When I came across French Cruller Donuts not too long ago, I knew that it was a recipe I needed to try ASAP. So last week, I made some Honey Lemon Glazed Cruller Donuts and was blown away by those delicious sweet treats!
This post may contain affiliate links to products. We may receive a commission - at not cost to you - for purchases made through these links.I am going to be honest with you, I don’t think I had ever heard of ” French Cruller Donuts” before I stumbled upon them on Pinterest a few weeks ago. Baked Donuts that seem to be made out of Choux Pastry!? Of course I had to stop and research them further. And by researching, I mean make and eat them all. For scientific purpose, of course!
What are French Cruller made of?
French Crullers are round-shaped donuts made from Choux Pastry or Pâte à Choux in French. They can be oven-baked or fried and topped with a glaze or icing. They are much lighter, fluffier and softer than regular donuts because they are made for a very airy pastry called “Choux Pastry” rather than a cake batter.
What is the difference between a Donut and a Cruller?
Although they are bought circular-shaped sweet treats, Classic Donuts and French Crullers are made from two different types of doughs. Classic Donuts can be made out of a yeast-dough or a cake batter, baked in a ring shaped mold or fried. Crullers are made out of Choux Pastry piped in a ring shape and baked or fried.
What is Choux Pastry
Lately, I have been working on lots of traditional French Pastry recipes like this Plum Vanilla Custard Tart. Choux Pastry – or “Pâte à Choux” in French – is a classic French Dough that is used to make many desserts and pastries. The most famous ones are probably Profiteroles (Cream Puffs) or Eclairs. Although often used to make sweet treats, this dough can also be used to make delicious savoury pastries. The Donuts made here may be called “French” Crullers, I must admit I have never seen them in a French Bakery. That being said, you can’t really do more French than Choux Pastry, so this recipe is a fun mix between traditional and modern!
To make Choux Pastry, all you need is 4 super basic ingredients:
- Water
- Butter
- Flour
- Eggs
Nothing that you shouldn’t already have in your pantry! Once you have made the base of the recipe – the traditional Pâte à Choux – you will need to pipe it in a donut shape, bake them in the oven then glaze them. The success of a Choux is very dependant on the way it is baked. It needs to be baked twice; once on the stove, then in the oven.
French Cruller Baked Donuts
It is the moisture of the dough that will allow for the pasty to rise in the oven. For that reason, the first part of the recipe – baking on the stove – is essential. The dough needs to be “dried out” for the gluten from the flour to develop, then new moisture and air is added with the Eggs. Once placed in the oven, the air contained in the dough will evaporate and steam the pastry, making it rise.
When done properly, you will end up with an extremely light, fluffy and eggy pastry.
And because they are simply baked in the oven without any oil, Baked Donuts are an healthier option to fried donuts. Healthy Donuts!? Whaaat!? Ok, ok, it is still French Pastry and you still need to use lots of butter… but out of all the different types of donuts you can find, these will probably be the ‘healthiest’ ones.
Once your Choux Pastry is ready, you will need to pipe it to look like Donuts. You can use many different types of piping tips to obtain different looks. Having a good set of decorating tips is a kitchen essential if you love to bake so get creative! I personally used a Open Star Piping tip to get the classic French Cruller Donut look.
Honey Lemon Glaze
If you were to make a Profiterole or an Eclair, you would fill the dough with a cream or ice cream. But to finish the French Cruller Donuts, the process is way easier. Simply glaze them! I made a very easy, 2 Ingredients Glaze made with:
- Honey
- Lemon Juice
To make this glaze, simply place the Honey and Lemon Juice in a small pot on low heat and melt together. When it starts to bubble, remove from the heat and leave to cool down. Then, simply dip your baked Cruller in the glaze!
I love the combination of sweet and sour, so nothing better than a Honey Lemon Glaze. When I made those Cruller Donuts, I was a little bit sick so I convinced myself that using a Honey Lemon Glaze would also be great for my soar throat. Again, it was all done for scientific reasons… Ahum…
More Small Cakes Ideas:
Chocolate Caramel Slices
Chocolate Raspberry Brownies
Mini Lemon Blueberry Bundt Cakes
Coffee Choux Buns
Mini Blood Orange and Semolina Cakes
Easy French Glazed Cruller Donuts Recipe
Honey Lemon Glazed French Cruller Donuts
Ingredients
Choux Pastry
- 250 ml (1 cup) Water
- 120 gr (1/2 cup) Butter
- 140 gr (1 cup) Plain Flour
- 3 Eggs
Honey Lemon Glaze
- 3 tbsp. Honey
- 1 Lemon, Juiced
- 1 Lime, Zest (Optional)
Instructions
Choux Pastry
- Place the Water and Butter in a pot and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and drop the Flour in the liquid at once.Mix well with a wooden spoon or spatula until a smooth ball forms. The dough shouldn’t stick to the edges of the pot.
