Easy baked Key Lime Donuts topped with a key lime glaze and crushed graham crackers. These taste like a key lime pie, but in donut form!
I like to think of myself as a pretty focused and organized person in life. But I have this weird habit of taking things out of the cabinet or refrigerator and then putting them back in the wrong place. It drives my husband CRAZY.
About a month or so ago, I was baking a few dozen cupcakes one night and my husband opened the refrigerator and pulled out an oven mitt. An oven mitt. To be honest, I have no idea how it got there. I’m still trying to figure that one out.
This past weekend I went to the store and picked up everything to make these key lime donuts, including some milk. The next morning I woke up ready to start baking and could not find the milk anywhere. I looked everywhere I could possibly think of and could not find it.
Any guesses as to where I found it? In the freezer. Frozen solid. I have no idea how I do these things, but someone please tell me I am not the only one?!
So if you’re wondering where I’m going with this story, it’s that I ended up using some vanilla Greek yogurt in these donuts instead of milk. To be honest, I was actually happy with how these donuts turned out with the Greek yogurt instead of the milk. The Greek yogurt adds a little bit of tanginess to the donuts that works well with the key lime flavor!
Ingredients for This Recipe
This is such an easy baked cake donut recipe that calls for ingredients you likely have on hand already. Here’s what you’ll need to make the donuts and glaze:
- All-purpose flour: Spoon and level the flour when measuring it, otherwise you may accidentally measure out too much.
- Baking powder: Helps the cake donuts rise in the oven.
- Salt: Balances out the sweet yogurt and sugar and enhances the lime flavor.
- Vanilla Greek yogurt: Adds a subtle tanginess that complements the key lime flavor perfectly.
- Granulated sugar: I used just enough sugar to balance out the key lime flavor without totally overpowering it.
- Key limes: To really make the key lime flavor stand out in these donuts, I use fresh key lime juice and key lime zest in the donuts. I also used key lime juice in the glaze, but if you prefer it a little less tangy you can use milk instead for the glaze.
- Unsalted butter: Needs to be melted and allowed to cool before being mixed into the batter. If you add the melted butter while it’s still hot, you may scramble the egg by mistake.
- Egg: Should be room temperature before making the batter.
- Vanilla extract: Pure vanilla is always preferred.
- Powdered sugar: Used to make a simple lime glaze for the top of the baked donuts.
- Graham cracker crumbs: An optional (but highly recommended) topping for the donuts.
How to Make Key Lime Donuts
To make this easy baked donut recipe, simply combine the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet in another. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until just combined.
Then, divide the batter between 8 donut cavities. I like to use a piping bag to do this, but a spoon works too! The best thing about making baked donuts is that they only take about 10 minutes to bake. Then just let them cool for a few minutes, dunk them in the glaze, and boom! Easy Baked Key Lime Donuts.
I topped these off with a little bit of crushed graham cracker to stick with the key lime pie theme. I love the little extra sweetness and crunch that it adds to the tops of these donuts, but you can feel free to leave it off.
Can I Use Regular Limes?
Yes, if you can’t find key limes you’re welcome to substitute regular limes instead.
Baking Tips
- If you have milk on hand that you’d like to use instead of the yogurt, add 1/3 cup milk to the batter and omit the yogurt altogether.
- Use a piping bag (or ziplock bag with the corner snipped off) and pipe the batter into the donut cavities. So much easier than using a spoon and less messy too!
- Homemade baked donuts can be kept at room temperature for up to three days in an airtight container.
More Oven Baked Donuts to Make!
- Baked Chocolate Donuts
- Baked Pumpkin Donut Holes
- Baked Lemon Blueberry Donuts
- Baked Apple Cider Donuts
- Baked Pumpkin Donuts with Maple Glaze
Baked Key Lime Donuts
Ingredients
For the donuts:
- 1 cup (125 grams) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup (80 grams) vanilla Greek yogurt
- 1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon (80 grams) granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons (30 ml) fresh key lime juice
- 1 teaspoon key lime zest
- 2 tablespoons (30 grams) unsalted butter (melted and slightly cooled)
- 1 large egg (at room temperature)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the glaze:
- 1 cup (120 grams) powdered sugar
- 2-3 tablespoons (30 to 45 ml) fresh key lime juice
Optional topping:
- Crushed graham cracker
Instructions
To make the donuts:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a donut pan well with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In a separate mixing bowl, mix together the Greek yogurt, sugar, key lime juice, key lime zest, melted butter, egg, and vanilla until well combined. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
- Pipe or spoon the batter into the donut cavities, you should end up with about 8 donuts. If using a 6-count donut pan, you will need to bake in two separate batches.
