Lemon & Poppy Seed Baked Donuts
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About the blogger: Sam is a decent baker, pursuer of mental wellness, and lover of chai tea lattes. She blogs part-time and works as a nanny during the day, and she’s also a Board Certified Music Therapist, with a minor in psychology. Sam lives in Washington, US, with her husband, Aidan, and their cat, Missy. She loves to write about baking, mental health and self-care, relationships, and faith. Other things she loves include being outside, seeing beautiful places, and playing games!
I didn’t think I liked lemon-flavoured baked goods until a few years ago. Then again, I never tried jam until I was 16, so you can say my eating habits were a bit sheltered as a kid.
I think I always associated lemon flavour with actual lemons and those Lemonhead hard candies, both of which are so sour! So I just never wanted to try lemon desserts.
I can’t even pinpoint the moment I tried (and liked) a lemon baked good for the first time, but now I rave about them! The thing is, when there are other ingredients that help neutralize the sourness of the lemon, the delicious natural sweetness can shine bright!
Baking as Self-Care
I like to write about baking on my blog. I also love to write about self-care. What do the two have in common? Well, baking is probably my favourite self-care practice.
I feel like self-care of a word that gets thrown around a lot these days, but sometimes it’s unclear what it actually means.
Self-care is anything that has to do with taking care of your whole self. When we are intentional about our self-care, we are in tune with ourselves. We recognize the things we need to do to keep our bodies healthy, appropriately express our emotions, and feel at peace. When we don’t practice self-care, it’s all too easy to become burnt out, have low energy, emotional eat unhealthy things, feel negatively about ourselves, and forget what we’re working toward!
Self-care can be eating an orange. It can be taking a walk or putting on makeup. It can be journaling your thoughts and emotions. Sometimes self-care is even things you don’t like to do, like going to the dentist or NOT having the sweets.
For me, baking is a form of self-care that I practice almost every week. It’s not something I could do every night for self-care, since it’s a bit more time-consuming, but I still want to do it regularly.
Baking is systematic. There’s a recipe that you pretty much have to follow exactly because little differences can change the entire product. It’s relaxing for me that I can follow the recipe in a routine and organized way, especially when my life is feeling chaotic!
Baking is familiar to me. It’s something I’ve been doing for a long time, so it’s comforting as something I can always go back to. At the same time, since I am quite comfortable with baking, I often feel inspired to try new kinds of recipes (like donuts). This encourages my creativity, which is another great way to practice self-care!
And finally, the end result of baking is so satisfying. I like getting a product pretty soon after the process, so baking is wonderful for that! I either get a treat I’m very familiar with, something special I don’t make often, or I get to try something new!
Maybe baking is a way you also like to practice self-care! Or maybe you like to share treats with others. Or maybe baking is part of your job! Whichever it is, I hope this recipe can satisfy a need in your life and help you make something delicious 😊
Tips for this lemon & poppy seed donut recipe:
- I recommend getting an oven thermometer! Most home ovens are not precise, and the wrong temperature bakes your baked goods wrong! My home oven is about 40°F (4.4°C) high, which is pretty significant. No wonder my bakes were always coming out dry or burnt!
- If you can, measure your flour, sugars, and sour cream with a digital scale. This helps to get the most accurate measurements as measuring devices can all be slightly different or warped.
- Fresh lemons really work better than bottled lemon juice, especially when your main flavor is lemon! The bottled lemon juice loses its potency so fast. It’s not too hard to cut and squeeze a couple lemons! And definitely don’t skimp on the lemon zest either. It adds so much flavor! Lemons have 4-5 Tbsp of lemon juice in each.
- I use silicone donut pans because I like that I am able to push them out from the bottom. Metal ones work too! Either way, be sure to grease GENEROUSLY. There’s nothing worse than a chunk out of your donut (that you didn’t bite).
- You can just spoon the batter into the donut wells, but the donuts come out a lot smoother when you put it in a bag and pipe it in circles.
- I had never tried dipping donuts (or anything) in the glaze/icing… it was lovely. 10/10 recommend.
