Lemon and lavender baked doughnuts? Oh yes, get excited! These delicate and fluffy healthy baked doughnuts are the perfect zesty sweet treat you need in your life. Like asap! Lemon and lavender are the ultimate flavor duo. The lemon zest is light and refreshing, while the dusted lavender topping gives some major flavor depth. These healthy lemon and lavender baked doughnuts have the same texture as cake but are sturdy enough to be eaten right out of your hand. Or.. I should say hands, because I assume you will have one doughnut in each. Hey, no one is judging! Treat yo' self.
After going to the Arizona Lavender Festival, I couldn't wait to get in the kitchen and whip up some flavorful floral-inspired recipes. Like I mentioned in my Lavender Mini Guide, cooking with lavender isn't as easy as it sounds. Although I was tempted to throw lavender flower buds into every dish, I knew that lavender can be overpowering and taste like soap when overused. Trust me, I experienced it first hand. Ick! So, when it comes to cooking with lavender, a little goes a long way.
Keeping this lavender rule in mind, I recipe tested these lemon and lavender baked doughnuts quite a few times. I wanted to create a baked doughnut that was soft, zesty, healthy, and most importantly, flavorful. I tired my recipe with whole wheat flour, soft-peak egg white foam, and squares of butter. My recipe experimentation resulted in collapsed doughnuts, overly fluffy doughnuts (looked like muffins), even green doughnuts! Yes, green doughnuts. I forgot the primary color rules when adding handfuls of lavender with handfuls of lemon zest and mixing them together in the doughnut batter. Feeling slightly defeated, I kept recipe testing.
My goal was to perfectly combine lemon zest and lavender to make a fluffy, moist, and healthy baked doughnut, without a mouthful of lavender buds. And let me tell you, I created the perfect recipe! These baked doughnuts are so zesty and flavorful with just enough fluff and sponginess, dusted with the perfect amount of lavender sugar. I couldn't be happier with them!
Now it's your turn to make my lemon and lavender baked doughnuts! I can't wait for you to take a bite.
Lemon & Lavender Baked Doughnuts Dusted with Lavender Sugar
(Pst, you can scroll down to the very bottom to get the quick recipe!)
Recipe yield: 12 doughnuts
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium sized bowl whisk together 1 cup AP flour, ¼ cup sugar, a dash of salt, 1 tablespoon of canola oil, 1 tablespoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, and 1 tablespoon lemon zest until throughly combined. In a separate bowl, whisk together 1 egg, ½ cup plain whole milk yogurt, and ½ cup whole milk.
Add the dry ingredient mixture to a new larger bowl, making a well in the center for the wet ingredients. Slowly pour the wet ingredients into the center of the well and slowly mix the wet ingredients into the dry with a spatula, circling the center of the bowl. Continue mixing until all ingredients have been thouroughly combined and are semi-smooth - some clumps are ok.
In a greased doughnut baking sheet*, spoon in the batter until the tin is about ¾ of the way full, leaving room for the doughnuts to expand. Smooth out the top of the doughnut batter with the back of your spoon for a smooth, uniform consistency. Bake for 10 minutes.
Pro Tip: If you don't leave enough room for the doughnut batter to expand in the pan, they will become too big and look like muffins! You also want to smooth out the top of the batter before it goes into the oven - any uneven or lumpy patches will not smooth themselves out while baking.
While the doughnuts are baking, prepare the lavender sugar and the lemon zest icing. For the lavender sugar blend ⅙ cup granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon of lavender buds, and a ½ tablespoon of lemon zest on high in a food processor* for 1-2 minutes, or until the lavender is very finely chopped and the granulated sugar has a purple hue.
Prepare the lemon zest icing by combining 2 cups of confectioners sugar (powered sugar), with 1 tablespoon of lemon zest in a small bowl. Slowly add teaspoons of whole milk to the powdered sugar, stirring and dissolving the sugar as much as you can before adding the next teaspoon of milk. Keep stirring and adding milk until the consistency is runny but still has some structure.
Pro Tip: It took me about 7 teaspoons of whole milk to dissolve the 2 cups of powdered sugar down to a good icing consistency, but the exact teaspoon increment might vary between batches. When preparing the icing, you should rely more on the consistency rather than the number of teaspoons needed. There is a fine line between too think and too thin and one too many teaspoons will change the consistency really fast. Be sure to add the milk in slowly until you have your desired, semi-runny consistency.
