Hard

Cornbread Donuts

Total Time
58 min
19m prep · 39m cook
Servings
4 people
Rating
Difficulty
Hard
3 views
🥬 Vegetarian 🥜 Nut-Free ☪️ Halal ✡️ Kosher

Chef John's cornbread donuts are baked, not fried. They're slightly sweet and drizzled with a spicy chipotle icing. Barely more effort than whipping up a batch of cornbread, this will be your new favorite donut, and a novel, fun dessert to serve at your next barbecue.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup cornmeal
  • 1.25 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 0.5 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 large egg
  • 0.5 cups white sugar
  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 0.5 cups milk
  • 0.5 cups buttermilk

Instructions

  1. 1

    Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Generously butter 2 nonstick donut pans (6 compartments per pan).

  2. 2

    Whisk flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt, and baking soda together in a bowl; set aside.

  3. 3

    Add egg and sugar to a large bowl; whisk until mixture turns a pale yellow, about 1 minute.

  4. 4

    Whisk in melted butter until combined, then whisk in milk and buttermilk. Add cornmeal mixture and whisk until a thick, sticky batter forms, 2 to 3 minutes, to develop a little bit of gluten so donuts are not overly fragile after baking.

  5. 5

    Spoon or pipe batter evenly into prepared pans, for 12 donuts total. Tap pans on the counter a few times to settle the batter down.

  6. 6

    Bake in the preheated oven until golden on the top and a toothpick inserted in the thickest part comes out clean, about 15 minutes.

  7. 7

    Let cool for 10 minutes; remove donuts from pans to cool completely on a wire rack.

  8. 8

    Whisk confectioner's sugar, lemon juice, milk, and chipotle together in a small bowl until very thick and smooth. Add confectioner's sugar, a small amount at a time, to form an icing thick enough to hold its shape when piped.

  9. 9

    Pipe or spread icing as desired over donuts. Let icing set until firm, 30 to 60 minutes.

Nutrition Facts

Per serving

🍳

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