Big, fluffy Gingerbread Donuts topped with the most amazing cream cheese icing is everything you didn’t know you needed this holiday season! 

Ever since we made Pumpkin Donuts for the fall season, I couldn’t wait to break out the donut pans and try something festive for the Christmas season. It doesn’t get more Christmasy than gingerbread does it, so we whipped up a batch of these to die for Gingerbread Donuts which smelled amazing coming out hot from the oven.

We could have done a sugar coating like our pumpkin donuts or a glaze, but in the end we went all out with a decadent cream cheese frosting that worked well with the gingerbread flavour. A perfect Christmas donut for young or old! 

Gingerbread Donuts with Cream Cheese Icing  

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup (156 g) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup (50 g) brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup molasses
1 large egg
1/2 cup(120 ml) milk
4 tablespoons plain or vanilla yogurt

Cream Cheese Icing

1 tablespoon butter, very soft
4 oz (1/2 cup) cream cheese, very soft
1 and 1/2 to 2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 to 2 tablespoon powdered sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease two 6-count donut pans and set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set to the side. 

In a separate large bowl, whisk together butter, brown sugar and molasses until combined.  Add egg and whisk to combine. Mix in milk and yogurt. Stir until all ingredients are incorporated.

Add flour mixture to the wet ingredients and stir just until combined. Avoid over mixing.

Pour batter into a large ziploc bag and snip a small corner off one end. An easy way to do this is to put the ziploc bag into a measuring cup and fold down the sides to create a large opening. Spoon batter in, let out air and seal. Then snip one corner off with scissors.

Squeeze batter into donut pan forms.

Bake for about 15 – 18 minutes, or until donut springs back when lightly touched. Let cool completely on baking rack.

This recipe makes about 8 full sized donuts, but you can also use a mini donut pan if you choose and you should get about 12 from that sized pan. 

Cream Cheese Icing for Gingerbread Donuts

You can use any kind of icing or glaze that you like, or none at all, it’s up to you but for these Gingerbread Donuts, I decided a nice rich cream cheese icing would do the trick. I also liked that the icing was thick and a solid white as opposed to a glaze which would would show the donut through. It really helped our gingerbread men candy decorations stand out and would do the same for sprinkles. 

In a medium sized bowl whisk or stir together the butter and cream cheese until combined.

Add in 1 cup powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon of milk and whisk until combined. Add in more powdered sugar and cream until the desired sweetness and consistency level is reached. 

Frost each donut with an icing spatula or turn donut upside down, place in frosting and twist back and forth until covered.

Garnish with little candy gingerbread or sprinkles if desired. Red and green sprinkles would look really cute or silver balls would be really pretty too. Cater to your crowd, are the donuts for the kids or an older crowd? 

Yield: 8 full size or 12 mini donuts

Gingerbread Donuts with Cream Cheese Icing

Print

Big, fluffy Gingerbread Donuts topped with the most amazing cream cheese icing is everything you didn't know you needed this holiday season! 

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 18 minutes

Additional Time 5 minutes

Total Time 38 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cup (156 g) all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1/4 cup (50 g) brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) milk
• 4 tablespoons plain or vanilla yogurt
• Cream Cheese Icing
• 1 tablespoon butter, very soft
• 4 oz cream cheese, very soft
• 1 and 1/2 to 2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
• 1 to 2 tablespoon milk

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease two 6-count donut pans and set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a separate large bowl, whisk together butter, brown sugar and molasses until combined. Add egg and whisk to combine. Mix in milk and yogurt. Stir until all ingredients are incorporated.

Add flour mixture to the wet ingredients and stir just until combined. Avoid over mixing.

Pour batter into a large ziploc bag and snip a small corner off one end. Squeeze batter into donut pan forms.

Bake for about 15 - 18 minutes, or until donut springs back when lightly touched. Let cool completely on baking rack.

For the Cream Cheese Icing

In a medium sized bowl whisk or stir together the butter and cream cheese until combined.

Add in 1 cup powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon of milk and whisk until combined. Add in more powdered sugar and cream until the desired sweetness and consistency level is reached. 

Frost each donut with an icing spatula or turn donut upside down, place in frosting and twist back and forth until covered.

Garnish with little candy gingerbread or sprinkles if desired. 

Notes

You can use a mini donut pan as well, cook time is 13-15 minutes.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

8

Serving Size:

1 donut
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 337.4Total Fat: 9.6gSaturated Fat: 5.6gCarbohydrates: 62.9gFiber: .8gSugar: 45.7gProtein: 4.5g

Did you make this recipe? Please give it a star rating below or leave a comment!

For other favourite holiday treats, try our Chocolate Pecan Pie Bars, White Chocolate Gingerbread Thumbprint Cookies or Cranberry Pumpkin Seed Bark