Cinnamon Roll Donuts are the best of both breakfast worlds. These fluffy baked donuts are flavored with cinnamon, topped with a brown sugar cinnamon streusel, and drizzled with cream cheese icing.

Ingredients for Cinnamon Roll Donuts

Ingredients for cinnamon donuts:

• All-purpose flour. Measuring the flour correctly is very important. I suggest weighing your flour out (I use this scale). If you want to use a measuring cup, make sure you spoon the flour into the cup and level it off with a knife. Don’t use the cup to scoop directly from the flour.
• Light brown sugar. Brown sugar adds flavor and a softer texture to the final product.
• Salt. Salt is a must in baked goods. It will help to balance out the sweetness and improve the overall flavor.
• Baking powder. Baking powder will help the baked donuts to rise.
• Ground Cinnamon. This will add extra flavoring to the donut base.
• Full-fat sour cream. Sour cream will make the donuts extra moist and fluffy.
• Unsalted butter.  I always make sure to use unsalted butter when baking because there is no “standard” for the amount of salt they can add to butter. So if you add salt to a recipe and then use salted butter you could end up with a very salty end product.
• Egg. It will be easier to incorporate the eggs into the batter if they are at room temperature. 

Ingredients for streusel:

• Flour. See above note.
• Brown sugar. See above note.
• Ground Cinnamon. See above note.
• Unsalted butter. See above note.

Ingredients for cream cheese icing:

• Cream cheese. The cream cheese needs to be very soft in order to create a smooth icing.
• Powdered sugar. This will give structure and sweetness to the icing.
• Milk. This will thin out the icing and make it easier to pipe.

How to make Cinnamon Roll Donuts

Brown Sugar and Cinnamon Streusel

Step 1: In a small bowl combine all of the ingredients and use clean hands or a fork to break up the butter. The streusel should look like wet sand.

Cinnamon Baked Donuts

STEP 1: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees (F). Spray your donut mold with non-stick spray and set it aside.

STEP 2: In a medium-sized bowl whisk together the flour, light brown sugar, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon.

STEP 3: In a separate bowl mix the wet ingredients.

STEP 4: Gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until they are well combined. The batter will be thick.

STEP 5: Spoon or pipe the batter into your molds and fill them up about 3/4 of the way to the top. There should be plenty of room for the streusel.

Step 6: Sprinkle the streusel over the top of each donut. Add your desired amount.

STEP 7: Place your donuts in the pre-heated oven. They usually take about 15-17 minutes to bake, but I started checking them around 10 minutes to see if the pan needs to be turned. You’ll know they are finished when you lightly press on a donut and it springs back.

STEP 7: Remove from the oven and let the baked donuts cool in the molds until cool enough to remove. Then cool the donuts completely before icing.

Cream Cheese Icing

Step 1: Combine all of the ingredients in a small bowl and mix until smooth. Add more milk if too thick.

Step 2: Use a piping bag or a fork to drizzle the icing over each donut.

Can I make baked donuts ahead of time?

I WOULDN’T RECOMMEND IT. Donuts are best eaten the same day that they are made.

You can, however, make the batter ahead of time, refrigerate it or freeze it (depending on how far ahead of time you are making the donut batter), and then bake the donuts when you are ready to eat them.

More donut recipes

• Chocolate Glazed Donuts– A fluffy vanilla donut base topped with a rich chocolate ganache glaze.
• Coffee Baked Donuts– Soft and moist baked donuts flavored with coffee and topped with a sweet coffee glaze.
• Old-Fashioned Baked Donuts– Classic baked donuts topped with a vanilla glaze.
• Lemon Sugar Baked Donuts– Fluffy lemon donuts rolled in lemon-zest infused sugar.

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