Both kids and grown-ups alike will love these clever donut cookies — soft sugar cookies that look just like a classic chocolate sprinkle donut.
Chocolate Sprinkle Donut Cookies
These adorable donut cookies are inspired by the famous pink donut cookie from Crumbl Cookies. If you’re not familiar with Crumbl, it is a cookie bakery franchise that makes big cookies in unique flavors. But they feature a rotating menu that changes weekly, so flavors come and go. When you have a favorite, it can be sad when that cookie leaves the menu!
That’s why I’m so excited to share this donut cookie recipe! It is just like the Crumbl original, but we used chocolate glaze instead of pink, because chocolate makes everything better (in my humble opinion).
First, we started with a classic sugar cookie: soft, chewy, and perfect. Then we cut out the middle so it looks just like a donut! Finally, we glazed our cookies in a traditional chocolate frosting and topped with rainbow sprinkles. Just like the donut shop favorite!
Ingredients
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For the Cookies
- 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, room temp
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temp
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup cake flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- Colorful Sprinkles
For the Chocolate Icing
- 1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- 4 Tablespoons cocoa powder
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 2 Tablespoon milk
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 teaspoons corn syrup
Kitchen Tools Used
- Stand Mixer or Electric Mixer
- Mixing Bowls
- Baking Sheet with Non-Stick Silicone Mat
- Small Round Cookie Cutter
Instructions
This is a simple sugar cookie recipe, but you’ll want to set aside an hour for the dough to chill. This makes it easier to cut a circle in the middle and for the cookies to keep their shape while baking.
To Make the Cookie Dough
- Add butter and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer and mix on low or 1 minute. Increase speed to medium for 1 minute, then back to low speed.
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating until each one is incorporated. Mix in the vanilla extract.
- In a medium mixing bowl whisk together the flour, cake flour, baking soda, cornstarch, and salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the bowl of wet ingredients. Alternate adding the flour mixture with milk so it blends easier. Mix until combined on low speed.
- Cover the dough and place in the refrigerator for one hour.
To Bake the Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a baking silicone mat.
- Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll out on a lightly floured surface to 1/4″ thickness. Cut out cookies with a large round cookie cutter, the exact size is up to you, but I’d say that we made ours about 3-4″ across.
- Use a small circle cookie cutter, to cut out the center of each cookie, like a donut.
- Place the cookie sheet with the cookies in the fridge to chill for 10 minutes before baking.
- Bake for 10 minutes until the cookies just start to turn golden brown around the edges. Allow them to cool on the cookie sheet until room temperature; keeping them on the pan makes sure that they will be the perfect doneness. The cookies need to be completely cooled before decorating.
To Make the Icing
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients for the frosting. Add liquid ingredients and whisk until you have a smooth chocolate glaze.
- Once cookies have cooled, dip the top of each cookie in the glaze and then into the sprinkles.
- Allow to dry for 30 minutes.
Prep Tips
- Even if you’re in a hurry, you don’t want to skip chilling the dough. This is an important step because chilling the dough before baking ensures that the cookies don’t spread out too much and they maintain their donut shape.
- You can also make a simple glaze (like the one we used on these pumpkin cake mix cookies) and add food coloring to create different colors of donut cookies.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Many Cookies Does This Recipe Yield?
This recipe will make about a dozen cookies. Keep in mind that these are BIG cookies like the kind you’d find in a fancy bakery! They are definitely big enough to share (we always cut our Crumble cookies into quarters so our family can share and try a bunch of different flavors).
What Size Cookie Cutter Should I Used?
This depends a little bit on how big you make your cookies; an inch is a good starting point. If you have a Round Cookie Cutter Set, you can eyeball it and select the size that you think looks most like a donut center.
What is the Different Between Cake Flour and All-Purpose Flour?
You may notice that this recipe calls for both cake flour and all-purpose flour. All purpose flour is frequently used for baking cookies — the protein content helps cookies stay together and keep their shape. Cake flour will create cookies that are lighter and fluffier, more cake-like. Using a combination of both gives us that fluffy donut effect, without losing their cookie identity.
If you don’t have cake flour on hand, you could make these with all purpose flour only. However, they may not be as thick as the cookies in our photos. They’ll still look pretty and taste delicious though!
Do These Cookies Need To Be Refrigerated?
While you could keep your cookies in the fridge, you don’t need to do so. I usually store my cookies in an airtight container at room temperature. You’ll want to make sure to keep them in a cool place, away from heat or light sources, to prevent the icing from melting.
More Crumbl Cookies Copycat Recipes to Try:
Donut Cookies Recipe (Printable Recipe Card)
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Donut Cookies
Equipment
- Cookie sheet
- Mini Round Cookie Cutter
- Stand mixer or electric hand mixer
- Mixing bowls
Ingredients
For the Cookies
- 4 Tablespoons butter room temp
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs room temp
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup cake flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- Sprinkles
For the Chocolate Icing
- 1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- 4 Tablespoons cocoa powder
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 2 Tablespoon milk
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 teaspoons corn syrup
Instructions
To Make the Cookie Dough
- Add butter and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer and mix on low or 1 minute. Increase speed to medium for 1 minute, then back to low speed.
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating until each one is incorporated. Mix in the vanilla extract.
- In a medium mixing bowl whisk together the flour, cake flour, baking soda, cornstarch, and salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the bowl of wet ingredients. Alternate adding the flour mixture with milk so it blends easier. Mix until combined on low speed.
- Cover the dough and place in the refrigerator for one hour.
To Bake the Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a baking silicone mat.
- Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll out on a lightly floured surface to 1/4" thickness. Cut out your cookies (3-4" is a good size).
- Use a small circle cookie cutter, cut out shapes (donuts and holes) from the dough.
- Place the baking sheet with cookies in the fridge to chill for 10 minutes before baking.
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until lightly brown around the bottoms. Allow them to cool on the cookie sheet until room temperature.
To Make the Icing
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients for the frosting. Add liquid ingredients and whisk until you have a smooth chocolate glaze.
- Once cookies have cooled, dip the top of each cookie in the glaze and then into the sprinkles.
- Allow to dry for 30 minutes.
Notes
Nutrition
Pin our Donut Sugar Cookies on Pinterest:
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