Baked Lemon Donuts

A light, fluffy baked lemon donut drizzled with a tart lemon glaze. Made with whole wheat flour and lemon Greek yogurt makes me feel better about indulging in donuts in the morning. 

Kelley turned me on to the Chobani Lemon Greek Yogurt, tart but so creamy, smooth and delicious. With twice the protein of regular yogurt, I decided it would make a great ingredient for a baked lemon donut. I found a Baked Lemon Donut recipe, Chef Meg’s Light Lemon-Blueberry Doughnuts, on Shape.com that I adapted to create these donuts.

I was really surprised how light and fluffy these donuts baked up, even using whole wheat flour. My husband would have liked the donut to have an even more intense lemon flavor, so next time I’d substitute some of the milk with a bit of lemon juice, or maybe even a little lemon extract would kick it up a notch.

I’ve been seeing lots of baked donut recipes on line lately. I don’t know if there’s been more of them, or if I’m just noticing them more. I hope you’re enjoying them as much as I am because I’m just a little obsessed with them right now. Over the weekend I turned our favorite banana muffins in to fun banana cinnamon chip donuts.

Baked Lemon Donuts

Yield: 12 donuts

Print Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 6 oz container Chobani lemon Greek yogurt
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1/3 cup milk
• zest of one lemon

Glaze

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• juice of one lemon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325º. Lightly grease two 6 count donut pans with cooking spray or vegetable oil.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together egg, yogurt, oil, milk and lemon zest. Add to dry ingredients and stir just until combined.

Divide batter evenly into 12 donut cups, filling each about half full. (Use a pastry bag or plastic bag with corner cut out to make filling the cups easier.)

Bake for 10-15 minutes, until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool for a few minutes in the pans.

Whisk together powdered sugar and lemon juice to create a thin glaze.

Remove donuts from pans and drizzle glaze on warm donuts. Cool on a wire rack.

More baked donut recipes:

Baked Orange Hard Wheat & Olive Oil Donuts, Farmgirl Gourmet
Peanut Butter Cake Donuts, Living in the Kitchen with Puppies
Strawberry Banana Doughnuts, Cafe Terra Blog
Pumpkin Spice Glazed Donut Holes, Burnt Apple
Eggnog Cranberry Donuts, Sugar & Spice and All Things Iced