I finally found (and am giving you) the perfect excuse to make and eat doughnuts first thing in the morning for breakfast. There’s always a fight about whether or not doughnuts are a breakfast food, to be eaten early in the day, or if they’re a dessert to be enjoyed after dinner. Personally I don’t pay attention to any of that, and I just go ahead and devour them any time of day. I only have one life to live and I’m living it filled to the brim with fried doughnuts. If you are worried about such things though, or know some people that demand that doughnuts aren’t an adequate breakfast, you can finally rub it in their face that these Breakfast Cereal Doughnuts are the ultimate breakfast food. The cereal on top just proves it. Stop fighting it, and just go with it.
Don’t be afraid to jump into that kitchen of yours this week and make a batch of these doughnuts. You’re going to need them throughout the week to get through all of the work and chores and errands and homework and Netflix binge watching you have on your plate at the moment. Doughnuts just sweeten the deal and make everything better. So I think the way to go about this is to not worry about the how or the why, the only thing you and I should be worrying about right now is the yes, definitely. Grab those cereal boxes off the top of your fridge or out of that pantry and start dunking all your doughnuts into them because cereal is so much better on fried bread with glaze rather than in a bowl with milk. You know what I mean?
The first thing we have to get started on is the dough for our homemade doughnuts. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the warm milk, yeast and sugar. Let sit in a warm spot until frothy and foamy, about 10 minutes.
**Tip: I find that the best place to proof yeast or let dough rice is either on the stove, covered with a damp kitchen towel, or in the oven itself. I prepare the oven by turning it on at 200 degrees F for about 5 minutes before. I know that seems crazy, but it makes it the right temperature. Warm but not hot and damp but not too crazy.**
Add the remaining ingredients and knead on high for about 5 to 7 minutes, until soft and not so sticky, and the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl, easily. Remove the dough from the bowl, and shape it into a smooth ball. Grease the same mixing bowl lightly with vegetable oil or butter. Return the dough back to the bowl, and turn over to coat both sides. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and a damp kitchen towel and let rest in a warm, draft-free spot until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
**Tip: Again, on top of the oven or in the oven is perfect for this. If you don’t have anything on top of your fridge, move those cereal boxes if you do, and let the dough rise there! That’s also a great spot without having to do any extra work.**
After an hour, and after it’s doubled in size, punch the dough down and then transfer it to a lightly floured work surface. Roll it out to about 1/2 an inch thick into a large rectangle. You don’t have to measure it out or anything. Just make sure you keep the dough moving and floured so that it doesn’t stick to your work surface.
Cut out the rolled doughnut dough into about 4 inch rounds with a circle cut out in the middle for that classic doughnut look. Transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, cover loosely with plastic wrap and a damp kitchen towel and let rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
**Tip: If you don’t have a doughnut cutter, one round with a small round circle in the middle, then feel free to use whatever you can find at home. Use a large drinking up and then something small in the middle, like a piping bag tip!**
While the doughnuts rise again, fill a large pot halfway up with canola or vegetable oil and attach a candy or deep-fry thermometer to it. Once the oil reaches about 360 degrees F, carefully drop in a few of the doughnuts at a time, and fry until the doughnuts are golden brown and puffed. Drain and then place on paper towels to soak up any of that excess oil. Then transfer the doughnuts to a wire rack, set over a baking sheet to keep them from getting soggy.
**Tip: I’m always saying time and time again that the key to frying at home is a wire rack set over a baking sheet. You just spent all this tim perfect that crispy crunchy fried food, and the last thing you want to do is let them get soggy and unappealing. To avoid that, you must transfer the fried foods to a wire rack to ensure that air circulates evenly and that nothing sogs up!**
Once the doughnuts are fried and cooling down, it’s important to make the vanilla and chocolate glazes for the doughnuts. In a shallow dish, combine the powdered sugar, butter, vanilla, salt and milk until smooth and pourable, without being too thick. In a separate shallow dish, whisk together the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, butter, vanilla, and a dash of salt.