- Place the pot back on to the stove on low temperature for a couple of minutes will mixing the dough with the wooden spoon. You want to press the dough against the edges on the pot to allow for the heat to dry the dough.Continue the process until you stop seeing steam coming out of the dough – that means that all the moisture is gone.
- Remove from the stove and let the dough cool down for a few minutes.Add the Eggs one by one, mixing them into the dough each time. You want to make sure the dough is not too hot to avoid cooking the eggs.
- To make sure the dough has the right consistency, draw a line with the bottom of your spoon. If the dough slowly fills the hole, the consistency is right. Otherwise, it is either too runny or too hard.
- Preheat your oven on 190’C.Place the Choux Pastry in a piping bag with a star shaped nozzle. On a baking tray lined with baking paper, pipe the dough into small donuts shapes. Place in the oven for 20 minutes. Make sure you do not open the oven door during that time to keep the steam in. For the last 5 minutes of baking, slightly open the oven door and place a wooden spoon in the opening to keep it open.Remove the Cruller Donut from the oven and let the cool down on a cooling rack.
Honey Lemon Glaze
- Pour the Lemon Juice and Honey in a small pot and bring to a boil. Remove from the stove as soon as bubble/foam starts appearing. Let the glaze cool down for a few minutes, then dip your Cruller Donuts in it.If the glaze cools down too fast and is too hard to glaze, place it in the microwave for 10 seconds.
- Optional: Sprinkle some Lime Zest over the Cruller Donuts as a garnish.
Hi there, I'm Sylvie - a Belgian Expat living in Melbourne, Australia. I am addicted to baking and love to share my favourite recipes and tips. Join me on my Baking Journey! - Sylvie
Wow, when I saw your post I was like ‘this looks deliiiicious but I do not have the skill for that!’ and then I scrolled down for the recipe…and it is simple! This is absolutely awesome! Thank you, for sure I will be trying that since I am a big fan of lemon-everything!
That is amazing to hear as one of my goal is to break the myth that French Baking is super complicated! So glad you enjoyed the recipe and please let me know how you go with it!
I never cooked! After reading this yum yum recipe.. I’m gona go try this!
💓 thankyou
Makes me super happy that this motivated you to cook!
Yum yum yum. They look so good. I’m so making these on the weekend with my son.. Thanks for sharing.!
Glad you like the recipe Kathryn, I can imagine it is a super fun one to make with kids!
These look delicious!!! I can’t wait to try them!! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Thanks Marie, glad you liked it!
These look so pretty and delicious.
Thanks girl!
We just made maple toffee donuts last night and I can’t wait to make these! These look delicious! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Yum, maple toffee donuts sound delicious too!
These look AMAZING! I honestly don’t even like donuts, until I tried the old fashioned kind from speciality donut places, but these I have to try! Thanks for sharing!
Completely agree, I find donuts to be a bit too heavy for me so these ones were an absolute dream. So light!!
I love lemon and these french cruller donuts sounds amazing. I’m a bit jealous that you are in Melbourne Australia. One of my brothers spent a couple of years there and I have always wanted to visit. He told me that when he retires that we can go. Anyway, back to the donuts. I can’t wait to try them. Thank you for sharing on Foodie Friday Link Party.
Thanks Amy! Melbourne (and Australia) is definitely an amazing place to visit, especially if you like good food! You should come visit for sure 🙂
now I ma hungry, these look so yummy!! plus, I love lemon!!
That’s how I constantly feel haha!
Oh wow these look irresistible, sooooo good! Thank you for sharing with #CookBlogShare x
Thanks Kirsty! Cant wait to make them again 🙂
I seriously need this donut in my life!
It is definitely a must try 😉
These cruller donuts look so light and delicious! I am swooning over the honey lemon glaze. My family will love this treat!
They are the lightest donuts ever, for sure! Hope your family enjoys them 🙂
OMG…I love baked donuts. Did you say choux pastry? That is so much fun to bake with. Like play doh in the kitchen. I am going to have to bring out the donut pans and bake some of these up. The perfect dessert…and breakfast…..and afternoon treat.
Isn’t it a super fun way to use Choux Pastry!? So easy to pipe, and so fun to eat – and enjoy any time of the day!
