These Donut Cookies are soft, lightly sweetened cookies that are covered in easy-to-make icing and then topped with fun colorful sprinkles! An old-fashioned recipe made with basic ingredients the whole family will love!
Looking for more fun and delicious cookies to try? My 4 ingredient Circus Animal Sugar Cookies or classic Soft Sugar Cookies are just as good as these Donut Cookies!
These Donut Cookies are an exciting treat that is perfectly balanced in sweetness between the icing and cookie dough! Cover them in classic sprinkles that resemble donuts or use your favorite sprinkles to match holidays, themed birthday parties, or special occasions!
Adults will love the ease of whipping up these cookies, while the kids will love helping with the process of rolling the dough out and cutting out the cookies! And everyone will love the final taste so it’s a win-win all around!
These Donut Cookies slightly puff up during baking which makes them resemble a donut! All this donut talk making you crave an actual donut? Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered there too! Try my Air Fryer Chocolate Donuts (From Scratch) or Brioche Donuts with Vanilla Cream!
Ingredient Notes
Pantry staple ingredients are used to create these fun Donut Sugar Cookies! This means there’s no reason not to throw a batch in the oven for a sweet treat!
For the cookies, you’ll need flour, salt, baking powder, unsalted butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, and whole milk. Once the cookie dough is made it will need to be chilled before rolling out and cutting into donut-shaped cookies.
Finish off these cookies with an easy, sweet icing by mixing together powdered sugar, milk, and your choice of food coloring if you’d like! Then just cover them in your favorite sprinkles!
If desired you could also use royal icing or even my Easy Brown Sugar Frosting, or the creamy pink frosting I use on my Soft Sugar Cookies!
How To Make Donut Cookies
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium mixing bowl and set aside.
- Cream the butter and sugar together in a standing mixer before adding in the eggs, one at a time. Then add in the vanilla and mix until combined, scraping the sides of the bowl as you go.
- Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, alternating with milk. Then cover and chill in the refrigerator while you preheat the oven and prepare baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface until it’s 1/4 inch thick and cut into donuts with a donut cutter. Place the donuts and holes onto the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake until lightly brown around the bottoms. Allow them to cool on the cookie sheet before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Whisk together the icing ingredients, then ice the cookies and top with sprinkles before the icing sets!
How To Store
Store these Donut Cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. I recommend placing wax paper between the layers of cookies to ensure they don’t stick together!
How Can I Make These Cookies Sweeter?
If you prefer sweeter cookies you can increase the sugar for the cookie dough to one cup! Keep in mind that the icing does add a bit of sweetness to these cookies as well!
Can I Use This Recipe For Other Cut Out Cookies?
Absolutely! This cookie dough works wonderfully for cutouts so you can definitely swap out the donut cutter for other cookie cutter shapes!
These Donut Cookies are such a fun way to whip up cookies to share at parties and potlucks! Here are more fun and delicious Cookie Recipes to try that everyone will love!
- Soft Champagne Sugar Cookies – Soft, fluffy cookies topped with a silky, luxurious champagne buttercream frosting!
- The Best Ever Monster Cookies – Chewy cookies loaded with M&M’s, Reese’s Pieces, chocolate chips, oatmeal, coconut, toffee, and sprinkles!
- Birthday Cake Pudding Cookies – A fun yet tasty alternative to having a birthday cake!
- Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies – Big, thick, chewy cookies that are made with both milk and semisweet chocolate chips!
- Jurassic Park Dinosaur Cookies – Delicious cookies perfect for Dinosaur themed birthday parties or when enjoying the classic movies at home!
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Donut cookies
Ingredients
Cookies
- 2¾ cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ⅔ cup sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup whole milk
Icing
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2-3 tablespoons milk or heavy cream
- 2-4 drops food coloring optional
- sprinkles
Instructions
- In a medium mixing bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs one at a time, beating between each addition. Add vanilla and mix until combined.
- Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with milk. The dough should be soft but not sticky.
- Cover the dough and chill in the refrigerator for one hour.
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll out on a lightly floured surface so it's ¼-inch thick. Using a lightly floured donut cutter, cut out shapes (donuts and holes) from the dough and place them on the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until lightly brown around the bottoms. Allow them to cool on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- While the cookies are cooling, whisk together the icing ingredients until smooth, add the milk 1 tbsp at a time until desired consistency is reached. Add red food coloring if you like.
- Once cookies have cooled, dip them in the glaze and then directly into the sprinkles. Place on a cooling rack to set.
Notes
- Sugar can be increased to 1 cup if you want a sweeter dough, but the icing adds quite a bit.
Nutrition
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