**Tip: You can decide whether you want to use vanilla or chocolate glaze completely throughout all of the recipe. Or you’re more than welcome to just use one or the other. Either glaze will work out perfect for the doughnuts and cereal!
Dip each of the cooled doughnuts in to the glaze and then immediately dip them face down into the breakfast cereal. As with the glaze, you can decide you either use all the cereal or just pick and choose one or two or even your favorite that wasn’t featured in this post!
I wanted to show you a few possibilities when it came to the cereal toppings so I did Cinnamon Toast Crunch (my personal favorite), Coco Puffs, Fruity Pebbles and Lucky Charms. They all tasted and looked great so feel free to use any or all of them like I did. At the same time, you can also use YOUR favorite cereal flavor. Feel free to think outside of the box and branch out to whatever you want to use or whatever is on sale at the time.
Try mixing and matching the cereals themselves or even throwing some of your favorite non-cereal snacks to the mix. Potato chips, crushed up candy bars or even cookies would be great on these doughnuts as well.
**Note: You can totally make these doughnuts simply with the vanilla or chocolate glaze and nothing else. The great thing about this recipe is that it’s amazing just by itself. How can you go wrong with a doughnut, topped or otherwise? You can’t!**
Get through this week with these Breakfast Cereal Doughnuts and remember to make a big batch so you can share them with your coworkers or friends or family. Don’t forget to save the best for yourself…Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Coco Puffs, I’m looking at you both. Have some fun this week and make the best doughnuts you can ever make, or search the long list of doughnuts I already have on the site by clicking here!
- 1¼ cups warm whole milk, about 110 to 115 degrees F
- 2 envelopes (4½ teaspoons) active dry yeast
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 1 large egg
- 3½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon butter, softened
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 to 2 tablespoons whole milk or heavy cream
- 1½ cups powdered sugar
- 4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3 tablespoons whole milk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Cinnamon Toast Crunch
- Coco Puffs
- Fruity Pebbles
- Lucky Charms
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the milk, yeast and sugar. Let sit in a warm spot until foamy and frothy, about 10 minutes. Add the butter, egg, 3 cups flour, and salt. Mix on high with the dough hook until the dough comes together and becomes soft and somewhat sticky. Add as much of the remaining ½ cup flour as needed to get the correct texture. Transfer to an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap and a damp kitchen towel. Let rest in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
- Punch the dough down and transfer to a well floured work surface, kneading a few times. Roll the dough out to about ½ an inch thick and cut out into round doughnuts with a hole in the center. Place on baking sheets lined with parchment paper and lightly sprayed with cooking spray. Cover the baking sheets with a damp kitchen towel and let rest in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, fill a large heavy-duty dutch oven halfway with vegetable or canola oil. Attach a candy thermometer and heat the oil to about 360 degrees F. Once hot, fry the doughnuts in batches, for about 2 minutes on the first side, flip over and continue to fry for 1 more minute. Drain and transfer to a baking sheet lined with paper towels to soak up the excess oil. Transfer the doughnuts to a wire rack set over a baking sheet. Continue frying the remaining doughnuts.
- To make the vanilla glaze, in a shallow bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, butter, vanilla extract and milk until smooth and somewhat pourable. You don't want it to be too thick.
- In a separate shallow bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, butter, milk, vanilla and salt until smooth. Dip the doughnuts into the vanilla and chocolate glaze (depending on what you'd like with whatever cereal you're using) and then dip into the cereal of choice. Return to the wire rack. Allow the doughnuts to set before eating. Doughnuts are best on the day of, but can be wrapped with plastic and kept at room temperature for up to 2 days. Enjoy!
You are one heck of a creative genius! These donuts look amazing!
How do you stop the cereal from going soft? Mine always seems to lose the crunch after a while, any help??
It’s inevitable unfortunately. The moisture from the glaze just begins to soften the cereal, and there really isn’t much you can do. I recommend making the doughnuts and then glazing and topping right before serving!