• Home
  • About Me
  • Contact Me
  • Blog
  • Nav Social Menu

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
    • Pinterest
    • RSS
    • Twitter
    • YouTube

Carrie’s Experimental Kitchen

  • Home
  • Shop
  • Recipe Index
  • Ethnic Cuisines
    • Asian
    • French
    • German
    • Irish
    • Italian
    • Mediterranean
    • Mexican
    • Portuguese
  • Testimonials
menu icon
go to homepage
search icon
Homepage link
  • Home
  • Shop
  • Recipe Index
  • About Me
  • Contact Me
×
Home » Recipes » Dessert Recipes

June 4, 2015 · 5 Comments

Old Fashioned Donuts

Breakfast Recipes· Dessert Recipes· Mother's Day· Vegetarian Recipes

965 shares
  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Threads
  • Bluesky
Jump to Recipe -
A close up of a doughnut
Make your own old fashioned, bakery style donuts at home with basic pantry ingredients. Perfect for breakfast or an afternoon snack!

Make your own old fashioned, bakery style donuts at home with readily available pantry ingredients. Perfect for breakfast or an afternoon snack!

Old Fashioned Donuts on a cooling rack.

I think I've only made donuts once before in my life and it was only last fall when I made homemade apple cider fritters, but that wasn't going to stop me from trying to make classic Old Fashioned Donuts for National Donut Day.

What is National Donut Day?

National Donut Day was instituted in 1938 to commemorate Salvation Army workers who surprised soldiers with donut deliveries. Today, visit one of your favorite donut shops as many participate and offer free donuts with a beverage purchase.

In general, I'm not a huge donut eater. I do stop by my local donut shop every now and then for a hot cup of tea while I'm running the roads. However, I generally don't like anything with a gooey center or topped with icings that make my teeth hurt. 

Most of the time I'm happy with a plain cruller or donut hole; just the simple plain or chocolate kind.

Old Fashioned Donuts

What do you need to make Old Fashioned Donuts?

When I decided to make a treat in honor of this day, I opted to make Old Fashioned Donuts. The recipe contains standard pantry ingredients like granulated sugar, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, eggs, milk, vanilla extract, butter and flour. All of which I had in the house without having to make a special trip.

You'll also need oil for frying. I used a combination of coconut and canola oils just because I had a little of each to use up; however, you can use any light oil for frying like canola, safflower, sunflower, coconut, or vegetable oil.

I opted to sprinkle these with a little powdered sugar; however, you can make a glaze by mixing the powdered sugar with a bit of cold water or sprinkle with a mixture of cinnamon and sugar too.

Old Fashioned Donuts

How do you make donuts?

Start by combining the sugar, baking powder, salt and nutmeg in a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, vanilla extract and melted butter; then add to the dry ingredients. Mix well; then stir in the flour.

Refrigerate the dough for about 1 hour; then roll out the dough to ½" thick. Cut out circles using a donut cutter or if you don't have that  make the circle with a juice glass and then use a smaller circle (I used the cap from the vanilla extract) to cut out the center circle.

Heat the oil in a deep pot on top of the stove over high heat; then fry donuts 2-3 minutes per side and drain on paper towels. Cool slightly on a rack then sprinkle with powdered sugar.

I almost wish these Old Fashioned Donuts weren't so easy to make because now that my kids know that I know how to make them, they've already been asking me to make them again. A.K.A. "Mom, we want something sweet at 8pm, can you whip us up some donuts?" 🙂

Old Fashioned Donuts

These donuts won't last long, but I do recommend freezing the ones you won't be eating right away as they do get stale quickly. Just make sure to wrap them tightly in an airtight container. This batch made a little shy of 2 dozen due to the size glass I was using.

These Old Fashioned Donuts were fabulous! Simple. Cooked perfectly with just that little hint of nutmeg and vanilla.

They reminded me of going to our local bakery (Nees Bakery for my local friends who may also still remember!) with my dad when I was a little girl back in the early 70's on a Sunday morning and sampling the donut pieces on the counter. ~Enjoy!

