Homemade Holiday Doughnuts to Dazzle and Delight

Simple, comforting, and perfect for enjoying any time of day with a warm beverage and good company, doughnuts are a great addition to any holiday spread. In Jewish culture, fried foods commemorate the story of Hanukkah, when a day’s worth of oil miraculously lasted eight nights at the Temple of Jerusalem; filled sufganiyot are a tradition in Israel, while crisp, airy sfinj are a Moroccan mainstay. If you’re feeling crafty, your guests will love pastry chef Paola Velez’s Christmas tree–like centerpiece of stacked doughnut holes. For all the doughnut deliciousness without any frying, go for our yeasted, cinnamon-laced doughnut cake or cakey jam-filled doughnut muffins. No matter what your festivities look like this season, we’ve got a holiday doughnut recipe to sweeten the celebration.

Old-Fashioned Doughnut Croquembouche

Sarah Crowder / Food Styling by Drew Aichele

In pastry chef Paola Velez’s holiday version of croquembouche, cinnamon doughnuts stand in for the typical cream puffs, while delicate strands of caramel and dots of gold leaf adorn the festive tree.

Cinnamon-Cardamom Sufganiyot

Jennifer Causey / Food Styling by Ali Ramee / Prop Styling by Christina Daley

A cream-centered take on sufganiyot, this classic Hanukkah dessert from chef Eitan Bernath is fried before it’s tossed in cinnamon sugar and filled with cardamom pastry cream.

Cardamom-Spiced Apple Fritters

Greg DuPree / Food Styling by Torie Cox / Prop Styling by Christine Keely

Apple fritters are delicious even with little adornment — but here, F&W’s Justin Chapple ramps up the flavor with citrus, spices, and a sprinkling of dried rose and chopped pistachios for pretty red-and-green holiday vibes. The cardamom-infused glaze is an elegant touch.

Caramelized Cinnamon Doughnut Cake

Food & Wine / Photo by Greg DuPree / Food Styling by Julian Hensarling / Prop Styling by Julia Bayless

Draw a crowd with the toasty, warmly spiced aromas of this irresistible dessert hybrid. Mashed russet potato gives it a soft, chewy texture and subtle richness. The pillowy dough’s buttery brown sugar–cinnamon topping caramelizes in the oven and forms a crisp, crackly crust over the tender crumb beneath.

Baked Sweet Potato Doughnuts

Con Poulos

Sweet potato puree gives these lightly spiced baked doughnuts a seasonal upgrade with natural richness. Drizzled with butter and coated in cinnamon sugar, they capture the warmth of holiday baking in every bite.

Loukoumades

Robby Lozano / Food Styling by Julian Hensarling / Prop Styling by Christina Daley

A Greek Christmas staple, loukoumades are essentially doughnut holes, though the sweet dough is scooped rather than punched out of a full-sized ring. Once fried, they’re tossed in a mix of melted butter, honey, and cinnamon, then sprinkled with chopped nuts.

Maple-Meringue Doughnuts

Tara Donne

The marshmallowy meringue filling in these otherworldly homemade doughnuts from pastry chef Joanne Chang calls for an intense, robust, high-quality maple syrup to ensure lots of maple goodness.

Pon de Ring (Mochi-Tofu Doughnuts)

Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer / Prop Styling by Lydia Pursell

With their wreath-like shape, these chewy strawberry-scented doughnuts invite a little decorative creativity for extra holiday flair. If you prefer lemon, check out the variation with fresh lemon juice.

Jam Doughnut Muffins

Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Margaret Monroe Dickey / Prop Styling by Julia Bayless

Filled with your choice of festive jam and rolled in melted butter and orange-scented sugar, these tender, cakey doughnut muffins will be a favorite at your holiday table.

Bimuelos with Cranberry Curd and Cardamom Honey

Dan Perez / Food Styling and Prop Styling by Nurit Kariv

The doughnut varieties are many: Bimuelos are a Sephardic equivalent of the Ashkenazi sufganiyot with strong roots in Spain and Latin America. These fried dough balls are doused in cardamom-laced honey and cranberry curd.

Hanukkah Doughnuts

John Kernick

Andrew Zimmern’s traditional sufganiyot-style Hanukkah doughnuts are dredged in cinnamon sugar and filled with strawberry jam.

Sfinj

Christine Han

Hailing from Morocco, these doughnuts have a crispy exterior and fluffy interior. New York Shuk co-founders Leetal and Ron Arazi serve them with a saffron and cardamom syrup.

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