Delicious, easy, simple donut holes made in just 10 minutes with simple ingredients you probably already have on hand – either in a cake pop machine, donut hole pan, aebleskiver pan, or even a mini-muffin pan!

These donut holes are light and fluffy, full of warm, vanilla and butter flavor, and rolled in cinnamon and sugar for a perfect, light treat that are totally addictive!

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At Sweet C’s, I add lots of tips in all of my recipes – because I am a home cook without any formal training, and I find I am more confident making dishes when I understand why it works, and what each ingredient means to the flavor of a recipe. My goal is for even the most beginner home cook to feel empowered in the kitchen.

You’ll love this Donut Holes Recipe

These donut holes are a reader favorite on my site – this recipe first appeared here on Sweet C’s in 2013. I first made them when I was pregnant, on rest with my second born, using a cake pop machine instead of in an aebleskiver pan (the way I’d normally make them) – so I didn’t have to bend over or hassle with the oven.

They taste just like concession cart donut holes – I hope you love them as much as we do!

You can make these in a cake pop machine, an aebelskiver pan, a mini muffin pan – whatever you have on hand.

Donut Hole Recipe Ingredients

To make these donut holes, we will need:

• Flour – this recipe works with all-purpose flour or gluten-free all purpose flour. If you have self-rising flour, omit baking soda.
• Baking soda – baking soda helps to give lift and rise to donut holes as they bake, so they are light, fluffy, and aren’t dense and thick.
• Butter – butter helps to give a rich flavor and velvety texture to batters. Using softened (or slightly melted) butter helps to incorporate it into a batter easily, without overworking.
• Eggs – eggs help to bind our recipe together, add needed fat to keep our donut holes perfectly moist and delicious, and give lift so they are light, airy, and not at all dense.
• Sugar – sugar has two uses in this recipe – both to sweeten our batter, and to combine with cinnamon to roll donut holes in for cinnamon sugar. If using pre-mixed cinnamon sugar, you can just use the amount for batter and skip the additional tablespoons called for garnishing in the recipe below.
• Vanilla – vanilla has a warm, earthy, sweet flavor that is classic in baked goods – it has a “home-baked” smell and flavor that everyone loves, and can’t be beat!
• Lemon extract – I love to add a bit of lemon to batter, as the bittersweet extract highlights the rich butter fat and complex vanilla notes and helps to make breads taste a bit less dense.
• Milk – milk acts as a binder and helps to thin the batter, as well as giving a rich, creamy flavor that is lightly sweet to our batter.
• Cinnamon sugar – yes, cinnamon sugar is a thing! Cinnamon sugar is just a blend of granulated sugar and cinnamon, but we use it so often for french toast, buttered toast, cupcakes, muffins, crumbles, crisps, and cakes – I just buy it pre-blended to always have on hand. My kids love to sprinkle a little bit on all kinds of foods – even fruit salad! You can buy pre-mixed cinnamon sugar here.
• Water – if your batter is thick, you’ll want to thin it with a tablespoon of water at a time until it is about the consistency of pancake batter. I keep a cup of warm water next to my batter as I make it, then add, slowly, as needed.

How to make Baked Donut Holes

Once you’ve gathered your ingredients, we will use the following method:

1. Mix. Mix donut holes in a stand mixer or by hand – be careful to not over mix.
2. Bake. Bake in a cake pop machine, an aebelvskiever pan or ebelskiever machine
3. Roll in cinnamon sugar.

Tips and Tricks to Perfect Cinnamon Sugar Donut Holes

Bake in a silicone pan. Add to silicone pan and bake 6-8 minutes at 400F, until lightly browned and puffy. Using a wooden skewer or silicone spatula, carefully flip and continue cooking additional 2-4 minutes until browned on all sides and perfectly puffy and round!

Bake in an aebleskiver pan. Bake just like you would an aebleskiver, at 400 degrees, until lightly browned on one side, about 6 minutes, then flip in cast iron and let cook until browned.

Bake in a mini muffin pan. These won’t be round, but they will be just as delicious! Bake at 350 until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean, about 12 minutes.

Use a piping tool. We love using piping bags or handheld piping bulbs – it helps to really quickly fill your cake pop machine or cake pop pan.

Use a nonstick spray with flour. Using a nonstick spray with flour formulated in it really helps to release the baked good, and makes for a perfect release!

How to store Cinnamon Donut Holes

Donut holes can be stored in a paper bag for up to two days. If storing in a plastic bag or plastic container, leave a tiny hole open for the best texture.

Homemade Donut Holes FAQs

Other Easy Desserts You’ll Love

If you love these easy donut holes, be sure to check out some of our other favorite easy desserts like our Easy Pumpkin Crisp, Easy Peach Cobbler, or some chewy, delicious Cowboy Cookies.

Don’t forget to try dunking these donut holes in some Israeli Cardamom Coffee or Stroopwafels Vodka Coffee!

Check out some of our recent favorite dessert recipes here:

Smoked Berry Cobbler

Easy Lemon Jello Poke Cake Recipe

Peeps Cupcakes

Strawberry Shortcake

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