Lemon & Poppy Seed Baked Donuts
Ingredients
Donuts
- 2 cups flour 9 oz, 256 g
- ¾ cup sugar 5.3 oz, 150 g
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 tbsp poppy seeds
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup sour cream 4.3 oz, 120 g
- 2 tbsp butter melted and slightly cooled
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice 2 lemons for whole recipe
- 2 tsp lemon zest
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Lemon Glaze
- 2 cups powdered sugar 8.8 oz, 250 g
- 3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 tbsp heavy whipping cream
- 2 tsp lemon zest
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 400°F or 204°C (an oven thermometer is recommended to be sure your oven isn’t too hot or cool).
- In a large bowl, add all dry ingredients and stir to combine.
- Add eggs, sour cream, milk, butter, lemon juice, lemon zest and vanilla and stir everything until just combined.
- Spray your donut pan generously with non-stick cooking spray. Don’t be afraid to overdo it a bit.
- Pipe your batter into wells of donut pan with a piping bag or zip-top bag with a corner cut off.
- Cook for about 10 minutes or until donuts spring back when touched.
- Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for a few minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Meanwhile, mix together your glaze ingredients with a hand mixer in a wide bowl.
- When the donuts are cool, dip the tops in the glaze. Top with sprinkles, poppy seeds, or lemon zest.
The recipe is meant to make 12 donuts, but when I separated the dough into 12 parts the first time, the donuts were too tall and muffin-like. I found that 14 worked better, but I may just have slightly smaller donut moulds!
Thank you so much to the lovely Sam for her super yummy lemon & poppy seed baked donuts! There is nothing yummier than these, just look at those little pillows of joy!
Check here our latest tiniest, sweetest peach pies you’ll ever see!
This sounds like an interesting combination. I have never baked doughnuts before. Thank you for sharing your recipe.
Lauren – bournemouthgirl
Thank you Lauren x
These look amazing! I love anything lemon poppy seed, and I’m always looking for an excuse to use my silicone donut pan (I don’t use it enough), so I’m definitely going to give these a try.
Thank you!
Oh wow these look incredible! I love anything lemon flavour, will have to give them a try 😊 🍋
They are so so delicious! x
Lemon and Poppy Seed is one of my favourite flavour combinations but I have never thought about making it into baked doughnuts before these sound incredible! I will 100% need to try these out!
Thank you Sarah x
Oh my goodness these donuts look amazing! I will have to try them out for sure!
Thank you Charity x
These look so delicious! I’ve only ever tried a gluten free lemon and poppy seed cake and it was delicious! Thanks for sharing this recipe. I love baking for self-care and these look like something I NEED to add to my baking list! Em x
Thank you Em x
I actually adore all things lemon, especially in desserts and cakes, so while I’ll be omitting poppy seeds (hate them, sorry!) I can’t wait to give this recipe a go, thank you! x
I love lemon too Lisa, one of my faves ever x
I would like one for a midday coffee 🙂
Always a great idea x
These look absolutely delicious! Definitely getting added to my to-try pile! x
Thank you Mia x
These look so delicious! I haven’t made donuts before, but I think I will have to soon. Baking is definitely self-care for me as well. 🙂
Thank you Heidi xx
These donuts look great. I love the idea of adding lemon to them.
Thank you x
Baking could be a treat for a person and that definitely one of the self-care things. These look like delicious donuts. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you Fransic x
Your donut looks soooooo pretty! I like your perspective of baking as self-care. Remind me of my time working in the bakery decorating cakes all day long. Thanks for the recipe!
Oh that must have been fun – it’s my idea of a great time x
Fab guest post, Love that baking is your form of self-care! The donuts look so good too!
Corinne x
Thank you for reading Corinne x
I am a sucker for donuts! Absolutely loved this, seems easy enough for me to follow without making a total mess in the kitchen! Thank you for sharing!
Thank you for reading babe x
This recipe is so cute and looks so yummy! I also love how Sam mentioned baking as a method of self-care. I love baking when I want to feel productive and creative, but also to get a nice little sweet treat in the end! I’ve never tried to make donuts, but this was a good inspiration to get started, thanks for sharing!
Alexis
Thank you Alexis x
Oh boy, these donuts look amazing. You had me at lemon and then poppyseed… thanks a bunch for this,
Thank you Mark!