Sign up for my weekly newsletter and receive a FREE eBook! 

Old Fashioned Donuts

Old Fashioned Donuts

Carrie's Experimental Kitchen
Make your own old fashioned, bakery style donuts at home with readily available pantry ingredients.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes mins
Cook Time 10 minutes mins
Total Time 20 minutes mins
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 24

Ingredients
  

  • 1 c . Granulated Sugar
  • 4 teaspoon . Baking Powder
  • 1 ½ teaspoon . Salt
  • ½ teaspoon . Nutmeg
  • 2 Large Eggs
  • 1 c . Milk
  • 1 teaspoon . Vanilla Extract
  • ¼ c . Melted Butter
  • 4 c . All Purpose Flour
  • Oil, for frying (I used ½ coconut oil & ½ canola oil)
  • Confectioners Sugar, for garnish

Instructions
 

  • Combine sugar, baking powder, salt and nutmeg in a large bowl.
  • In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, vanilla extract and melted butter; then add to the dry ingredients. Mix well; then stir in the flour. Cover and refrigerate the dough for about 1 hour.
  • On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to ½" thick. Cut out circles using a donut cutter or if you don't have that (which I didn't) make the circle with a juice glass and then use a smaller circle (I used the cap from the vanilla extract) to cut out the center circle.
  • Heat enough oil for the donuts to submerge (using a fryer or Dutch oven) ; then fry donuts in batches 2-3 minutes per side and drain on paper towels. Cool slightly on a rack then sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Notes

Allow for an additional 1 hour of time for the dough to rest before rolling.
Keyword donuts
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

A close up of a doughnut

 

 

Related Recipes

Apple Cider Fritters are delicious and made with warm bits of apple, fresh apple cider with a cinnamon and sugar topping.

Apple Cider Fritters

A close up of coffee cake in a pan

Homemade Coffee Cake

Cinnamon Scones are deliciously moist and perfect for a quick on the run breakfast or afternoon snack with a cup of your favorite hot beverage.

Cinnamon Scones

 

Visit the recipe index to search for more recipes by category.

Make your own old fashioned, bakery style donuts at home with basic pantry ingredients. Perfect for breakfast or an afternoon snack!

 

Connect with me on Social Media

Facebook | X | Pinterest | Instagram

 

 

 

More Dessert Recipes

  • a dish of roasted pink grapefruit
    Roasted Pink Grapefruit with Mint and Honey
  • sour cream cranberry loaf bread
    Sour Cream Cranberry Loaf Bread
  • apple snickerdoodles lined up on a white plate
    Apple Snickerdoodles
  • apple pie truffles on a black and white plate
    No Bake Apple Pie Truffles
Previous Post: « Grillin' Time Giveaway
Next Post: Balsamic Pork Chops »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Phyllis says

    January 12, 2019 at 2:12 pm

    Made your donuts this morning. Love them. I saw in your blog you wrote about Nees bakery is that the same bakery as the Nees bakery in Butler, NJ
    Thanks

    Reply
    • Carrie's Experimental Kitchen says

      January 13, 2019 at 7:43 am

      I'm so glad you liked the recipe Phyllis and yes, it is the same bakery! I used to love going there as a kid to get those freshly baked donuts. 🙂

      Reply
  2. Beverley says

    June 07, 2015 at 4:17 pm

    5 stars
    I bet these babies didn't last very long...

    Reply
    • carrieexpktchn@optonline.net says

      June 08, 2015 at 7:07 am

      No they didn't Beverley! Though I made my daughter take them into work with her so I wouldn't pick at them!

      Reply
  3. Deborah Petrillo says

    June 07, 2015 at 1:43 pm

    mmm, ottime, buonissima ricetta!

    Reply

Leave a ReplyCancel reply

Primary Sidebar

Welcome

Not sure what to make for dinner? The ingredients for a quick and easy family-friendly home cooked meal are right in front of you. Join me as experiment with new recipes sourced by local, fresh ingredients. Enjoy!

Stay up to date

Categories

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Contact

Copyright © 2025 · Carrie's Experimental Kitchen