Once upon a time my brother and his family were staying at our house and we were watching Duck Dynasty. Then a bearded man appeared on the show talking about hot donuts and our mouths started watering. We scoured the internets for a Krispy Kreme donuts recipe and got to work. These were so good, we just had to share!
This full recipe is for 3 dozen donuts! When I made it, I made a 2/3 recipe and it was perfect for 4-6 people. (Easy to follow instructions at bottom of post)
Donut Ingredients
- 3 packages yeast (¼ oz/7 g) or 6¾ tsp — I use Fleishmann’s quick rise
- ½ cup warm water
- 2 ¼ cups milk, scalded, then cooled
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 3 eggs
- ½ cup shortening
- 7 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- Canola oil for frying
Glaze Ingredients
- ½ cup butter
- 3 cups sifted powdered sugar
- ¼ teaspoons vanilla
- 6 -9 tablespoons evaporated milk (can substitute regular milk or water for milder flavor)
Directions
- Add yeast warm water, stir it up, let it rest and cover bowl with tea towel (I use my KitchenAid mixer bowl)
- Scald the milk in the microwave or on top of your stove, and let cool
- Combine the yeast mixture, milk, sugar, salt, eggs, shortening and 3 cups flour
- Beat on low for 30 seconds, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed (I used the mixer attachment, not the dough hook)
- Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes, scrape the sides of the bowl as needed
- Stir in remaining 4½ cups flour until well blended (does not need to be smooth)
- Cover and let rise until double, 30-60 minutes, depending on the yeast you used. We were patient and waited an hour for it to double
- After the dough has risen, turn dough onto floured surface and roll around moderately to coat with flour
- Roll dough ½ inch thick with rolling pin
- Cut with donut cutter or cookie cutters if you don’t have a donut cutter, like we did!
- Cover and let rise until double, it only took about 15 minutes, we didn’t notice they rose terribly much more
- Another option is to let the donuts rise in the fridge overnight if you want them for breakfast
- Now we can make the glaze, it sits at room temperature very well while the donuts are cooking and then cooling
- Glaze: Melt the butter and stir in the sifted powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth
- Add evaporated milk, regular milk, or water until desired consistency and/or flavor is reached
It is recommended to use a deep pan to heat the oil as using a shallow pan can be a fire hazard. We used a shallow pan and it worked just fine.
- Heat your oil to 350 degrees F. If you don’t have a thermometer (like we didn’t!) we heated the oil on exactly medium heat until it started to sizzle when dough was placed in it. You can use scraps of dough to test.
- Carefully place the donuts in the oil and cook on each side for about 30 seconds
- Use chopsticks to flip the donuts if you have, or you can risk using tongs like we did (they didn’t melt!)
- Place donuts on a rack, paper bags, or paper towels to drain excess oil
Now it’s time to really make your donuts to the melt-in-your-mouth level: Dip them in the glaze and set them on a rack to dry. One side is plenty enough for this sweet glaze, but go ahead and dip both if you’d like!
These donuts are de-li-cious! It’s our new family tradition whenever my brother’s family comes down to visit us and we have so much fun making them! Nom nom nom! They last for a couple of days, but my advice – eat them while they’re hot and fresh! Nothing better than a hot donut! If you have leftovers, make sure you put them in the fridge or the glaze will melt into the donut….but they’re still delicious! I hope you try out this Krispy Kreme donuts recipe and let me know if you do!
Please enjoy this fun time lapse video my brother put together of the donut-making process! (If it were only this fast!)
- 3 (1/4 oz/ 7g) packages yeast or 6¾ tsp
- ½ cup warm water
- 2¼ cups milk, scalded, then cooled
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1½ teaspoons salt
- 3 eggs
- ½ cup shortening
- 7½ cups all-purpose flour
- Canola oil for frying
- ½ cup butter (or margarine)
- 3 cups sifted powdered sugar
- 2¼ teaspoons vanilla
- 6 -9 tablespoons evaporated milk (can substitute regular milk or water for milder flavor)
- Add yeast to warm water, stir it up, let it rest and cover bowl with tea towel (I use my KitchenAid mixer bowl)
- Scald the milk in the microwave or on top of your stove and let cool
- Combine the yeast mixture, milk, sugar, salt, eggs, shortening and 3 cups flour
- Beat on low for 30 seconds, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed (I used the mixer attachment, not the dough hook)
- Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes, scrape the sides of the bowl as needed
- Stir in remaining 4½ cups flour until well blended (does not need to be smooth)
- Cover and let rise until double, 30-60 minutes, depending on the yeast you used. We were patient and waited an hour for it to double
- After the dough has risen, turn dough onto floured surface and roll around moderately to coat with flour
- Roll dough ½ inch thick with rolling pin
- Cut with donut cutter or cookie/biscuit cutters.