I love this post. Sam is a talented woman with her hands in so many pies (no pun intended). I also love that she’s incorporated a segment of self care into the post. Now onto the donuts! I’m not a big fan of lemon but these donuts look divine and I do want to give the recipe a go.
Madeline
madelinewilsonojo.com
Sam is a great lady indeed! Thank you for reading Madeline x
These look amazing!!! I’ll definitly have to try them.
Thank you Nyxie x
I loveeeeee doughnuts.
And this recipe looks yummy to my tummy.
Thanks for sharing.
-Rupali
https://momkidlife.com
Thank you Rupali x
These look incredible but I’m such a rubbish baker lol!
Oh no Lindsay! I’m sure you can try!!
Oooooo this sounds absolutely amazing! I’m a Brighton girl and doughnuts are truly loved down here and these sound perfect! I’ll for sure be making these. Thank you so much for sharing Sam & her bake! Xo
Elle – ellegracedeveson.com
Thank you Elle x
These look divine! That’s my weekend activity sorted
Thank you Jodie x
This recipe looks absolutely amazing. I love lemon and poppy seed as a flavour. I’ve never made donuts before but have seen so many great recipes I think u may have to try it out!
Thank you Bex x
Wow these look incredible!
Will definitely have to give these a try 😍
Thank you Lauren x
This recipe looks incredible! I love the section on baking as self care I did so much baking during lockdown. Lemon and poppy seed goods are my favourite so I’ll have to try this out x
Thank you Kayleigh x
OMG, this sounds lovely! I love Sam and her blog! I’ve never had a lemon poppyseed donut but I love lemon poppyseed muffins! I’d love to try this one out. Thanks for sharing x
Lynn | https://www.lynnmumbingmejia.com
Thank you Lynn xx
Hi Sam and Simona,
Thank you very much for this post. I love plain jam doughnuts but I’m not usually a fan of doughnuts that have lots of ‘stuff’ on the top. For some reason that makes them too sweet for my tastes (I know, I know, plain jam doughnuts are covered in sugar anyway! I didn’t say that my aversion made any sense!). Anyway, I’m hoping that perhaps the lemon aspect of these will tone down the sweetness for me 🙂
And I know what you mean about the self-care aspect of baking. My wife loves to bake, regardless of what it is she is making. She enjoys the actual baking process more than the end product. In fact, she’ll often give them away!
Thank you Richie!
These sound and look delicious! I love baking with lemon (I just last week made lemon/lavender cupcakes!) so this would definitely be something I’ll try! Thanks Sam for sharing this lovely treat!
Thank you Alex x
Oooh yum! I definitely think of baking as a self care activity as well. I desperately need to do it more often! X
https://www.femaleoriginal.com
Thank you Faye x
They look so good!!! I love lemon and poppy seed muffins so I’m sure to like the donuts version. It sounds like they’re really easy to make too so I will definitely give the recipe a go this summer! Thank you for sharing! xx
Em – earthlyem.co.uk
Such a great combo right? Thank you Em x
Great recipe! I love the idea of baking as self care, and these look truly delicious! Thanks for sharing x
Thank you for reading x
These look delicious! Lemon flavoured doughnuts sound so good right now! I can totally see how baking could be a form of self care, especially the results. 😋 Thanks for sharing!
I’d love to eat one or two right now! x
I’m literally salivating as I read this. These donuts sound phenomenal! Lemon and poppyseed is one of my favorite flavor combinations. I’ve never made donuts at home but I’d really like to try. Baking is self-care for me as well (I’m a total stress-baker) so you can be sure I’ll be trying these soon!
Let us know what you think Stephanie x
I’ve never had a lemon doughnut before but it sounds so so delicious! Great recipe xx
Thank you Della xx
What a delicious sounding treat. I love donuts and would love to have a go at making these.
Thank you kELLY x
My mouth is watering! I love anything lemon and these look absolutely delicious! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Thank you Marissa x
These donuts sound like such a lovely summery treat!
Thank you for reading Molly x
These look so delicious! Perfect for the Summer parties. I need to try baking them
Antonia || Sweet Passions
Thank you Antonia x
I love donuts and these look amazing! Thank you for sharing this delicious recipe 🙂
Thank you for reading Eleanor x