Gingerbread Christmas Donuts

A plate of baked donuts topped with white icing and festive red, green, and white sprinkles, arranged in a pile on a white plate—perfect Christmas donuts for your holiday celebrations.

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Gingerbread Christmas Donuts

These baked gingerbread Christmas donuts come out soft and warmly spiced with a sweet vanilla glaze. They taste like gingerbread cookies in donut form and bake in under 20 minutes, making them perfect for holiday mornings.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword baked gingerbread donuts, Christmas Donuts, Gingerbread Donuts

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 20

Total Time 40

Servings

Calories 212

Author Erren Hart

Ingredients

For the Donuts

2  cups all-purpose flour
1 ½  cups granulated sugar
2  tsp baking powder
1  tsp salt
2  tsp ground ginger
1  tsp ground cinnamon
½  tsp ground cloves or allspice
½  tsp ground nutmeg
1  large egg beaten
1¼  cups whole milk
2  Tbsp unsalted butter melted and cooled
2  Tbsp unsulphured molasses
1  tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

For the Glaze

2  cups powdered sugar sifted
2  Tbsp butter melted
½  tsp ground ginger
¼  tsp ground cinnamon
1  tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp milk Plus more as needed

Decoration

Christmas sprinkles or a dusting of cinnamon

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350 °F (175 °C). Grease 2 donut pans generously with butter or nonstick spray.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.
In a separate bowl, whisk the egg, milk, melted butter, molasses, and vanilla until well combined.
Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and stir gently until just combined. Don’t overmix—lumps are totally fine.
Spoon or pipe the batter into your donut pans, filling each mold about halfway to two-thirds full.
Bake for 15–17 minutes, or until the tops spring back lightly when touched and a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Make the Glaze:
In a bowl, whisk together powdered sugar, melted butter, ground ginger, cinnamon, vanilla, and 2 tablespoons of milk. Add more milk a little at a time until the glaze is smooth and pourable.
Dip each cooled donut into the glaze. Let excess drip off, then place on a rack to set. Repeat for a second layer if desired. Sprinkle with Christmas sprinkles or dust with extra cinnamon.

Notes

Erren’s Top Tips

Grease every nook of the donut pans. Even nonstick pans can cling to baked donuts, so get into the curves with butter or spray to help them pop right out.
Use a piping bag (or a zip-top bag with the corner snipped) to fill the molds. This keeps the batter even and prevents overfilling, which helps every donut keep its perfect shape.
Don’t pack the flour into the measuring cup. If you’re not weighing it, lightly spoon it in and level it off so the donuts stay soft instead of dense.
Keep the mixing gentle. If the batter starts looking shiny and stretchy, it’s overmixed. Stop as soon as the flour disappears for tender donuts.
Add the glaze only when the donuts are fully cool. If they’re even a little warm, the glaze will melt and slide off instead of forming that pretty finish.
Adjust the glaze slowly. If the glaze seems too thick, add milk a teaspoon at a time—you’ll hit that “smooth ribbon” stage fast.
Add sprinkles right after dipping. The glaze sets quickly, so sprinkle immediately so they stick and look bright.

Variations & Add-Ins

Maple Glaze: Replace the milk in the glaze with maple syrup.
Cinnamon Sugar: Skip the glaze and toss warm donuts in cinnamon sugar.
Chocolate Drizzle: Add a thin drizzle of melted chocolate on top.
Orange Spice: Add ½ teaspoon orange zest to the batter for a citrus twist.

Storage & Freezing

Storage: Store your glazed gingerbread donuts at room temperature for up to 3 days.
To freeze: freeze unglazed donuts for up to 2 months, thaw, then glaze before serving.

Nutrition