So, these banana donuts are definitely not a recipe that you're going to whip up on a busy weekday. But take a lazy Saturday morning, put some music on (or cartoons for the kids...yes, my kids watch tv!) and get to work on these while you sip your coffee and you'll feel so accomplished when you set these in front of your family!
This donut recipe came from an old cookbook that my mother in law let me borrow and it's filled with recipes that are just classic, simple and delicious! I don't know about you but I see so many recipes lately that are just weird or over-the-top and it makes me appreciate older classic recipes like these banana donuts so much more! They do take a little time to make but they are not difficult at all! And if you REALLY want to go all out (trust me...you do!), make them with my caramel dipping sauce on the side. (Tip: You can make the caramel sauce and the donut dough the night before!)
The dough will be a little sticky when you first take it out of the fridge so just sprinkle flour all over it when before you go to roll it out.
Now I don't own a donut cutter or even a tiny circle cutter so I just used a spice container lid. If you want to get a donut cutter, [easyazon_link identifier="B00080FQ24" locale="US" tag="cocandash-20"]here's[/easyazon_link] one that looks like it'd be perfect for the donuts and the holes!
These little guys only cook for about 45 seconds per side. And all you have to do to flip them is use a spatula to tap one side of the donut and they'll easily flip right over!
Believe me when I tell you...you HAVE to make them with my caramel sauce!! 
Thanks to my husband Matt for being my hand model! 🙂
Banana Donuts
Ingredients
- 5 tablespoon softened butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 small bananas)
- ½ cup buttermilk (or regular milk with 1 teaspoon lemon juice added)
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 5 cups all purpose flour
- 4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Canola or vegetable oil for frying (I used 6 cups)
- "Coco and Ash" caramel dipping sauce
Cinnamon Sugar Coating
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
Instructions
For the donuts
- Either in the bowl of a stand mixer or a large bowl, add your butter and sugar and beat together until light and fluffy.
- Then add in your mashed bananas, eggs, vanilla, and buttermilk. (If you don't have buttermilk, just add 1 teaspoon of lemon juice to regular milk). Stir until combined.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt.
- Slowly add the dry mixture to the wet mixture. I like to add about ⅓ at a time and mix in between. If you're doing this by hand and not in a stand mixer, you're welcome for the arm workout 🙂
- leave the dough in the bowl and pop it in the fridge for 1 hour.
- After your dough has been chilled, sprinkle a board or your counter top with a little flour and plop the dough on top. You may want to sprinkle some flour on the top of the dough too if it seems sticky.
- Knead the dough for just a second to bring it all together. (No need to any fancy kneading techniques, just squeeze the dough together a few times so it comes together). If you have any sticky spots, just sprinkle with more flour.
- Using a rolling pin, roll the dough to about ½ inch thick.
- Cut out your donut holes. I don't have a fancy donut cutter so I just used the lid of a spice container.
Frying the donuts
- Make your cinnamon sugar mixture and set it aside right next to where you are frying.
- Add your oil to a pot so that it's at least 2 inches deep.
- Heat the oil to 375. I use a candy thermometer but you'll know when your oil is ready when you drop a little bit of flour in the pan and it sizzles. I like to add in just one donut as a test and see how it does, if it browns quickly and the inside is raw, lower the heat. if it doesn't sizzle, raise your heat. I keep mine burner on medium pretty much the whole time.
- So once you have your oil at the right temp, you can cook the donut holes in batches. I do about 5 or 6 at a time and cook them for about 45 seconds per side.
- As soon as you pull them out of the oil, drop them into the cinnamon sugar mixture and roll them around until they are coated. If you go through a few batches and notice that the sugar has stopped sticking to the donuts, it's just because a lot of oil that's gotten into the cinnamon sugar mixture. Just add in some more sugar and cinnamon and keep going. 🙂
- Enjoy!!! These are SO GOOD dipped in my brown sugar caramel sauce!
[…] Cinnamon Sugar Banana Donuts […]