Donuts are my love language and these literally had my mouth watering. I love how they are so light and airy. Honey with lemon is genius and I need these to go with my afternoon tea.
I feel you! The only problem with them being so light is that you won’t be able to stop at one! Love honey and lemon together, such a nice balance of flavour 🙂
My parents used to buy French crullers on Sunday as a special treat. I don’t know what kind of dough Winchells used but they were my second favorite behind jelly donuts. Great memories. Your donuts look amazing, I never thought to use choux pastry for donuts, it’s brilliant! Thanks for sharing this.
Ahh food that relates to childhood memories is the best, isn’t it!? Using Choux pastry to make donuts was a revelation and such a fun way to make donuts, for sure!
Love doughnuts!!!!!!!!! Will need to make these at some point.
Me toooo haha!
These look absolutely amazing!!!
Thank you!
These look delicious! And sound so easy to make! Can’t wait to try these out!
I know they may look complicated, but they are definitely super easy to make!
All of the food you make, makes me hungry. These donuts look GREAT!
Thanks Lynneah, glad you enjoyed the recipe 🙂
Great drip photo! And great idea to pipe choux pastry into donut shapes. I completely understand needing to research donuts for science. Science is important. And so are donuts. 🙂
Haha, the drip is everything, isn’t it!? Science is so important, I will gladly volunteer for any food experiments (especially if that involves donuts 😀 )
Your crullers look absolutely luscious! I’ve made pate a choux for gougeres and cream puffs, but never for crullers. I admit, I didn’t realize that they were made from that classic French method. Now that I do, I’d love to make a batch for Father’s Day in a few weeks. I know my husband, Dad and Grandfather would all appreciate them for breakfast.
Pate a Choux is so versatile, I love how you can make so many different things out of it 🙂 I was seriously blown away by this donut recipe, I hope the men in your life enjoy them as much as I did 🙂
Ooh I don’t think I have ever tried one of these donuts either, but they sound amazing. Loving that glaze, and those little speckles of lime zest look just perfect!! We get together as a family every sunday and make something a little more complicated that I wouldn’t do during the week, and I think these fit the bill perfectly for this weeks project!
I will 100% choose these super light donuts over heavy, oily ones 😉 That sounds like such a fun family gathering, food has that power to bring people together, doesn’t it?
This is my husband’s favorite donut! These French crullers look so airy and light and that glaze, oh my – is pure perfection! I think I would eat a whole dozen by myself without blinking! Definitely a recipe I need to make soon. Love it!
Thats the main issue with these donuts, they are SO light, you will easily eat them all in 10 minutes haha! Glad you enjoyed the recipe Kathy 🙂
I haven’t heard of these before either! They sound delicious though and man, I’m totally sold with that honey lemon glaze! Yummy!
I just cant resist anything with a Honey Lemon Glaze!
I love crullers! One of my favorite doughnuts. Your lemon honey glaze sounds divine. These are so pretty, and that little hint of lime zest on top must be the perfect finishing touch.
That hint of lime zest was the perfect little pop of colour and tang 🙂
I love French crullers! Those are the ones I always pick. I bet they are amazingly delicious with a honey lemon glaze. Thanks for sharing on Foodie Friday!
That Honey Lemon Glaze was everything, I would have eaten it out of the bowl with a spoon haha!
Hi! This recipe looks amazing and I can’t wait to try it out on Friday. I do have one question: what would be the benefit of adding milk with the water and butter? I just watched a video on the youtube channel “Oh Yum with Anna Olson” where she does exactly that.
Oh, and also thank you for adding weight measurments in gr and ml! That’s so helpful <3
Hi Christina,
Usually, using water makes a batter lighter while using milk makes it richer because it contains fat. For Pate a Choux, using milk will make the batter more moist, but not as crunchy as if using water. The traditional french recipe is with water as the choux are supposed to be light and crunchy, but you could always try with milk (or half milk, half water) if you want to experiment and see the difference! Let me know how you go 🙂
Oh I love these! I used to get these all the time while living in the US but haven’t been able to find any since moving to Aus. I always thought they would be too hard to make at home, but your step-by-step instructions are ike someone holding your hand through the process! Perfect
Thank you Donna, so glad they reminded you of your time in the US!
I love glazed donuts! These looks so delicious and shiny – that glaze makes them sooo pretty!
Thank you Natalie!
These donuts are to die for!! The whole family loved them too
So happy to hear that, Noelle!
Oh wow. Honey lemon glaze sounds amazing. I have to try that.
Honey Lemon is such a yummy combo, isn’t it!?
I could do some serious damage to a batch of these!
Same here!