Mini Lemon Donuts – with cream cheese filling
Pillowy soft, fried dough that is filled with lemon curd and a cream cheese whipped cream, all topped off with a delicious lemon glaze. These mini lemon donuts are absolutely heavenly!
Perfectly soft donuts with lemon and cream cheese filling
You cannot go wrong with these delicious mini lemon donuts. With a simple but perfectly soft, fried donut base and creamy citrus fillings. They are like a lemon cheesecake but in the form of an adorably bite sized donut.
Not only do these donuts look incredible but they are actually really easy to make. The smaller size of these lemon donuts mean that they bake quickly and evenly and they are also simple to fill too. Instead of piping in the filling, we will be slicing the donuts through the middle and filling them with lemon curd and fluffy whipped cream cheese.
Lemon always adds such a bright and fresh flavour to so many classic sweet treats and these donuts are no different. If you loved this recipe you will also like this lemon cake or this lemon sour cream custard.
What is in these lemon donuts
Donuts – These donuts are made with a yeast based dough that uses all purpose flour, butter, yeast, milk, sugar and an egg. Once the donuts are cut and risen, they get deep fried in oil.
Lemon curd – You can use homemade lemon curd or store brought. For this recipe, you will use the lemon curd in the whipped cream cheese and on its own to fill your donuts
Whipped cream cheese – Cream cheese is whipped together with heavy cream, icing sugar and lemon curd to create a delicate but flavorful cheesecake style filling for your donuts.
Lemon glaze – A sweet and tangy topping for your mini lemon donuts. Lemon juice and icing sugar are mixed together and then drizzled over your donuts for the perfect finishing touch.
How to check the oil temperature when frying donuts
The perfect temperature for frying donuts is 180 degrees Celsius. If you do not have a thermometer to check this, you can use a piece of scrap dough. The dough should float to the top of the oil within about 10 seconds. Fry each side until the dough is golden and then remove from the oil.
When your oil is the right temperature the dough will be a light golden color and evenly cooked through.
If the oil is too hot the dough will be darker in color. The dough inside will not be baked through evenly.
If the oil is too cold your dough will be very oily and will take a long time to achieve a golden color.
Preparing your donuts ahead of time
Nothing beats freshly fried donuts. But as these donuts use a yeast based dough, it can be difficult to prepare them for earlier in the day. The great thing is, you can prepare the dough the night before and fry your donuts the next morning. This means freshly baked lemon donuts for breakfast, brunch, or lunch. No need to worry about if your dough has enough time to rise or not.
Here is what you need to do to prepare your dough ahead of time:
Follow the recipe up to the point where your cut out donuts are left to rise. Instead of placing the donuts in a warm place to rise, place them on a large baking sheet. Cover with cling film and place the tray into the fridge overnight or for up to 12 hours.
Remove the donuts from the fridge 1 hour before you want to fry them. This allows them to come up to room temperature and complete their final rise.
Fry and fill your donuts as you usually would from this point on.
Mini Lemon Donuts – with cream cheese filling
Ingredients
Method
- In a small bowl, combine the yeast, sugar and milk. Set aside for 10 minutes or until the yeast has gone fluffy.
- In a large bowl, rub together the butter and flour until it resembles coarse bread crumbs.
- Whisk the egg into the the yeast mixture. Next,make a well in the center of your flour mixture and pour your yeast mixture into the center. Mix until it all of the ingredients are well combined and the mixture has formed into a thick dough.
- Knead your dough for a few minutes until it forms a smooth ball.
- Grease a clean bowl with 1 tablespoon of oil. Place the dough into the bowl and spread the excess oil over the surface. Put the bowl in a warm spot and leave to proof for at least 1 hour or until doubled in size
- Knock the dough down. Remove the donut dough from the bowl and press it out onto a clean bench top. Use your hands to spread the dough out into a large rectangle. Fold the rectangle into thirds lengthwise and then into thirds again the other way. Return your folded dough to your bowl and leave in a warm place to rise again for one hour or until doubled in size.
- Roll out the dough out so that it is approximately 1.5 cm thick then cut out as many 7cm circles as you can. Place the circles onto a sheet of baking paper. Re-roll your dough and repeat the process up to 2 more times. Set aside any scraps of dough to use for testing your oil.temperature later. Leave your donuts to rise again for 45 minutes. When they are ready they will be soft and will have visibly risen slightly.
- Pour your cooking oil into a large saucepan and heat it at a medium-high heat until it reaches 180 degrees. Once you think that you have reached the right temperature, try frying a little of the scrap dough. The dough should bubble immediately when it enters the oil and float to the top within 10 seconds.
- Lay 2 sheets of paper towels onto a large dinner plate to collect the oil from your cooked donuts.
- Begin to fry donuts in batched of 4-5. they should take 1-2 minutes on the first side before you need to flip them with a pair of metal tongs.
- Flip and fry the second side of the donuts for a further minute or until the donuts are fully golden and cooked through.
- Once cooked, remove the donuts and place them onto the paper towels to absorb any excess oil.
- Repeat process until all donuts are all cooked. Place all of your cooked donuts onto a large baking tray or chopping board to cool completely before filling.
- Once the donuts are fully cooled you can prepare them for filling. Use a serrated knife to cut through the center of each donut. Cut about 2/3 of the way through each donut. You want to have enough space to open each one and fill it without the donut breaking apart.
- Place your cream cheese, icing sugar and 2 tablespoons of lemon curd into a medium sized bowl. Use an electric egg beater to whisk until the mixture is completely smooth.
- Add in the cream and whisk again until the mixture is smooth and thick.
- Now you can fill your donuts. Use a knife to spread 1 teaspoon on lemon curd into the center of each donut. Next use a teaspoon or piping bag to fill each donut with the cream cheese filling. Each donut should have about 1 heaped teaspoon of filling. Use a knife to gently smooth the cut seam of each donut and wipe away any excess cream filling.
- Next make your lemon glaze. Combine the icing sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl. The mixture should be smooth and pour-able. Place the glaze into a snap lock bag and cutting a small piece from the corner of the bag. Drizzle the lemon glaze over donuts creating a squiggle of glaze on the top of each donut.
- Store your finished donuts in the fridge.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read through my mini lemon donuts recipe. I hope you enjoy trying this out for yourself. Please feel free to add any questions or comments below. I am happy to help out wherever possible and I would love to hear how this recipe worked out for you.
