Cardamom Donuts

These cardamom donuts are sure to satisfy your sweet tooth. I’ve been really intrigued by the idea of integrating cardamom into more of my recipes ever since I first made Swedish cinnamon buns. Cardamom is a popular spice in Sweden, yet it rarely gets attention in the States. In this recipe, the cardamom is integrated into both the donut dough and the frosting. Yum!

These donuts are fried, not baked, so you will need a donut cutter. (If you are looking for a baked donuts recipe, you can check out our gingerbread donuts or pumpkin streusel donuts.) This recipe yields a dozen donuts. The shorter, printable version of this recipe can be found below, but read on if you want more detailed step-by-step instructions.

The Cardamom Donut Dough

First, we’ll begin by making the donut dough. I usually use a little bit of nutmeg in my donut dough, but for this recipe I substituted it with cardamom. The full list of ingredients you need for the dough are as follows:

• 1 package of instant dry yeast
• ⅛ cup of warm water
• ¾ cup of lukewarm buttermilk
• ¼ cup of granulated sugar
• ½ tsp of salt
• ¼ tsp of ground cardamom
• ⅛ tsp of vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 5 Tbsp of butter-flavored shortening (such as Crisco)
• 3 cups of cake flour

Empty the contents of the package of yeast in your KitchenAid mixing bowl. Be sure to use instant dry yeast, such as Fleischmann’s RapidRise. Be careful not to accidentally use bread yeast, which would make your donuts a bit more dense.

Next, pour the warm water on top of the yeast. You want to be sure that the water is warm, not hot. It needs to be just warm enough to activate the yeast. If the water is hot, then it will kill it. Let the yeast soak in the water for about five minutes, until it starts to get bubbly.

Once the warm water has activated the yeast, you can add in the lukewarm buttermilk. Again, you want to ensure that it is not hot, but just warm. At the same time, add in the sugar, salt, cardamom, vanilla extract, egg, and just one cup of the cake flour. Mix with the paddle attachment on medium speed until combined.

I like to use cake flour in donut recipes because it makes them more tender. Once all of the ingredients are mixed together, add in another cup of the cake flour and mix until incorporated. Finally, add in the third cup and mix until combined. At this point, you’ll want to check the consistency of the dough. If it is too sticky to the touch, then add in more cake flour ¼ cup at a time until all dough has been scraped off the sides of the bowl by the paddle attachment. Ideally, the dough will still be a little sticky but easy to work with.

Remove the dough from the bowl and the paddle and place it on a lightly-floured surface (ideally, floured with cake flour.) Sprinkle the dough with cake flour and knead it into a ball. Then, cover it with a cloth napkin and let the dough rise for one hour.

Cutting the Donuts

Once the dough has risen, lightly flour a rolling pin and begin rolling the dough out into a circle about ½ inch thick. Then, dip your donut cutter in flour and begin cutting the dough. As you go, gather the donut holes to the side so that you can rework them into the dough later (or, keep them as is if you want to make donuts holes too!)

Place each donut off to the side on a lightly-floured surface. When there is no more room to cut, gather the dough back up, knead it, roll it back out, and begin cutting again (much like the process of making sugar cookies.)

When all of the donuts have been cut, drape a cloth napkin over them and let rise for another hour.

Frying the Cardamom Donuts

When the donuts are done rising, you can begin heating up the oil to fry them. I use a dutch oven to fry my donuts, but if you have a deep fryer you can use that too. The dutch oven method does require a candy thermometer, as it is essential to moderate the temperature of the oil.

Fill your dutch oven up 3 inches deep with vegetable oil and place over medium-high heat with the candy thermometer in the oil. The ideal temperature for frying donuts is about 360 degrees Fahrenheit. Once the oil reaches that temperature, it will begin rising even higher very quickly. For this reason, you want to lower the heat a bit once the oil reaches temperature and moderate throughout the entire frying process.

When the oil is ready, gently dip each donut one at a time into the oil. To ensure that you do not burn yourself, do not let go of each donut until it is submerged up to the hole. This will minimize splashing. Given that my dutch oven is medium sized, I fry three donuts at a time. If you have a bigger dutch oven, you may be able to fit more in at once, but be sure not to allow the donuts to crowd each other.

Let donuts fry for 1 minute and 15 seconds on each side. Use frying tongs to flip the donuts and fry them for the same amount of time on the other side. When they are done frying, place the donuts on a paper-towel lined plate. Repeat until all donuts are fried. Then, let the donuts cool for about five minutes before frosting them.

The Cardamom Donut Frosting

Once the donuts are done frying and have been set aside to cool, you can begin making the cardamom frosting. It is super easy to whip up and only calls for the following four ingredients:

• 3 Tbsp of melted butter
• 1 ½ cups of powdered sugar
• 3 Tbsp of half & half
• 1 ½ tsp of ground cardamom

In a small mixing bowl, melt the butter in the microwave. Then, add in the powdered sugar, half & half, and cardamom. Use a whisk to mix all together into a deliciously gooey frosting.

For this recipe, you can choose to top your donuts with sprinkles or nuts. Since the frosting is already so sweet, I like to use crushed hazelnuts, which breaks up the sweetness. However, if you want to go all in on the sugar, then you can use your choice of sprinkles. Whichever topping you choose, empty it into a small mixing bowl.

Right before you frost the donuts, pop the frosting in the microwave for about 10 seconds to get it warm, then use a spoon to mix the frosting. Dip each donut about halfway into the bowl of frosting. As you lift each donut back up, let the excess frosting dip back into the bowl. Immediately dip each donut into the bowl containing the topping. Then, set each donut aside.

Once all donuts are frosted, they are ready to serve and enjoy for breakfast or dessert! Sadly, fried donuts do not last very long. It’s best to serve these right away, as that is when they will taste their freshest and best.

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