Easy Christmas Donuts {6 Designs}

Quick and easy Christmas donuts, homemade with simple ingredients. Decorate them with icing and candies to make a snowman, reindeer, wreath, Santa and even Grinch.

During this time of year Dunkin' Donuts and Krispy Creme come up with some of the best holiday flavors and designs. I was inspired by them and decided to make some myself! After all, donuts are such a fun and easy way to celebrate holidays and special occasions. In fact, you should check out my other fun donuts for other upcoming events, including my Baked Pumpkin Donuts, Jelly Filled Donuts, Apple Cider Donuts, Halloween Donuts, and Pikachu (Pokemon Donuts).

Key ingredients

• Donuts- Can be homemade or store-bought.
• Many different candies- Such as red gum balls, candy eyes, and bow candies to name a few.
• Various sprinkles- Including sanding sugar, sugar pearls, and multiple Christmas sprinkles.
• Food coloring- To add more vibrant color to these fun holiday delights.
• Powdered sugar- Used for decoration and for thickening the glaze and icing.
• Chocolate chips- Use both mini and regular sizes.
• Vanilla glaze- Made by using powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla extract.
• Chocolate ganache- Which is a combination of chocolate chips and heavy cream.
• Black icing- You will need black food coloring for this if you are making it homemade or you can purchase some at the store.
• Shredded coconut- If you really like coconut, go a head and add more or adjust to your personal preference.
• Pretzel twists- Either a generic brand or a name brand can be used, but make sure they are the twists and not the sticks.

Variations

Make them mini sized- They would be so cute for little kids parties and easy to eat too.

Use other candies- There are so many fun candies out during the holiday season, so don't be afraid to branch out and use your imagination.

Explore sprinkle options- You don't have to find the exact sprinkles I used. Get creative and have some fun with this!

Try different glaze/frosting- The ones I've included in my recipe card work best and will give great results, but you can always experiment with other options. For different looks and flavors in your creations, you may want to try my Red Frosting, Lemon Glaze, Easy Mint Frosting, or Chocolate Ganache Frosting to name a few.

Santa or elf face- Use white chocolate or milk chocolate to create the base, then use icing and candies to decorate to make it look like an elf or Santa face. You could even use mini dehydrated marshmallows as Santa's beard and use fruit by the foot to make a hat shape on top.

Larger Christmas tree- Frost and sprinkle them all green with fun colorful round candies acting as lights. Then arrange all 12 or more donuts like a tree. It's similar to a pull apart cupcake cake.

Triple snowman- Combine three snowman donuts one on top of the other. Keep two of them plain white with the top tier decorated as the face.

Do some piping- Dip your donut entirely in glaze. Then simply pipe a design with different colored icing. For example, make a squiggly Christmas tree shape in the center or just make a red and green plaid pattern.

How to make the best easy Christmas donuts?

1. Bake donuts- Let them cool fully.
2. Dip them- In vanilla glaze or chocolate ganache.
3. Decorate- With candies and colorful icing to create festive designs.

These are the main basic steps. Additional details for each specific design and step by step pictures can be seen below within this post.

Santa Donuts

1. Dip- The donut in glaze
2. Coat completely- In red sanding sugar.
3. Pipe- A band of black icing in the center
4. Stick on- A yellow square candy.

Reindeer Donuts (Rudolph/ Rudolf)

1. Dip- Donut in chocolate ganache.
2. Stick- Two eye candies on the top.
3. Break- A pretzel twist in half and place as antlers.
4. Press- A red gum ball in the center for nose.
5. Add- A white jimmie sprinkle near the bottom for mouth.

Wreath Donuts

1. Dip- Donut in vanilla glaze.
2. Coat- In green sanding sugar.
3. Push- Red sugar pearls all over.
4. Stick- A red bow candy near the bottom.

Snowman Donuts

1. Cover- The donut in powdered sugar.
2. Push- Large chocolate chips on the top for eyes.
3. Firmly place- Mini chocolate chips near the bottom for mouth.
4. Press- A candy corn in the middle for nose.

Grinch

1. Tint glaze- With green food coloring.
2. Mix in- Shredded coconut.
3. Dip- Donut in mixture until covered.
4. Stick- Sprinkles all over.

Tips and techniques

If you are using store-bought donuts- Make sure to buy plain ones so that you can coat them in colored glazes and icing of your choice.

Don't ice warm donuts- Because the heat will cause the decorations and icing to melt.

Use food tweezers- If you want exact placement of sprinkles and candies instead of just using your fingers.

Use mini tongs- For dipping the donuts in glazes and icing to keep from getting your hands too messy. Sometimes it gets difficult when the sanding sugar starts sticking to your hands as you're trying decorate.

Splurge on sprinkles- Don't skimp on the fun decorating items, including the candy. This is what really makes this treat stand out.

Use wax paper- Once you dip your donuts, they are wet and sticky take some time to set. Place them on a tray, lined with a sheet of wax paper and continue decorating. This will make it easy to remove the donuts once the icing sets.

Storage

• Room temperature- These can be placed in a covered box for up to 2 days.
• Refrigerate- I think these are better the day of, but you can store them in a sealed container for up to 3 days. The candies and other decorations may become hard and chewy, though.
• Freeze- This is not recommended because the candies and decorations don't thaw well.

Recipe FAQs

More Christmas Desserts

• Christmas Tree Cupcakes
• Snowman Cookies/Oreos
• Christmas Tree Cookies
• Jumbo Gingerbread Men Cookies
• Christmas Tree Brownies
• Santa Hat Brownies

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