These baked Margarita donuts are the most refreshing, boozy donuts I’ve ever made. They taste just like the real drink! The flavors are light and refreshing, with a strong, boozy kick. And they can easily be modified to be made non-alcoholic. This makes them the ideal summer donuts for any occasion.
I baked the donuts to keep them light, airy, and non-greasy. I prefer baking to frying because it is much easier and quicker. And you can also incorporate more flavors into the batter.
I chose to only include the alcohol into the glaze. That’s because the flavors never really come through when you incorporate them into the batter. First of all you are limited to how much (or I should say little) liquid you can add to the batter. And second of all, the alcohol evaporates when you bake the donuts.
When you dissolve the icing sugar into the alcohol you get both the flavors of the alcohol, as well as a boozy kick. And the flavors are just as strong even days after making the glaze. That’s because the sugar binds the alcohol and stabilizes it.
Additionally, by only using the alcohol in the glaze, you can modify the recipe to serve those who do not consume alcohol. Simply replace all alcohol with lime juice.
To bake the donuts, I used a medium, 6-cavity donut pan. This resulted in 12 donuts.
See more donut recipes here.
Here’s how to make these light and refreshing Margarita donuts:
Margarita Donuts
Ingredients
For the Batter:
- 3 large eggs at room temperature
- 1 cup (150 g/ 5 ¼ oz.) all-purpose flour
- ½ cup (100 g/ 3 ½ oz.) granulated sugar
- 1 stick (115 g/ 4 oz.) unsalted butter at room temperature
- zest from one medium lime
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp. unsalted butter at room temperature for greasing the pan
For the Glaze:
- 1 ¾ cup (200 g/ 7 oz.) icing sugar
- 2 tbsp. tequila
- 1 tbsp. Grand Marnier
- 1 tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice
Optional:
- zest from half a lime for decorating
Instructions
For the Batter:
- Pre-heat oven to 180 °C (350 °F).
- In a bowl sift the flour, then add the baking powder. Mix them with a whisk and set aside.
- Gently melt the butter over low temperature. Make sure the butter does not bubble. Once melted, set it aside and allow it to cool a little.
- Crack the eggs into another bowl, add the sugar and beat at high speed with an electric mixer. The mixture is ready when almost triple in volume and light in color. Then add the vanilla extract, salt, lime zest, and whisk until incorporated.
- Using a spatula add the flour mix to the eggs mixture in three-four steps, mixing after each addition until the flour is well incorporated. Make sure not to over mix. Add the melted butter in two steps and mix until well incorporated. Allow the batter to sit for 5 minutes.
- Grease the donut pan with butter. Pipe the batter into the pan filling ¾ of each cavity, and bake for 10 minutes, or until donuts spring back when gently pressed.
- Once baked, take the pan out of the oven and allow the donuts to cool in the donut pan 2-3 minutes at room temperature. Transfer them to a rack and let them sit until completely cooled.
For the Glaze:
- Add the alcohol and lime juice to the icing sugar. Mix until the sugar is well dissolved. Once the donuts have cooled, dip them into the glaze.
Optional:
- Add lime zest to the icing sugar when making the glaze for extra flavour.
