Do you like cinnamon buns? Brownie points if you love Cinnabon cinnamon rolls like I do? If you’re a cinnamon roll fan, you’re going to love these donuts.
Really, who doesn’t love a cinnamon roll?
Warm baked dough that’s sweet, dense, cinnamony and sugary, ooey gooey, with frosting everywhere.
Yes, please.
I worked at the mall when I was in high school and between Panda Chinese food, Mrs. Field’s Cookies, and Cinnabons, I ate more sodium, grease, and sugar than should be legal or is good for the complexion. But hey, you’re only 16 and working next to the food court once.
I have such fond memories of Cinnabons. The dense texture of them, the flavors of the cinnamon, sugar, and melted butter, the warm dough, and that cream cheese frosting.
I always ordered extra frosting and it was 50 cents for that extra cup of frosting but when you’re in high school working at a minimum wage job, you notice the price of tea in China the price of extra frosting. But best use ever of 50 cents.
My grandma made the best cinnamon rolls, but since she’s not around and I had a cinnamon roll craving come over me, I knew I needed to figure something out. Working with yeast-based doughs is a kitchen fear I still need to tackle. Truth be told, I’ve never made traditional cinnamon rolls.
However, I thought that cinnamon bun style donuts was something I could handle.
And my hunch proved successful.
These donuts are baked but they are not cake, or dry the way that most baked or cake-style donuts are.
Not in the least.
They are actually pretty heavy, dense, and very moist. The texture reminds me of an underbaked muffin-top in some ways. Gooey and thick, not light, airy or fluffy.
The flavor is what you’d expect from a cinnamon bun. There’s cinnamon, sugar, brown sugar, melted butter.
And frosting. I paired the donuts with a vanilla cream cheese glaze that makes you want to dive in and bathe in it. I actually like a little donut with my frosting. A little coffee with my cream. Can you relate?
No donut pan? I’m sorry. You can buy one for $8 bucks at BB & B with a coupon or $10 without a coupon. You’ll be happy you did.
And if you really don’t want to do that, you can make these donuts as muffins in a muffin pan. I tried that with the leftover batter. The recipe yields what would be 7 donuts in my donut pan but rather than waiting for my one donut pan to come out of the oven, I made the remaining batter into two small muffins in my muffin pan. I baked the muffins for about 15 minutes and they turned out just dandy.
The whole donut recipe from start to finish, including making them, cooling, glazing, and doing the dishes is 30 minutes. That’s success.
But the fact that they remind me of Cinnabons is the best.
The recipe yields 6-7 donuts and we polished off 5 at once, right out of the oven.
Bu there was that one, lone, straggler donut. The next day, that straggler had become the perfect sponge for the cream cheese glaze.
Soaking up all that magical stuff and getting even heavier in weight and more full-bodied with flavor, which is just the way I like my baked goods: heavy, rich, dense, and intense.
Couldn’t think of a better way to Christen my new donut pan than with these.
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Baked Cinnamon Bun Donuts with Vanilla Cream Cheese Glaze
Ingredients
Donuts
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons light brown sugar, packed
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon, add more if you like cinnamon or want a stronger ‘cinnamon bun’ taste
- ½ teaspoon salt, optional and to taste
- 6 tablespoons buttermilk
- 1 large egg
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
Vanilla Cream Cheese Glaze
- ½ cup+ confectioners’ sugar
- 1 to 2 tablespoons cream cheese, softened
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon+ cinnamon
- splash Milk, Half & Half, Cream, Heavy Cream, vegan milk
Instructions
- Donuts – Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees and lightly grease or spray a Nonstick 6-Cavity Donut Pan with cooking spray. Or, use a muffin pan.
- In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and optional salt.
- Add buttermilk, egg, vanilla and melted butter. Whisk to combine.
- Use a pastry bag fitted with a large round tip (or a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off) to pipe the batter into a 6-donut pan. Or just be extra neat and do this with a spoon (my preference).
- Bake 8 to 11 minutes, or until doughnuts spring back when touched are are set. Donuts will not be golden brown, but should be springy. Allow to cool slightly before removing from pan, about 5 minutes.
- Vanilla Cream Cheese Glaze – While donuts are baking or cooling, make the glaze by combining powdered sugar, cream cheese, vanilla extract, cinnamon, with a small splash milk. Whisk to combine, adding the milk as necessary, until desired consistency is achieved.
- Dip the donuts into the glaze. Donuts are best fresh, but will keep airtight at room temp for up to 3 days.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I made these for my BF and he loved them. It took him three days to eat all six and he said that they were still nice and moist by day three. Thanks!
I live a low carb lifestyle so I unfortunately could not try these. However, I made them for my BF and he loved them. It took him three days to eat all six and he said that they were still nice and moist by day three. Thanks!
Thanks for trying the recipe & for being so nice to make them for your BF without actually being able to eat any yourself! Glad to know they were still nice and moist on day 3, too!
I was looking for a good donut recipe, and accidentally Stumbled upon this. I wasn’t sure how they would turn out, due to the fact that I used Whole Wheat, but I have to say this is one of the BEST donut recipes I’ve found. If you had a rater, I’d rate it 5 stars. Definitely doing this one again, the family is now addicted. Thanks for the recipe.
That’s awesome that you tried them with whole wheat and they were a big success – to the point you’re on call with remaking them again and again for the family! :) Thanks for LMK that wheat works…so WELL!
I finally made these! But shaped as muffins since I do not have a donut tin. And I confessed I sliced one open and put some butter on it. But that was guilding the lily-these are great for a cinna-holic like me:)
That’s awesome that you made them – I would have skipped the butter and just tripled the cream cheese glaze :) Seriously though glad you tried them!
I just stumbled across your blog this afternoon and have spent several hours perusing your site while salivating over myself. Your pictures are phenomenal, and your directions do not leave anything to interpretation. I do plan on trying a bunch of your recipes, but my time to bake will be limited, because I will need to spend extra time on the elliptical and the treadmill to make up for all of the goodies. There are so many good choices, I can’t decide what to try first.
Several hours – wow, glad I held your attention! Thanks for the lovely compliments on my photography, recipes, and writing. It’s a personal peeve of mine to read recipes that leave gray areas that can cause less than successful results so I am as clear as I can be. And as a blogger, I’ve learned to be as specific as possible b/c in the end, it saves me time because people are less likely to write in with issues that need troubleshooting. Write back after you’ve made something – can’t wait to hear about it!
I just made these beauties last night for the first time and I must say that they were truly awesome. I went out to Bed Bath and Beyond to purchase this pan, just to make these. Awesome Job as usual and
THANKS FOR SHARING! Definitely, a keeper in my book. By the way, I love your site.
Thanks for making these and telling me about it, Iris! And I am so glad that after you went out and bought a donut pan JUST to make this recipe that it lived up to it’s expectations! Whew! :)
So glad you love my site and if you try anything else, tell me about it!