Super easy, no yeast doughnut holes made with a touch of lemon zest and then filled with tangy lemon curd. Quick and easy lemony sweet breakfast treat.
DOUGHNUT HOLES
Have I mentioned that I’m not a morning person before? Well, I’m not. Not even a little bit. That’s why I’m sad, oh so sad, that the summer is almost over. I’m not looking forward to early mornings again. In the summer, even though little man wakes up very early, he can go and play with his toys until I drag my butt out of bed to make him breakfast.
My husband calls me a morning zombie because I’m on auto-drive until it’s almost noon. I walking, I’m talking grunting, and I’m cooking like a zombie. It’s not just their breakfast I make half asleep, it’s also all the recipe prep that I have to get done early and if I’m baking something that takes a while, I have to start first thing in the morning. So until my coffee kicks in, I’m a zombie chef/mom.
Kind man that he is, hubs hands me my coffee and my ID creamer as soon as possible. I’m almost sure that it’s out of kindness, but it could also be out of self preservation. He gets me caffeinated and alive before I bite him.
Even half asleep, a breakfast treat always seems like a good idea. Homemade doughnuts are an even better idea. Who doesn’t love doughnuts in the morning? I know I do, but if I have a chance to avoid the long process that comes along with working with yeast dough, I will take it every time.
If I don’t feel like making my Ricotta Doughnuts, I use a great recipe for Vermont Doughnut Holes that I got from my favorite flour’s website years ago. I don’t love working with yeast, so any way around it, is awesome. I found this basic doughnut holes recipe years ago and I use it quite often, I just like to change up the flavors.
Just like in these little lemony bites of deliciousness. If you’re half asleep through the morning, like I usually am, you will very much enjoy an easy way of making some delicious doughnut holes.
**For the ease of making this treat, I used store-bought lemon curd that you can find in a jam/jelly isle of the store. If you would prefer to use homemade lemon curd, my friend has a great recipe for that. I’ve used this recipe before and love it.**
Some More Doughnut Recipes:
Blueberry Doughnuts with Creamy Whiskey Blueberry Glaze
Glazed Strawberry Ricotta Doughnuts
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Lemon Curd Filled Doughnut Holes
Ingredients
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter melted
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 4 Tbsp. white granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 Tbsp. baking powder
- Pinch salt
- 1 lemon - zest
- 10 oz. lemon curd for filling
- 2 tbsp Powdered sugar for topping
- 5-6 cups of vegetable oil for frying
Instructions
- Pour oil into a medium pot, a frying pan with high sides, or a large sauce pot. Heat it over medium heat until oil reaches 350 degrees. (I find that heat setting that's just a little bit over medium holds the temperature best.)
- Line a large cookie sheet with paper towels to catch oil and place a cooling rack on top of paper towels.
- Add lemon curd into a piping bag fitted with a long, filling attachment. Set aside.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk milk and egg until smooth.
- Add flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt, mix until all combined.
- Add melted butter and mix well.
- Fold in lemon zest until evenly spread throughout.
- Using a cookie scoop, scoop out dough and drop it into heated oil in batches of 5-6, depending on how big your pot is. (I dip the cookie scoop into some oil and shake it off before doing each batch, this prevents dough from sticking and created smooth dough drops. I also rinse out the scoop between batches, to wash off any stuck on dough. Again, this is to help create smooth doughnut holes.)
- Fry doughnut holes for about 4-5 minutes (until they turn deep golden), turning them over every couple of minutes if they haven't turned themselves. (Remember to use metal tongs or metal slotted spoon to take doughnuts out and turn them.)
- Take doughnuts out onto the prepared cooling rack. Repeat frying the dough in batches with remaining batter.
- Once the doughnut holes are cooled enough to handle, gently inert the pastry filling tip into the doughnut and squeeze some lemon curd inside. Repeat with all doughnut holes.
- Sprinkle filled doughnut holes with powdered sugar.
Nutrition
Karly says
Yep, totally drooling over here. I’d start every day (and fill it, and finish it) with this lemony-goodness if I could! These look incredible!
lyuba says
awe, thanks, girl! I’d totally do it too, I have no self control around these doughnuts 🙂
Kathy says
These look and sound amazing, lemon is my favorite!
One question, what do you do with the leftover oil?
Is it reusable for anything? Or do we throw it out?
Fatima says
Hello! These look amazing but i have a question, does the dough have the same consistency as the ricotta doughnut holes? I saw the video and was wondering that, i need something to compare them to so if mine doesn’t turn like your dough I’ll know that something went wrong
Rachel Rhodes says
How well do these hold up if you made them the night before?
lyuba says
Hi Rachel!
They will hold up but won’t taste as good as fresh. It’s much like any other doughnuts, they will start getting stale and start drying out.
I hope this helps 🙂
Bere says
Hello!
How many donut holes does one recipe yield aprox?
Thanks 🙂
Sally says
These look amazing. I am a lemon lover so, want to have a go with this recipe.
LyubaB says
Thanks, Sally! I hope you like them! 🙂
Sally Small says
Can you do recipes in ounces as it doesn,t say what size cup to use
LyubaB says
Hi Sally,
The quantity of the ingredients is listed in cups above in the recipe card is it not showing for you?