I remember these wonderful little donut holes from my childhood. My friend’s mother would make them for us. I always loved them and they have been a fond memory for me ever since.
These doughnut holes are cake doughnuts. That means they don’t need yeast to rise.
They are quite easy to make and can be ready, from start to finish, in about 30 minutes.
These little doughnut holes are a great dessert or snack to have on hand. Kids absolutely love them and you can roll them in the kids’ favorite toppings when they are cooked: cinnamon sugar, powdered sugar, chocolate or caramel sauce, sprinkles – just about anything you would like. Or leave them plain, for a healthier snack.
While I wouldn’t exactly call this cake donut a healthy snack, the fact that they are so small and have just 66 calories and 11 grams of carb per donut means that most of us can have at least a few of these little gems.
The doughnut dough comes together easily. Mix the wet ingredients together, then mix the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl. Then add part of the dry mix to the egg mixture (wet ingredients), alternating with milk.
Once it is all stirred together you’ll have a soft donut dough to work with. While you are heating some oil in a pot, shape the little donut holes. I make them about 1 1/2″ in diameter.
Fry them, add a bit of topping and enjoy your treat – warm mini doughnuts right out of the fryer.
Notes that this recipe calls for a bit of nutmeg and that’s the traditional flavoring for these donut holes, but you can change it to cinnamon if you prefer. You will find them just as delicious.
Try them and let me know what you think.
Sweet Donut Holes
Ingredients
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- pinch salt
- 5 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups cake flour
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- extra flour for rolling out the dough
- vegetable oil for frying
Instructions
- Beat the eggs, then add the sugar and oil to the eggs. Mix it all together well and set the bowl aside.
- Mix and sift the dry ingredients together (the salt, flours and baking powder). Add part of the dry mixture to the egg and sugar mixture, then alternate by adding some of the milk. Add about 1/3 of the dry, then 1/3 of the milk to the egg mixture, then repeat until everything is mixed together.
- Stir everything together until you have a very soft dough. Flour a board well and roll the dough to a thickness of three quarters of an inch. Cut the dough into small circles, then roll each into a ball shape.
- Heat the vegetable oil in a pot that is deep enough for the donuts to cook fully submerged in the oil. Bring the oil to a temperature of 360ºF. Fry the doughnuts in the deep fat for a few minutes until they are deep golden brown, then drain them really well on absorbent paper.
Notes
Donut Topping Suggestions:
- Roll the hot doughnut balls into a cinnamon sugar mixture or sprinkle them with cinnamon.
- Roll the donuts into powdered sugar or icing sugar.
- You can also drizzle the donuts with chocolate, caramel or vanilla glaze.
- Add sprinkles if you want. They should have a glaze added before the sprinkles to allow the sprinkles to really stick well.
- Or simply serve them plain. I love them just as they are, no toppings required.
Nutrition
Tip:
If you don’t have something circular that is the right size to cut the donut dough, just cut a square, then roll it into a ball. I make the doughnut balls about 1 1/2″ across. Too much larger than that and they don’t fry as well.
Cake and Pastry Flour
The recipe calls for one half all purpose flour and one half cake and pastry flour. Pastry flour is softer and is good for making cakes and other baked goods. The mixture is perfect for these doughnuts. That said, if you don’t have pastry flour, you can easily use just all-purpose flour for this recipe. I do it all the time and the donut holes turn out just fine.
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If you love these donut holes, have a look at our baked blueberry buttermilk doughnuts too.
Browse all of our dessert recipes here.
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