Before pulling the doughnuts out of the oven, poke the center with a toothpick and check that the toothpick comes out clean. Allow the baked doughnuts to completely cool in the baking tin before removing them and baking the next batch. Once all of the doughnuts have completely cooled, transfer them to a mesh cookie rack* or plate to ice and sprinkle with lavender sugar. Spoon a tablespoon of icing over each doughnut, carefully smoothing out the icing with the back of your spoon. Before the icing fully hardens, sprinkle on the lavender sugar using your hands or a sieve.
Making These Lemon & Lavender Baked Doughnuts? You Might Need These*:
And just like that you've got yourself a plate full of delicious lemon and lavender baked doughnuts! These baked doughnuts are extra lemon forward with the most perfect dusting of lavender sugar. This lavender sugar recipe is so delicious, feel free to top it on everything. Your coffee, tea, cookies, anything! You name it, throw some lavender sugar on it.
PrintLemon & Lavender Baked Doughnuts with Lavender Sugar
These delicate and fluffy healthy baked doughnuts are the perfect zesty sweet treat! Lemon and lavender are the ultimate flavor duo and the lemon zest in this recipe is light and refreshing, while the dusted lavender topping gives these baked doughnuts some major flavor depth.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 12 Doughnuts 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
For the doughnuts:
1 cup all-purpose flour (use a spoon to scoop the flour into the measuring cup and shake to level)
½ cup sugar
dash of salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 egg
½ cup plain yogurt (any fat %)
½ cup milk (any fat %)
1 tablespoon canola oil
For the lavender sugar topping:
⅙ cup sugar
1 tablespoon culinary lavender
½ tablespoon lemon zest
For the icing:
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon lemon zest
5-8 teaspoons milk (any fat %)
Instructions
- Prep: Preheat the oven to 350˚F and prepare doughnut baking sheet with non-stick spray.
- Separately whisk the dry and wet ingredients: In a large mixing bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and lemon zest together until throughly combined. In a smaller bowl bowl, whisk together the egg, yogurt, milk, and canola oil until throughly combined.
- Combine the dry and wet ingredients: Make a well in the center of the large dry ingredient bowl and pour the wet ingredients into the center well. Using a rubber spatula, slowly mix the dry and wet ingredients together in a circular motion until just combined, some lumps are ok.
- Bake: Spoon the batter into the doughnut baking sheet, filling each mold about ¾ths full. Bake for 10 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean from the center. Allow the doughnuts to completely cool before removing from the tin and assembling for step 7.
- Prepare the lavender sugar topping: In a food processor, blend the sugar, lemon zest, and lavender on high speed for 2 minutes, until the sugar has a purple hue and the lavender is completely chopped. Set aside for step 7.
- Prepare the icing: In a small bowl, stir the powdered sugar and lemon zest together while adding the milk, one teaspoon at a time. Around the 7th teaspoon, the powdered sugar should be a good spreadable consistency but the final icing thickness is up to you! Adding more liquid will thin the icing out, while more powder sugar will thicken it back up.
- Assemble the doughnuts: Spoon about a tablespoon of icing over the top of the doughnut. Before the icing dries and sets, sprinkle the lavender sugar over the top using your hands or shaking a sieve over the top.
Equipment
Oxo Rubber-Bottom Mixing Bowls
Buy Now →Notes
The linked recipe card equipment and ingredients are affiliate links.
The total amount of lemon zest needed is 2 ½ tablespoons of lemon zest, which is equal to about 1 large lemon.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 doughnut
- Calories: 176
- Sugar: 28 g
- Sodium: 206 mg
- Fat: 3 g
- Saturated Fat: 1 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 2 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 36 g
- Fiber: 0 g
- Protein: 2 g
- Cholesterol: 17 mg
Keywords: Lemon lavender doughnuts
Trish says
Light, sweet and fluffy <3 The flavors were SO good
★★★★★
Michele says
Thank you Trish for stopping by! So glad you liked my recipe!
Kayla L. says
I just made these using a little donut maker and they are SO GOOD. They’re actually addicting! Definitely will be making these again, wow.
★★★★★
Michele Sidorenkov, RDN says
Kayla, thank you for the comment! I am so happy you loved the recipe and yes, I agree they are so addicting 😉