Easy Powdered Sugar Donuts

Easy Powdered Sugar Donuts are a sweet treat made with gluten free flour and flavored with vanilla extract, baked and coated in confectioner’s sugar, ready in under 30 minutes!

Donuts are the perfect weekend treat, and made with a few simple ingredients! For more gluten free baked donut recipes, check out these Baked Cinnamon Sugar Doughnuts, and Baked Chocolate Donuts!

Powdered Sugar Donuts are really fun to make, and a great gluten free version of a popular treat from the grocery store. Because they’re made in the oven, you won’t have to worry about frying them in oil. And they’re ready in less than 30 minutes!

Powdered sugar donuts go great with a travel mug of coffee when you’re running out the door in the morning, or as the perfect treat for the middle of the afternoon. These delicious donuts still give the donut shop a run for its money!

Ingredients You’ll Need

Gluten Free All Purpose Flour. I like to use a gluten free cup-for-cup flour, because there’s a few different brands at my grocery store right now and it’s easy to find.

The Bob’s Red Mill cup-for-cup and King Arthur measure-for-measure blends already have xanthan gum, which helps mimic the gluten and keeps gluten free donuts from falling apart. 

Because this is the 1:1 gluten free flour mixture, you can also make this recipe using regular wheat flour or whatever your favorite baking blend is if you’re not gluten free. 

Granulated Sugar. I used white sugar for this recipe because I wanted the donuts to be light and fluffy, so the powdered sugar topping can be the top flavor. 

If you want more flavor in the donut itself, you can add 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and substitute half of the sugar with brown sugar.

Eggs. Eggs act as a binder and help hold everything together, while adding a small amount of fat from the egg yolks to the dough. 

Butter. I always use unsalted butter, so you can add as much or as little salt as you want later. Butter helps keep the dough moist and adds flavor. 

If you don’t have butter, you can substitute equal parts of vegetable oil or applesauce. 

Salt. Salt helps balance the sweet flavor so they don’t turn out overly sweet. You only need 1/2 teaspoon salt to achieve this, not very much. I’ve used kosher salt and sea salt, and both work fine. 

Heavy Cream. Heavy cream adds some fat to the batter, which helps keep the finished texture from being dry or crumbly. You can also use half and half, or regular milk if that’s what you have. But heavy cream will work the best. 

Baking Powder and Baking Soda. I like to use a combination of baking soda and baking powder, I think it works the best for gluten free recipes. If you don’t have baking soda, you can use two teaspoons baking powder.

The key is to whisk them together with your dry ingredients before adding any wet ingredients, so the leavening is evenly disbursed. And make sure the baking powder says “double-acting”.

Vanilla. Vanilla adds a nice flavor to the finished donut. You can also try almond extract, or use 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract with a vanilla glaze for the holidays. 

Powdered Sugar. Obviously the star ingredient, we’re going to dip the finished donuts in butter then toss them in a bowl of powdered sugar for a really nice coating.

How to Make Powdered Sugar Donuts

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F, and have your donut pan ready. In a stand mixer (or with an electric hand mixer in a mixing bowl), cream together sugar and unsalted butter at medium speed. Add one egg at a time, then vanilla, mixing until just combined. 
2. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.
3. Then use a sifter to sift the dry ingredients into wet ingredients. While mixing, slowly add cream until just combined.
4. Use a spatula to transfer the dough to a piping bag, and cut the corner of the bag off. Pipe the dough into a lightly greased doughnut pan. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until doughnuts are baked through and golden brown, and a toothpick comes out clean. Remove donuts and place on a cooling rack. 
5. Add melted butter to one bowl, and powdered sugar in another. Use a medium bowl, so the sugar doesn’t make a mess by spilling over the sides.
6. Quickly dip each doughnut in butter, then dip into the powdered sugar, coating the donut entirely. You may need to flip them a couple of times to coat completely. Transfer donuts to a plate to cool completely. 

Jacqui’s Tip! You can make cinnamon powdered sugar donuts by whisking 1/2 to 1 teaspoon cinnamon with the powdered sugar mixture, and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon in with the donut batter.

Frequently Asked Questions

More Baked Breakfast Recipes

• Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins
• Gluten Free Pumpkin Muffins
• Easy Gluten Free Banana Bread
• Gluten Free Pumpkin Bread

Storage

Room temp. Place leftover donuts in an airtight container, and store at room temperature for 1-2 days.

Refrigerated. You can store powdered donuts in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to a week. 

Freeze. Store in an airtight container in the freezer for 2-3 months. Thaw completely for 1-2 hours, or until room temperature.

Recipe Variations

• Make dairy free donuts but substituting the butter with vegan butter or applesauce, and the heavy cream with almond milk. I prefer unsweetened almond milk, but vanilla would be ok. You can also use soy or oat milk, but make sure it’s gluten free first.  
• If you don’t have donut trays, you can use a small cookie scoop and scoop the batter onto a prepared baking sheet and bake. When done, you’ll have powdered sugar baked donut holes!
• Make chocolate donut holes using my chocolate donut recipe base, then tossing in powdered sugar.
• You can also make this in a mini muffin tin instead of a donut tray for powdered sugar donut muffins. Baked donut muffins can also be coated in cinnamon sugar instead of confectioner’s sugar.
• You can use this powdered sugar donut recipe as a base to make other donut flavors. Try adding a chocolate glaze instead of powdered sugar, or dip in vanilla icing with colorful sprinkles.

Powdered Sugar Donuts Tips

• If your powdered sugar melts a little when combined with the butter coating, just lay the donuts on a cooling rack and lightly sift powdered sugar on top to make them look better.
• Let the donuts cool down a little bit before adding the powdered sugar topping. If they’re too hot, the sugar might melt and look more messy.
• This batter is going to be thinner, because we’re piping these into a donut tray and going for a more cakey donut. If you are used to a fried donut instead of a cakey donut, the batter would usually be thicker so you can cut it. 
• Confectioner’s sugar and powdered sugar are the same thing. Sometimes it can also be labeled “icing sugar”. 
• I prep my donut tray with cooking spray and a small amount of gluten free flour and don’t usually have issues with sticking. 

If you loved this recipe, be sure to leave a 5 Star review below, and tag me with a photo of your finished recipe on Instagram @Jacqui_DishingDelish!

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