Lemon and blueberry baked donuts

Zesty lemon and juicy blueberries come together in these soft, fluffy lemon and blueberry baked donuts that are impossible to resist. They’re quick, easy, and perfect for a fun homemade treat the whole family will love.

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• Why bake donuts?
• Recipe

It went a little something like this.

Me: ‘I need to think of some good Christmas recipes to make for the blog before the baby comes.’

Husband: ‘What about donuts they’re everywhere?’

Me: ‘Ooh good idea but I need a donut pan.’

Husband: ‘Do you really need more kitchen things?!?’

Two days later, said doughnut pan arrives. 

Three days after original conversation, baked lemon blueberry donuts emerge from the oven.

These delicious blueberry donuts topped with sweet lemon glaze are different from traditional fried donuts but I'm going to go on a limb and say they're even better.

Now I see what all the fuss is about. I’ve never really been big into all the flavoured donuts, much preferring the classic deep-fried, crunchy cinnamon donut. 

Oh how I loved them as a kid.

I remember watching them go through the machine from the dough being plopped into the hot oil then flipped out onto the rotating drainer before reaching their final destination in a pit of sweet cinnamon sugar then into a bag before promptly being shoved in my mouth.

Cinnamon donuts were the poor husband’s first request but I said I needed something a little more interesting for the blog (don’t worry he got his cinnamon a few days later).

Is it better to bake or fry doughnuts?

​Better is a bit of a subjective term here. If by better you mean health-wise then yes, baked donuts are definitely better. 

They're not cooked in oil so have less fat and fewer calories. 

I think they're better too as there's no messing around with heating oil. 

Ingredients

BAKED BLUEBERRY DONUT

• Butter - melted butter
• Olive oil
• Raw sugar
• Eggs
• Vanilla extract - here's how to make your own vanilla extract
• Lemon zest - grated
• Milk - full-cream
• Wholemeal plain flour - or regular all purpose flour
• Baking powder
• Baking soda
• Salt
• Blueberries - fresh blueberries or frozen blueberries

ZESTY LEMON GLAZE

• Icing sugar - here's how to make your own confectioner's sugar (also called powdered sugar)
• Lemon zest
• Fresh lemon juice - or milk - milk if you don’t want it too lemony

Can you use lemon extract instead of lemon juice or zest

Yes you can use lemon extract if you don't have access to fresh lemons or lemon juice. 

A piping bag will make it easier to spread the donut batter into the donut moulds. 

You can also use a ziplock bag with the corner snipped off. 

Why bake donuts?

I think I’ve figured out what’s so good about a baked donut. 

Well there are a few reasons I came up with:

• They’re cakey – who doesn’t like cake? You could call them lemon blueberry cake donuts. 
• You can ice them – big win there. The tangy glaze on these homemade doughnuts is delicious. 
• They don’t take as long to bake as cake so you can go from ‘I want donuts’ to eating them pretty quickly.
• They have a pretty good ratio of crust/crunchy part to soft inside. It’s like the best bit of a muffin but all over.
• They’re quite convenient and clean to eat – once you bite in it’s conveniently mouth-sized and you can pretty easily and neatly bite off pieces while keeping your shirt relatively crumb-free.

Pretty much the only downside of this lemon blueberry donuts recipe is that you need to have a special donut pan. 

They’re not that expensive though and I assure you you won’t regret the purchase.

You can also make donut recipes in a muffin pan (or standard muffin tin). 

Obviously they'll be missing the essential donut shape but they'll still be as delicious. 

But what’s so good about these lemon blueberry doughnuts? 

Well mine are made with lemon from my tree which makes everything amazing. 

Even if you’re not using amazing homegrown lemons, the combination of lemon and blueberry is mouthwatering especially for this first day of spring (where did that come from by the way?!?).

I love how the blueberries burst when you bite into them and the lemon gives a nice tang. 

A warning though – it’s best to ice them just an hour or so before serving because it does dissolve a little into the donut later. 

Not that it doesn’t taste as amazing, they just don’t look as pretty. 

Enjoy!

What about you? 

Have you jumped on the donut bandwagon?

You might also like our lemon meringue ice cream.

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Recipe