I did a spring strawberry series on my social media account and wanted one full week of the best strawberry recipes I could come up with. Day one, rightfully so, are these strawberry sour cream donuts with a strawberry lemon glaze. These are quick, sour cream – cake donuts that are filled with fresh strawberries and topped with a deliciously tangy glaze.
❤️ Why You’ll Love Strawberry Sour Cream Donuts
These are moist, cake like donust that are made with your sourdough discard and take almost no time at all! The icing is also very versatile, if you don’t like the tangy flavor from a lemon, you can leave it out and dip these in a simple vanilla glaze. This recipe will have options on how to do both for whatever you’re in the mood for! Because once you have this delicious strawberry sour cream recipe as your base, you’ve already won.
🍲 Ingredients
Sourdough Discard – unfed, inactive sourdough starter.
All purpose flour- For the majority of my recipes I use the unbleached, organic, all purpose flour from Costco. But as long as it’s unbleached you’re good to go.
Baking Powder – Because these are a cake donut, and not a yeast donut, the baking powder serves as the leavening agent.
Butter – Melted butter gives the donuts a rich flavor and a moist crumb.
Sour Cream – The star of the show, and gives this donut it’s tender texture.
Strawberries – I use fresh strawberries in this recipe. Frozen strawberries would give the batter too much moisture, so you would have to adjust accordingly, but freeze dried strawberries would work! You just wouldn’t get the pop of strawberry like you would if you used fresh.
👩🍳 How to Make Strawberry Sour Cream Donuts
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk together your dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt) and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together your eggs, sugar, and melted butter. Add in sour cream, sourdough discard, and vanilla extract, mix together until there are no more streaks left.
- Slowly whisk in your dry ingredients until everything is combined.
- Fold in one cup of fresh diced strawberries.
- OPTIONAL: Let your dough rest for 15 minutes to let the gluten relax. This will result in a lighter textured donut. It’s not an absolutely necessary step, so if you need to, you can skip. But if you have time, it’s worth it.
- While your batter is resting, preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
- With a spoon, scoop a large spoonful of batter and transfer it into the donut molds, filling the space all the way to the top. This recipe makes 12 doughnuts.
- Bake at 375 for 20 – 25 minutes.
- While your donuts are baking, make the strawberry lemon glaze.
- When baking is done, let the donuts cool in the mold for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack.
- When the donuts have cooled completely, dip them in the lemon glaze, fully coating the top, and place back onto the wire rack or cutting board.
- Enjoy your new favorite spring brunch 🙂
🪄 Tips and Tricks
- Letting the batter rest relaxes the gluten and gives the donut a fluffier texture and I highly recommend incorporating this step if you have time.
- Blending the freeze dried strawberries into a fine powder will give you a vibrant, glossy glaze.
- Instead of spooning the batter into the spaces, transfer the batter into a large Ziplock bag, cut the corner, and pipe it into the donut wells.
- From one home baker, home maker, and child raiser to another – mix everything in one bowl and give yourself a break on dishes. My kids love to make these donuts with me and that’s what matters at the end of the day 🙂
🗒 Variations
The strawberry donuts are pretty straight forward, but the glaze can be switched in an out! I’ll give you a few options –
- Simple Powdered Sugar Glaze – whisk together 1 Cup powdered sugar + 1/2 Tbs milk until smooth.
- Vanilla Glaze – whisk together 1 Cup powdered sugar + 1 Tsp vanilla extract + 1 – 2 Tsp milk, cream or water.
- Maple glaze – whisk together 2 Tbs melted butter + 1 Cup powdered sugar + 1/4 Cup pure maple syrup until smooth.
- Lemon Glaze – whisk together 1 Cup powdered sugar + 1 – 2 Tbs fresh lemon jucie
🗒 Substitutions
Listed above are all of the variations and substitutions you could use if you prefer a different donut glaze. But you could also substitute fresh strawberries, for fresh blueberries. Or if you don’t have sour cream, my favorite thing to do is substitute for full fat yogurt (vanilla yogurt works great too)
- Fresh strawberries – Fresh Blueberries
- Sour Cream – Full fat yogurt.
🗒 Best served with
- Breakfast + your favorite coffee
- Spring brunch
- Lunch snack
- After dinner treat.
👝 How to Store Leftovers
Once the donuts are glazed and cooled, store them in an air tight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. I recommend warming them up a bit before serving.
🤔 Common Questions
These make 12 donuts, but if you don’t have a donut pan these would make great muffins.
Yes! Once the donuts have cooled and the glaze has set. Store these in the freezer for up to 3 months. Before eating, let them thaw on the counter overnight.
Stawberry Sour Cream Donuts
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tbs baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ cup melted butter 1 stick
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup sour cream
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup sourdough discard
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 cups fresh strawberries, diced
Strawberry – Lemon Glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 lemon, juiced 1 – 2 tablespoons
- ¾ cup freeze dried strawberries crushed
Instructions
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk together your dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt) and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together your eggs, sugar, and melted butter. Add in sour cream, sourdough discard, and vanilla extract, mix together until there are no more streaks left.
- Slowly whisk in your dry ingredients until everything is combined.
- Fold in one cup of fresh diced strawberries.
- OPTIONAL: Let your dough rest for 15 minutes to let the gluten relax. This will result in a lighter textured donut. It's not an absolutely necessary step, so if you need to, you can skip. But if you have time, it's worth it.
- While your batter is resting, preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
- With a spoon, scoop a large spoonful of batter and transfer it into the donut molds, filling the space all the way to the top. This recipe makes 12 doughnuts.
- Bake at 375 for 20 – 25 minutes.
- While your donuts are baking, make the strawberry lemon glaze.
- When baking is done, let the donuts cool in the mold for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack.
- When the donuts have cooled completely, dip them in the lemon glaze, fully coating the top, and place back onto the wire rack or cutting board.
- Enjoy your new favorite spring brunch 🙂
Strawberry Lemon Glaze
- With a sharp knife or a blender, chop up the freeze dried strawberries until it turns into a fine powder.
- In a small bowl, mix together powdered sugar, lemon juice, and crushed strawberries until everything is combined. (the strawberries will start to rehydrate and the glaze will get thicker, add 1 tsp of milk in at a time until you reach your desired consistency).
Very yummy! My family loved them