- Cover and let rise until double, it only took about 15 minutes, we didn’t notice they rose terribly much more. Another option is to let the donuts rise in the fridge overnight if you want them for breakfast
- Now we can make the glaze (see below), it sits at room temperature very well while the donuts are cooking and then cooling
- Heat your oil to 350 degrees F. If you don’t have a thermometer (like we didn’t!) we heated the oil on exactly medium heat until it started to sizzle when dough was placed in it. You can use scraps of dough to test.
- Carefully place the donuts in the oil and cook on each side for about 30 seconds - 1 minute
- Use chopsticks to flip the donuts if you have, or you can risk using tongs like we did (they didn’t melt!)
- Place donuts on a rack, paper bags, or paper towels to drain excess oil
- Dip in glaze and devour!
- Melt the butter and stir in the sifted powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth
- Add evaporated milk desired consistency and/or flavor is reached
- Dip ½ of donut into glaze and set onto wire rack to cool.
I sure hope you enjoy this recipe, I find we don’t usually have quite enough glaze to do all the donuts and donut holes so often I do a mixture of cinnamon and sugar on the leftovers!
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Made them for church coffee time and everyone loved them. Some said they tasted like Krispy Kremes but I didn't think they were quite as light so will maybe lt them raise a bit longer before frying.
Thanks for sharing. I grew up in NC, home to Krispy Kreme. When I moved away it never occurred to me that I wouldn’t have KK donuts anymore. Also, I love that you didn’t give a long drawn out, mostly unrelated, story before getting right to the recipe. Using your space to show the how-to’s is awesome!
Thanks so much, enjoy!
Oh my, drooling all over screen here!
I hope you will share your recipe with our Link Up – Idea box:
http://milaslittlethings.com/2015/04/idea-box-thu…
xx
Mila
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I’m unable to find lard or shortening? is there anything else you can use instead?
I’ve never had a problem and I’m not sure of what could be a substitute. Seek Google, I guess!
Try looking for Crisco shortebing
Hii. I love this and your blog SO MUCH <33
All your pictures and posts are so gorgeous.
I hope you don't mind if I post this on my blog later.
Hahah I'm only 16 and I've just recently started blogging so I don't know much. I'd love if you could give me some tips on blogging like that camera you use, what are some good editing programs to use to add texts, time management, organization etc.
Thank you so much ♥
Thanks! As a rule of thumb, never take anyone's pictures without their written permission, it's best to just link to blog posts you like, you don't want to plagiarize. I use a Canon T3i, use PhotoShop Elements, take a look at my photography page on this blog. Best wishes!
what is shortening ?
Shortening is very similar to lard 🙂
Regarding freezing — I worked at two Deli departments in a resort area in Texas. One had a pizza oven, the other deep fried their donuts. Each store received their frozen boxes of donuts from the same source. Now, the pizza oven heats up quite higher than most household ovens but I'm going to experiment with your recipe. I might even try "baking" them over a Rocket stove in a dutch oven.
That is if the wife lets me.
Hey! Peace at the Table, people. In the ineffable Name; out!
Thanks for the tip, let us know how it went!
What would the recipe be to make half of these?
Divide everything by 2 🙂 Some calculations you have to guesstimate, but I've done this and it's worked well!
Hi! I just saw this on pinterest and have to make them NOW! Since its summer and the kids are home I thought it would be a fun thing to do with them today especially since they each have a friend over. I was just wondering if I could substitute butter for the shortening since that is the only thing I.do not keep in my baking pantry. And with 4 kids here running to the store Isn't an option if you know what I mean….LOL thanks again for the post.
I don't have results to backup my answer, but I would say no, because butter and shortening are two different things entirely! if it's all you have, you could give it a whirl, but I would imagine they probably won't taste the same and would be heavier. Best!Sent from my iPhone
Thanks for the answer! It look delicious!
What kind of yeast did you use?
Fleishmann's Quick Rise instant yeast.Sent from my iPhone
If I have extra dough could I freeze it
Sorry for the really late reply, per my experience with doughs you can freeze but thaw at room temperature and let rise.
Oh my. I got on a donut making kick awhile back, but (like a fool), I was following those "healthy" baked donut recipes. This is more like it! Thank you! (Or maybe not, since I really don't need 30 donuts in my house right now…)
Well….you could 1/3 the recipe and only have a dozen! 😉
How can you post something like this right after I am all inspired by your 30 day shred results! 😉
Oh it's just a treat, Myn! 😉
Love Duck Dynasty! I have seen that episode more than once! 🙂 these look amazing, but I don't think I could eat 30 of them!
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We love it so much too! Oh I eat 3 and I'm full….but they are the very best when they're hot and fresh!
They were soooooooo good!! Well done kids!! That video never gets old!! hehehe