These baked raspberry pistachio donuts were created with Spring in mind. They're cakey, fluffy baked donuts covered in a thick white chocolate raspberry glaze and topped with crushed pistachios to create the perfect Springtime donut.
What's the difference between baked donuts and fried donuts?
Baked donuts are made with a regular batter like a cake or muffin. The batter is piped or poured into a metal donut pan and baked until the donuts rise and form the donut ring shape you're familiar with.
Fried donuts are usually made with a yeast-based dough that requires proofing time like bread. The yeasted dough is rolled out and cut into donut shapes with a round cutter and fried in oil.
I love making baked donuts because they're so much easier than yeast or fried donuts and they have that cake crumb texture that satisfies my cravings without needing to bake a whole cake. There's no resting time or hot oil involved so they're faster and easier to make.
How to make baked donuts without yeast
Preheat your oven to 400°F and lightly grease a donut pan with butter.
In a small saucepan, heat the butter, oil, and milk on low heat until the butter has melted. You can use any kind of flavourless oil - I used avocado oil in mine.
- Tip: Turn off the heat when the butter is about halfway melted and just allow the heat of the mixture to melt the rest of it. This way, you won't risk burning the milk and the mixture will cool down faster.
Remove the pan from the heat and let cool to body or room temperature. When you dip a finger into it, it should feel neither warm nor cool.
- Note: It's important for the ingredients to be at room temperature for them to combine together properly. Pouring cold milk straight from the fridge into a batter can cause the butter to solidify into random chunks.
- In this recipe, I heat them up on the stove and let them cool back down. I find that this is faster than taking the ingredients out of the fridge and letting them sit on the counter which could take up to an hour and requires planning in advance which I usually forget to do.
While the liquid mixture is cooling, measure out the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl and whisk together until combined. I used my trusty GIR Ultimate Whisk for anything and everything.
When the liquids have cooled to room temperature, add in the egg and vanilla extract while whisking and mix until combined.
- Note: The egg should be at room temperature as well. If you're grabbing it straight from the fridge, dunk the egg in a bowl of warm water for 2-3 minutes until it's no longer cold to the touch.
Pour the liquid mixture into the flour mixture and fold together using a silicone spatula (I love my GIR Ultimate Spatula for this) until just combined. There should be no large lumps of flour but don't overmix.
Transfer the batter to a piping bag and snip off about 1 inch from the tip of the bag. Pipe rings into your donut pan, filling them about ¾ full.
Bake these pistachio donuts for about 10 minutes or until lightly browned and a toothpick in the center comes out clean.
How to make raspberry glaze
This white chocolate raspberry glaze has become quickly one of my all-time favourite glazes for donuts. It's just runny enough for easy dipping but thick enough to not completely drip off the donuts. The white chocolate allows the glaze to harden and become opaque once cooled.
In a double boiler, melt the white chocolate, whipping cream, and a good quality raspberry jam until it's smooth and pink in colour. You could also use pureed fresh raspberries instead of jam.
With a fine mesh sieve, sift in powered sugar and stir until the glaze is smooth and no lumps of powdered sugar remain. You may need to scrape any lumps against the bowl to dissolve them but sifting it helps.
Remove the bowl from the heat. The glaze will thicken as it cools. Stir it occasionally to check the consistency. If drip the glaze onto itself in the bowl, it should form a "lump" on the surface and disappear back into the glaze after a few seconds.
It's time to dip! Dip the smoothest side of the donuts into the raspberry glaze halfway and gently wiggle it as you pull it back out to ensure the glaze coats the surface. Let some excess glaze drip off, flip it over, and place on a wire rack. Sprinkle with crushed pistachios while the glaze is still wet.
This glaze will set and become dry to the touch if left at room temperature. Chill these donuts in the fridge if you want the glaze to harden so that you can wrap them with plastic wrap without ruining the glaze.
More baked donut recipes to try
Recipe
Raspberry Pistachio Donuts
Ingredients
Donuts
- 30 g unsalted butter
- 30 g flavourless oil
- 110 g whole milk
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 160 g all-purpose flour
- 90 g granulated sugar
- 20 g pistachios, finely crushed
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Glaze
- 80 g white chocolate, broken into small pieces
- 50 g whipping cream
- 2 tablespoon raspberry jam or raspberry puree
- 60 g powdered sugar
Instructions
Donuts
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Lightly grease a donut pan with butter and set aside.
- In a small saucepan, heat butter, oil, and milk on low-medium heat until the butter has just melted. Set aside to cool to room temperature. When you dip your finger into it, it should feel neither warm nor cold.
- Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, stir together flour, sugar, pistachios, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Once the liquids have cooled, whisk in the egg and vanilla extract until combined.
- Pour the liquid mixture into the flour mixture and fold with a silicone spatula until just combined. Don't overmix!
- Transfer batter into a piping bag and snip about an inch off the tip of the bag. Pipe rings of batter into the donut moulds, filling them about ¾ full.
- Bake for about 10 minutes or until lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Don't overbake!
- Remove pan from oven and let sit for 2-3 minutes before transferring donuts to a wire rack to cool completely.
Glaze
- In a small pot, boil about 1 inch of water. Turn off the heat when it comes to a boil.
- Add white chocolate, whipping cream, and raspberry jam to a heat-safe bowl. Place bowl into the pot, ensuring that it fits perfectly without touching the water and no water or steam can get inside the bowl.
- Wait about 1 minute, and stir through until all the chocolate has melted.
- Sift in powdered sugar. Mix until no lumps of sugar remain.
- Remove bowl from the double boiler and let cool slightly for about 3-4 minutes or until the glaze texture is thick enough to coat the donuts but viscous enough drip off.
- Dip donuts into the glaze halfway and pull out while wiggling around, letting the excess glaze drip off. Place on a wire rack and sprinkle tops with crushed pistachios before the glaze sets.
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