Christmas is coming and that means Santa and his reindeers will soon be here! For Christmas this year the kids are asking for donuts, so we did a trial run and made some red-nosed reindeer ones. Of course you can make them any color nosed you’d like.
For these donuts we used our chocolate cake mix and we made a glaze with our chocolate frosting mix. We also used eyeball candies, mini candy canes and a red chocolate candy. If you don’t have safe candy canes or can’t find them, you can use mini pretzels for the antlers. So cute… and so yummy!
The first step to making these donuts is to gather all your ingredients and supplies.
Reindeer Donuts
makes ~12-15 donuts
Donut Ingredients Needed:
- Kate’s Safe & Sweet Chocolate Cake Mix
- 1 cup of your safe Milk
- 1 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar (or vinegar)
- 2 tbsp of your safe Oil
(above amounts are what is need to make a full batch of both. If you are making a smaller batch adjust ingredient measurements as needed.)
You may also use Vanilla Cake Mix for these as well!
Glaze Frosting Ingredients Needed:
- 1 cup of Kate’s Safe and Sweet Chocolate Frosting Mix
- This is about 1/2 of the bag. You may make more or less if you would like to. We did a nice glaze on these donuts with this amount.
- up to 2 teaspoons of your safe Milk
- Sugar eyes
- Mini candy canes
- Red chocolate candy
Tools Needed:
- Mixing bowl(s)
- Spatula
- Whisk
- Measuring spoons
- Measuring cups
- Donut Pan(s)
Donut Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly spray the donut pan(s) with the non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.
- Stir together vinegar and milk. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, blend the cake mix, pumpkin puree, oil, and vinegar and milk mixture together until smooth. Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Pour batter into prepared donut pan. It is best to fill the pan cavities about 3/4 of the way full.
- Bake on middle rack as directed below until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. These are quick to bake so will take about 8-10 minutes.
- Remove pan from oven and place on a wire rack. Allow donuts to cool for about 5-10 minutes before removing from pan and placing directly on wire rack.
- See below for the directions on how to make the glaze to top these with.
Some tips to make the donuts are to fill a piping bag with your batter and make a small snip at the corner in order to more easily pipe into the donut pan.
Time to make the glaze!
Glaze Frosting Instructions:
- Measure out 1 cup of the chocolate frosting mix in a medium sized bowl.
- Whisk up to one teaspoon at a time of your safe milk with the chocolate frosting mix. Be sure not to add too much milk at a time – it won’t require much.
- Once the donuts have cooled for about 10 minutes you can add the glaze atop.
- We used a spoon to drizzle the glaze atop.
When glazing them we like to use the bowl and then place the donut on a cooling rack that is above a baking tray to catch any extra glaze.
While the glaze on the donut has yet to harden, you will decorate them into reindeers! Grab the kids for this part, it’s fun to do and they can put their own creative spin on it.
Reindeer Decorating Instructions:
- Add two sugar eyes.
- Insert two mini candy canes for the antlers.
- Place one red (or any color you’d like) chocolate candy for the nose.
Note: if you can’t find safe sugar eyes you can use a small marshmallow and chocolate chip to make eyes instead or a dab of vanilla frosting then a dab of chocolate frosting.
You can tailor the decorating to what you have at home and what is safe for you and your family. And depending on your choice of decorating candies, these are top 14 allergen free, vegan and gluten free!
Tip: Serve these immediately. If you want to keep for the next day then best to store in the fridge.
Enjoy these fun and festive treats!
