Crunch Doughnuts

Homemade Crunch Doughnuts. These little circles of joy will be the hit at your next family breakfast. The crunch streusel coating is heavenly.

Thanks to the glaze under the streusel, they’ll also last when placed in an airtight container and even longer if frozen.

Crunch Doughnuts

Makes about 12 cake doughnuts and 12 doughnut holes.

Crunch Streusel

Streusel can be made up to a few days in advance. Just store in an airtight container or freeze until ready to use. 

Preheat oven to 350°F.

• 1 stick of unsalted butter, diced
• 1 1/2 cup of flour
• 2/3 cup of powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 tablespoons cinnamon
• 1 cup sweetened coconut, shredded
• 1 egg

Place all ingredients into a large food processor except for the egg. Process until the butter is so broken up that you can no longer see butter pieces. Add the egg and be careful not to overprocess. Process using the pulse button so you have full control of the texture you are creating. Stop when ingredients become small and crumbly yet combine into a light brown crumb mixture.

If you don’t own a food processor, you can place ingredients in a large bowl and cut with a pastry cutter.

Line a baking tray with parchment paper or coat with a non-stick baking spray. Spread streusel out across the pan. Bake for 20-30 minutes. The streusel should be slightly crisp on the outside but still somewhat tender to the touch.  Allow streusel to cool then process again in the cleaned food processor a few pulses to create the perfect streusel crunch. Set aside.

If you’re going for mini crunch doughnuts, just grind streusel in the food processor a little longer so it’s smaller and fits on your minis well.

Cake Doughnuts

• About 4 cups shortening (for frying)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 cups flour (plus about 1 cup more for rolling out dough)
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1/4 cup (or half a stick) unsalted butter, melted

Fill a deep fryer or heavy-duty pot with Crisco shortening and then preheat to 370°F. Look up your appliance’s instructions (or look for fill line) to decide how much shortening to use. Maintain oil temperature between 350°F to 375°F during the cooking process. If your oil drops below 350°F, wait for it to reheat again so your doughnuts don’t become heavy with grease. Don’t let your grease go higher than 375°F, or they will be raw in the middle.

Prepare a baking sheet with an old, clean towel (or several layers of paper towels) on it to place doughnuts on after frying.

Place sugar and eggs in a mixing bowl. Beat until light, fluffy, and pale yellow in color.

Mix in cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.

Mix in one cup of flour, then 1/4 cup of the buttermilk, then one more cup of flour, then the remaining 1/4 cup of buttermilk, then the last cup of flour, and, finally, add the melted butter to the bowl. Scrape down the sides and mix in the butter.

Cover and refrigerate for 60 minutes.

Dust counter with flour. Coat the doughnut cutter, & rolling pin with flour. Roll dough to about 1/2-inch thick. Cut doughnuts & doughnut holes out and lay them on a baking sheet so they are ready for frying.

Fry for about 1-2 minutes on each side. Look for middles and edges to become golden brown before flipping.

Place fried doughnuts on the baking sheet covered with a towel to drain excess grease off doughnuts.

Allow doughnuts to cool enough that they can be handled before frosting. While they cool, make the vanilla glaze.

Vanilla Glaze

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 tablespoons water

Whisk all glaze ingredients together in a bowl. Glaze all sides of one doughnut at a time then immediately coat with streusel. Repeat until all doughnuts are streuseled.