lucky’s charmed vanilla doughnuts
Wahoo, I ventured into the sunshine today!
I’ve been cooped up two days so far with this flu, and Thursday morning finally felt okay enough to enjoy a slow, short walk around the block. I had to sit down for awhile afterwards, but the weather’s been so charming lately that missing out entirely seemed like sacrilege. Obviously, I’m no fool when it comes to messing with illness – not one of those who’s like WOO I FEEL SLIGHTLY BETTER TIME TO RUN 10K – but good lord did I need to get outdoors.
To make up for my lack of fresh air, I’m bringing you some Lucky’s Charmed Vanilla Doughnuts. These colorful treats just improve my mood by looking at them – and then when I eats one, I feel even better. Baked and not fried for a bit of a healthier twist, infused with Lucky Charms cereal milk and loads of vanilla extract for a simple but lovely St. Patrick’s Day treat or Easter morning brunch.
I quite wanted to incorporate Lucky Charms somehow into a baked good, but shunned cookies or cupcakes since everyone and their grandmother seems to put out a recipe for either. Didn’t want to be a broken record, so I thought, why not doughnuts?
Mom used to make doughnuts for holidays in her little electric doughnut maker. Always frosted generously with that shit you buy premade in the stores. Still got a weak spot for those tubs of buttercream. Instead, we throw some of that cereal milk used in the batter into an easy vanilla icing into which you dunk and swirl the doughnuts once they’re cooled.
These fluffy guys are fun, simple, and so bright and happy they’ll surely bring a smile to the crotchetiest of old men. Case in point: me. If something makes my salty ass grin, you know it’s got some merit.
Milk in the Nuts
Aight, fuck this being child friendly.
First things first, chuck some cereal into milk and let it soak awhile to make – gasp – cereal milk. If you’re like me, the sugary milk at the end of a bowl of cereal is the best part. Some of this goes into the doughnut, some into the icing.
The rest of the doughnut ingredients hearken to a nice vanilla doughnut. Sugar and melted butter first, then eggs, lots of vanilla, and plenty of Greek yogurt. Then your dry shit, and finally a few splashes of the cereal milk. The resulting batter is very thicker, slightly more so than cake batter.
Grease some doughnut pans and pipe the batter into the slots. Fill them about 2/3 of the way full, they will poof up! Bake for a bit until nice and puffy and no longer gooey.
Icing, Icing, Baby
After the doughnuts cool, prepare the icing. We’re going with a simple vanilla cereal milk situation here.
Start with about 2 tablespoons of milk to the 2 cups of powdered sugar, and work your way up as needed to create a thick, silky consistency. I needed 3 tablespoons to achieve what I needed.
Then, dip one side of each doughnut into the icing, let the excess drippy drip off, and set onto a wire rack set over a piece of parchment to catch any runny icing. It should not drip overmuch – if it does, it’s too thin, and I’d suggest adding more powdered sugar 1 tablespoon at a time to thicken it up.
For decoration, I like to press color-coordinating Lucky Charms mallows into each, because I am a ho for uniformity, and throw on some rainbow sprinkles. So much color!
Eat these right away. If you plan to store some for later, just keep in mind the icing will melt into the doughnut and become a little weird. I’d leave a few naked if you want leftovers, and ice them once you’re ready to serve. A good make-ahead tip, too.
So long as you keep the jokes about Lucky’s nuts out of your mouth, these are a swell treat for kids. Get them involved with the decorating, too! Well, as long as you don’t mind a very unaesthetic and probably very unpleasant cleanup job.
Squee! I just love these. Can’t wait for ya’ll to try them, and please have a fun, albeit safe, St. Patty’s Day! I’ll probably be sprawled in bed or on the couch fighting off the last tendrils of this bug I’ve been fighting.
Tried this recipe out? Leave a rating and comment below with your thoughts, and don’t forget to come say hi on Instagram and show me what you made!
Doughy nuts:
Baked Maple Banana Bread Doughnuts
Baked Blueberry Chai Doughnuts
lucky’s charmed vanilla doughnuts
Ingredients
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup Lucky Charms cereal
- 4 tbsp butter, melted
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup plain whole milk Greek yogurt
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- lucky charms marshmallows and rainbow nonpareils, for garnish
cereal milk icing
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3-4 tbsp cereal milk
Instructions
- In a glass measuring jar or bowl, combine the milk with the Lucky Charms cereal. Let soak for 30 minutes, then strain out the solids and discard.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 2 6-slot doughnut pans with oil or butter.
- In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until combined, about 2-3 minutes. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then the vanilla and Greek yogurt. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer running, stream in 1/4 cup of the cereal milk until just combined. Do not overmix. The batter will be very thick.
- Scoop the batter into a piping bag or a large ziptop bag with a corner snipped off. Pipe the batter into the doughnut tins, filling 2/3 of the way full. Bake for 10-12 minutes until an inserted toothpick emerges with just a few moist crumbs. Cool 5 minutes in the pans, then gently run a knife around each doughnut to loosen, and move to a wire rack to cool completely.
- To make the icing, whisk together the powdered sugar, vanilla, and 2 tablespoons of the cereal milk. If needed, add milk 1 tablespoon at a time to reach a thick but smooth consistency.
- Dunk one side of each doughnut into the icing, letting excess drip off. Immediately press a few Lucky Charms marshmallows and sprinkle some nonpareils. Let sit 5 minutes to set the frosting, then enjoy!
