repeat everyone else’s comments, but your pictures are just amazing. Consistently amazing.
These blueberry muffins are fantastic creations.. I made the muffins lighter and used half whole wheat flour to add more fiber. They are great to start your day.
These are gorgeous, and I feel like I can taste them just by looking at them! Yum. Glad I found your blog 🙂
Hi Emily! I am a new reader of your blog – just found it today. I love the recipes I’ve read so far. I am a muffin-a-holic I’ve got over 25 muffin recipes on my blog and not once have I ever thought to coat them in cinnamon/sugar! I love that idea.
I have all the ingredients, I’m making these NOW!
Wow these look fantastic! I can’t decide if I would want the glazed or cinnamon sugar.. but I think I have to go with the glazed. 😉 Wish I could have one for breakfast tomorrow!