Baked Cinnamon Sugar Donut Holes

Light, Fluffy Donut Holes Rolled in Cinnamon Sugar, made with simple pantry ingredients and zero frying, they come out soft, fluffy, and perfectly coated in warm cinnamon sugar. I’ve tested these again and again (for research, of course!), and they deliver that nostalgic donut shop flavor with a quick, no-fuss method anyone can handle — even on a busy morning!

At Ajpal, I add lots of tips in all of my recipes – because I am a home cook without any formal training, and I find I am more confident making dishes when I understand why it works, and what each ingredient means to the flavor of a recipe. My goal is for even the most beginner home cook to feel empowered in the kitchen.

How to Make Cinnamon SUgar Donut Holes

Light, Fluffy Donut Holes Rolled in Cinnamon Sugar: These baked donut holes taste just like you get at ballparks and arenas – I hope you love them as much as we do! You can make these in a cake pop machine, an aebelskiver pan, a mini muffin pan – whatever you have on hand.

Donut Hole with Cinnamon Sugar Ingredients

To make these donut holes, we will need:

• Flour – this recipe works with all-purpose flour or gluten-free all purpose flour. If you have self-rising flour, omit baking soda.
• Baking soda – baking soda helps to give lift and rise to donut holes as they bake, so they are light, fluffy, and aren’t dense and thick.
• Butter – butter helps to give a rich flavor and velvety texture to batters. Using softened (or slightly melted) butter helps to incorporate it into a batter easily, without overworking.
• Eggs – eggs help to bind our recipe together, add needed fat to keep our donut holes perfectly moist and delicious, and give lift so they are light, airy, and not at all dense.
• Sugar – sugar has two uses in this recipe – both to sweeten our batter, and to combine with cinnamon to roll donut holes in for cinnamon sugar. If using pre-mixed cinnamon sugar, you can just use the amount for batter and skip the additional tablespoons called for garnishing in the recipe below.
• Vanilla – vanilla has a warm, earthy, sweet flavor that is classic in baked goods – it has a “home-baked” smell and flavor that everyone loves, and can’t be beat!
• Lemon extract – I love to add a bit of lemon to batter, as the bittersweet extract highlights the rich butter fat and complex vanilla notes and helps to make breads taste a bit less dense.
• Milk – milk acts as a binder and helps to thin the batter, as well as giving a rich, creamy flavor that is lightly sweet to our batter.
• Cinnamon sugar – yes, cinnamon sugar is a thing! Cinnamon sugar is just a blend of granulated sugar and cinnamon, but we use it so often for french toast, buttered toast, cupcakes, muffins, crumbles, crisps, and cakes – I just buy it pre-blended to always have on hand. My kids love to sprinkle a little bit on all kinds of foods – even fruit salad! You can buy pre-mixed cinnamon sugar here.
• Water – if your batter is thick, you’ll want to thin it with a tablespoon of water at a time until it is about the consistency of pancake batter. I keep a cup of warm water next to my batter as I make it, then add, slowly, as needed.

Steps to make Baked Donut Holes

Once you’ve gathered your ingredients, we will use the following method:

Assemble Ingredients and Topping

Fill a large bowl or paper bag with cinnamon and sugar to top and set aside.

Mix

Cream together sugar and butter in a stand mixer. Add in eggs, mix thoroughly. Add in vanilla, milk and extracts.

Fold

Slowly fold in flour and baking soda- be careful not to overmix. Batter should be pancake-like, a bit runny. Add a teaspoon of water at a time to thin if thick.

Grease

Grease cake pop machine well.

Bake

Pour batter into a squeeze bottle or a ziploc bag with the tip cut off. Squeeze batter to fill bottom of a well heated and greased cake pop machine. Cook about 5 minutes or until machine indicates they are done.

Roll

Remove from the machine and put straight into sugar and cinnamon bag/bowl and toss to evenly coat. Eat immediately and enjoy!

Tips and Tricks to Perfect Cinnamon Sugar Donut Holes

Bake in a silicone pan. Add to silicone pan and bake 6-8 minutes at 400F, until lightly browned and puffy. Using a wooden skewer or silicone spatula, carefully flip and continue cooking additional 2-4 minutes until browned on all sides and perfectly puffy and round!

Bake in an aebleskiver pan. Bake just like you would an aebleskiver, at 400 degrees, until lightly browned on one side, about 6 minutes, then flip in cast iron and let cook until browned.

Bake in a mini muffin pan. These won’t be round, but they will be just as delicious! Bake at 350 until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean, about 12 minutes.

Use a piping tool. We love using piping bags or handheld piping bulbs – it helps to really quickly fill your cake pop machine or cake pop pan.

Use a nonstick spray with flour. Using a nonstick spray with flour formulated in it really helps to release the baked good, and makes for a perfect release!

How to store Cinnamon Donut Holes. Donut holes can be stored in a paper bag for up to two days. If storing in a plastic bag or plastic container, leave a tiny hole open for the best texture.

Homemade Donut Holes FAQs

Your donut holes are done when they are browned on the outside and a toothpick in the middle comes out clean. If donut holes are a little soft in the middle that is ok – you just don’t want them gooey. Keep baking until middle is more done if they are gooey.

Add up to a teaspoon of extracts or food-grade oils to flavor your donut holes – almond, lemon, peppermint, and raspberry are all delicious extract additions!

These are best served fresh and warm, but you can bake them a few hours ahead and reheat briefly in the oven or air fryer before coating in butter and sugar. Avoid refrigerating them, as that can dry them out.

Dip the donut holes in melted butter right after baking — while they’re still warm. This helps the cinnamon sugar stick evenly and gives them that classic sugary crust.

Yes! Freeze them uncoated in an airtight container. When ready to serve, thaw and warm them slightly, then dip in butter and toss in cinnamon sugar before serving.

Nope! While a mini muffin tin works perfectly for these, a cake pop or donut hole pan is great too. The batter is thick enough to hold shape either way — just adjust baking time if using a deeper mold.

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