- Bake at 350°F for 9-10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the donut comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Remove the donuts from the pan and transfer to a wire rack to cool.
To make the glaze:
- Add the powdered sugar and key lime juice to a mixing bowl and mix until well combined. If the glaze is too thick, add in a little extra key lime juice to thin it out. If the glaze is too thin, add in a little extra powdered sugar to thicken it up.
- Dunk each donut into the glaze and return back to the wire rack. Top with crushed graham crackers if desired.
- Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes so the glaze can harden. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Oh my! I love anything “key lime”! And that graham cracker sprinkle is perfection! Oven mitt in the fridge? Milk in the freezer? Oh yeah….I’ve been there! It’s always nice to know that we’re not alone in these things! 😉
Haha thank you, Annie! That makes me feel much better!
I bet these are so refreshing! YUM! and you are not the only one, I have such a bad habit of doing such things too, so you are not the only one 😉
Thank you, Manali! So glad I’m not the only one!
Your story made me laugh Danielle! I do things like that sometimes and drive myself crazy….I think my mind is just somewhere else sometimes! haha Sounds like it all worked out using Greek yogurt because these look so fluffy and delicious. Key lime is one of my favorite things ever so I’m all over these!
I can drive myself crazy trying to find things I’ve misplaced too, Marcie. Thank you! 🙂
Tessa
You are definitely not the only one! I’ve done that many towns before – I once found a perishable item in my room even tho I make a practice of avoiding bringing food into my room to save on cleanup. I think what causes it is that my brain is very active and I think heavily while I bake and while I walk places, so when I relocate between rooms I sometimes forget to put down the item I am holding until I have to pick up something else, so it usually ends up in the location where I found the new item. (Probably that is how your oven mitt got in the fridge – you must have been holding it while you went to get a refrigerator item and then put it down so you could pick up the item you needed.)
Ignore the name at the top of my comment, I do realize your real name is Danielle – just another example of my absent-mindedness!! 😉
I’m the exact same way when I start baking, I feel like I’m just so focused on that and tend to forget about everything else. It makes me feel so much better that I’m not alone with this 🙂 Thanks, Annie!
Love anything key lime and these donuts look amazing! Love the story, I’ve done similar things, too! Great that Greek yogurt worked for these! Pinning!
That made me giggle! Once we found a moldy block of cheese in one the kitchen drawers that we have NO idea who bought it there! I love these donuts, they look beautiful. Pinned!
Oh my gosh, Jess! That’s hilarious! I could see myself doing something like that too 😉
Hahaha, sounds like my brain these days! It makes me feel so crazy when I can’t find things I swear I had just bought! Donuts have been my most recent craving and I’m loving this key lime version!
Me too, Izzy. I usually always end up finding it way after the fact too!
You are too funny! 🙂 I love to organize my refrigerator (and cabinets, closets, etc) but have never put anything that shouldn’t go into the freezer…yet! My husband knows that whenever we go grocery shopping, I’m the one that needs to put it away. These donuts look SO good, Danielle! I love that you put a classic pie into donut form. I’m definitely craving one (or three) of these cuties for breakfast today!
Sounds like I need you to come help with my organization skills over here, Gayle! I’m so bad about putting everything in the wrong place when it comes to putting groceries away.
Is it possible to make these gluten free??
Hi, Paula! I’m not familiar with gluten free baking, so I’m unsure. If you’re looking for gluten free options though, my friend Annie from maebells.com has a wonderful website with all gluten free recipes. I hope that helps!
I do ridiculous things in the kitchen All the time! Haha
These looks so delicious but unfortunately the smell, let alone the taste of Greek yogurt turns me off! LOL
If I were to use the milk instead, would it be the same quantity? Thank you so much for your recipes!
Glad to hear I’m not alone, Susanne! You can replace the Greek yogurt for 1/3 cup of milk in this recipe.
Could you please tell me how to store the Key Lime Donuts and how long they will last ?
You can store them in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days.
Hi Danielle,
Can I swap the baking powder for yeast and fry the dough for fried donuts?
I haven’t tried it, but I’m not quite sure that it would work for this recipe.
These were AMAZING! I shared some tips on my blog, for example if you’re not going to eat them right away, don’t put on the graham crumbs or they will get soggy in the air tight container. Next time I’m going to try to faux deep fry them in the ActiFry! Thank you for this amazing recipe, it’s awesome!
Thank you for sharing, Sophia! So glad you liked the donuts!
Just made these today for the first time and the family loved them! Really great flavor.
Thank you, Heather! So glad you loved the donuts!