Gingerbread Pear Donuts

Celebrate the holidays with a warm of warm freshly baked gingerbread pear donuts! These powdered donuts are studded with sweet pear and flavored with gingerbread spices for a wonderful holiday treat.

Watch how to make this

Ingredients

• Pear cider: The sparkling pear cider adds a fruity, pear flavor to the donuts.
• Spices: We're using a combination of warm spices including cinnamon, ground ginger, nutmeg, and cloves to bring the gingerbread flavor.
• Molasses: A thick, dark syrup made from sugarcane. I used Grandma's dark molasses for this recipe.
• Buttermilk: The dairy helps to create a tender, moist donut. If you don't have buttermilk, you can make a substitute by adding ½ tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar to regular milk and letting it sit for a few minutes until it thickens.
• Pears: Baking pears like Bosc, Anjou, Bartlett, or Comice are suitable for this recipe. They hold up well during baking and provide a sweet, juicy flavor.
• Powdered sugar: The fine sugar adds a finishing sweet touch to the donuts. You can skip the powdered sugar if you want a less sweet donut.

Substitutions and variations

• Fruit: If pear cider is unavailable, you can use apple cider as a substitute. This will still impart a fruity flavor to the donuts. You can substitute the pears with apples instead.
• Spices: Experiment with other spices or change the ratios of the spices according to your preference.

Step-by-step instructions

Step 1: Reduce pear cider

Luckily, these donuts are pretty easy to make. We first have to start by reducing pear cider. To infuse the donuts with a touch more sweetness and pear flavor, we're going to boil pear cider until thickened. Keep an eye on the cider because it can burn if you reduce it too much.

If you can't find pear cider, you can use apple cider instead. It'll taste slightly different than the original recipe but not by much.

Step 2: Make donut batter

Next, combine all the dry ingredients for the donut batter including the spices, flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Whisk the oil with brown sugar, add the wet ingredients, then stir in the dry mix.

Peel and finely chop enough fresh pear to get ½ cup. Make sure to chop the pear into very small pieces if you're making mini-donuts. If you're making regular-sized donuts, you can cut them a bit bigger.

I used a Bosc pear for my gingerbread pear donuts but you can also use Anjou or Bartlett pears as well.

To make life easier, transfer the donut batter to a piping bag and pipe the batter into your mini donut pan. It just makes it cleaner than trying to spoon the batter into the pan.

Step 3: Bake

Bake the mini-donuts for 7-8 minutes or until puffed and browned. For regular donuts, you want to bake them longer, about 13-15 minutes.

Let the gingerbread pear donuts cool for a couple of minutes before tossing them in the powdered sugar. If you toss them in the sugar right out of the oven, the sugar will melt away. If you wait until they've cooled completely, the sugar might not stick to the donuts.

Serve these donuts warm for the best-tasting experience. Since these treats are moist, they are best eaten the day of. If you happen to have any leftovers the next day, pop them in the microwave for a couple of seconds and toss them in a fresh coat of powdered sugar. They'll be sweeter but still delicious!

Make-ahead and storage

• Make-ahead: You can bake the donuts earlier in the day and gently reheat them in the microwave until warm before serving.
• Store: Store the donuts in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. Toss them with powdered sugar right before serving.

Frequently asked questions

More holiday desserts

Looking for more holiday treats? Try these:

Recipe

Print Recipe

Gingerbread Pear Donuts

Yields about 33-35 mini-donuts

Total Time45 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: donuts

Servings: 12

Author: Christine Ma

Ingredients

• 1 cup pear cider (250 ml)
• 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour (185 grams)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• ¼ cup brown sugar (50 grams)
• ¼ cup molasses (70 grams)
• 1 large egg
• ½ cup buttermilk (125 ml)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ cup pears, peeled and finely chopped (85 grams)
• 2 cups powdered sugar (260 grams)

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a mini donut pan with cooking spray.
• Heat 1 cup pear cider in a small saucepot over high heat. Bring to a boil and continue to boil until reduced to ¼ cup, about 8-10 minutes. Let cool completely.
• Combine the flour with cinnamon, ground ginger, salt, baking powder, baking soda, ground nutmeg, and ground cloves in a medium bowl.
• In a separate bowl, whisk together olive oil with brown sugar until well combined. Add the molasses, egg, buttermilk, vanilla, and 2 tablespoons of the reduced cider, whisking until well combined. Add the flour mixture, mixing just until combined. Stir in the chopped pears and transfer the donut batter to a piping bag.
• Fill the prepared donut pan with the batter. Bake the donuts for 7-8 minutes or until puffed and golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool for 2 minutes.
• Pour the powdered sugar into a large mixing bowl or paperbag. Working with a couple donuts at a time, toss the donuts in the powdered sugar, coating all sides. Repeat with the remaining donuts. Serve warm.

Notes

Use any type of baking pear such as Anjou, Bartlett, or Comice pears.

Store donuts in an airtight container for up to 3 days.