Soft Glazed Donut Cookies

Glazed donut cookies are soft sugar cookies with a familiar iconic donut glaze. Made to invoke that feeling of a fresh glazed yeasted donut, without the mess of frying or having to run out to a donut shop.

I’m going to say something controversial considering where I live (New England). I don’t like Dunkin’ Donuts. Their donuts are terrible. Also, many times I’ve been they have been out of glazed. I mean.. what?? That being said, I grew up eating Krispy Kreme. We lived in a pretty rural area, there wasn’t a donut shop – heck there wasn’t even a grocery store in town. But the grocery stores locally had boxed Krispy Kreme donuts in the bakery and that’s what my mom bought.

When I became a teenager and moved, I learned apparently Krispy Kreme is a big deal in other parts of the country. I get it though, there is something heavenly about a warm Krispy Kreme donut. So when I decided I wanted to make glazed donut cookies, I wanted them to taste like that. I know it will not be the same because it’s not a yeasted donut, and that’s okay! But similar enough to hold you over until you get your next hot and fresh glazed donut.

Baking Tips

As you can see, I did not cut holes in my cookies. Mainly because it felt like a waste to cut the center of the cookie out? But, if you are committed to these looking like donuts too, go for it. It won’t be possible pre-baking but you could definitely do it after they come out of the oven using a piping tip or something similarly shaped.

When developing these, I first started with my Soft Spiced Cream Cheese Cookies, because those have a really nice soft texture to them. That is due to a few factors, the cream cheese, pastry flour, and these cookies do not have a tons of flour. I then tried swapping the cream cheese for buttermilk thinking of my French Toast Donuts. I had to add SO MUCH flour. The cookies had a nice texture but the dough was still very hard to work with. Then I decided to make a hybrid of the two using buttermilk powder with cream cheese.

The cookie dough is going to be very sticky, much to my annoyance. But, when you bite into one of the cookies and see how tender and soft it is, you’ll understand why. Adding flour will make them more dense and they won’t spread properly, which we don’t want. Additionally, if you don’t have pastry flour you can substitute all-purpose but pastry flour will help with that ultra light texture and ensuring adequate spread.

I chose to use evaporated milk in the glaze of these glazed donut cookies because evaporated milk has less water, and almost a caramel flavor to it. It’s richer and creamier than regular milk. However, if you do not want to use evaporated milk because it’s such a small amount out of a can, regular milk will work.

Glazed Donut Cookies Key Ingredients

• Cream Cheese – Cream cheese helps with both the texture and the flavor of these cookies. Paired with the buttermilk powder, you get a rich but soft and chewy cookie.
• Pastry Flour – Pastry flour is an ultra soft, low protein flour. It’s not quite as soft as cake flour (which has a protein level of about 6-7%) but softer than all purpose (which has a protein level of 10-12%). It gives baked goods a really light texture.
• Buttermilk Powder – I tried these cookies with actual buttermilk, and they needed a LOT more flour. I wanted the warmth and tang of buttermilk without the liquid. Adding buttermilk powder did just that. It allowed the cookies to have both the taste and a better texture than actual buttermilk.