Glazed Valentine Donuts are so cute with swirls and sparkles! Surprise your kids and let them help make and decorate the doughnuts.
We made glazed galaxy donuts for my daughter’s graduation party, and since they were such a hit, we decided to try making a Valentine’s Day version. Choose your favorite cookie cutters, icing colors, and sprinkles to make them for any occasion!
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
You can make your own donuts or decorate store-bought ones! We used biscuit dough to make doughnuts in the air fryer, and it was really easy. Plus, the doughnuts are so delicious.
If you are looking for a quick, fun activity to do with your kids, you can simply decorate store-bought glazed donuts. We did this for my daughter’s grad party, and everyone loved them!
Ingredients Needed
- Dough: We used flaky, refrigerated biscuit dough to make the doughnuts. I have a recipe for baked vanilla donuts here if you prefer to make homemade cake donuts.
- Butter: Melted butter is used in the oil to make the outside of the doughnuts golden.
- Powdered Sugar: This is used to make the glaze that the donuts are dipped in.
- Half-n-Half: We combined the half-n-half with the powdered sugar to make the glaze. You can also use whole milk if you prefer, but you may not need as much since it is thinner.
- Vanilla: We used vanilla extract to flavor the glaze. You can choose any flavored extract to add to the glaze or use a combination of flavors.
- Food Coloring: The food coloring is used to tint some of the glazing to get the swirled look. You’ll want to use gel food coloring for the deepest color with the least amount of food coloring.
- Decorations: We used edible silver heart sprinkles and edible silver glitter to decorate the Valentine donuts.
How To Make Valentine’s Day Donuts
There are a few ways you can make these Valentine’s Day Donuts. You can air fry them, bake them in the oven, fry them in oil, or use store-bought doughnuts. No matter which option you choose, the decorating will remain the same.
Mix: Prepare the vanilla glaze and put a 1/2 cup each into two small bowls and the remaining glaze into a larger bowl. Tint one of the small bowls red and the other pink. Set these aside for later.
Prepare: Remove the biscuit dough from the package and use your hands to flatten the biscuits. Use a heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut a large heart out of the dough. Then use a mini heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut out the center. Dip the heart-shaped donuts in melted butter.
Cook: Working in batches, place the donuts in the basket of the air fryer and cook at 330˚F for 8-10 minutes. Or you can place them on a rimmed baking sheet and bake them in the oven at 350˚F for 12-14 minutes. Another option would be to deep fry the doughnuts for 1-1 1/2 minutes per side.
- Glaze: While the donuts are still warm, coat them with plain glaze. This double glazing technique is optional, but having a base layer of plain glaze will make the colored glaze show up so much better.
- Donut Holes: You can also cook the heart-shaped donut holes! They only take 3-4 minutes in the air fryer or 5-8 minutes in the oven.
- Decorate: To decorate your glazed doughnuts (homemade or store-bought), start by adding a drizzle of the red and pink glazes into the bowl of plain glaze. Then dip the donuts into the glaze and place them on a wire rack. Add the silver hearts and silver glitter immediately before the glaze sets.
Valentine Donuts Frequently Asked Questions
You can use the regular refrigerated biscuit dough, but your donuts won’t have the flaky layers. You may also need to shorten the baking time depending on how thick the dough is.
Tint bowls of glaze purple, blue, and black. Add drizzles of those colors to a bowl of plain glaze and dip the donuts. While the glaze is still wet, add silver star sprinkles and edible silver glitter.
Cut out the center of refrigerated flaky biscuit dough to make a donut shape. You can also shape the outside of the dough using cookie cutters (hearts, stars, etc.) if you want. Dip the doughnuts in melted butter and cook them in batches in the air fryer at 330˚F for 8-10 minutes, flipping them over halfway through cooking. Coat the donuts with glaze or butter and cinnamon sugar.
More Valentine’s Day Recipes
- Mini Conversation Heart Cookies are bite-sized sugar cookies.
- Let everyone make their own Valentine’s Day Drinks!
- These fun Breakable Chocolate Hearts have candy and sprinkles inside.
- Here are 25+ Valentine’s Day Ideas to make as gifts!
- These colorful Candy Sticks are fun to give to loved ones.
Valentine Donuts
Ingredients
- 16.3 oz refrigerated flaky layers biscuits 8 count
- ½ cup butter melted
- heart sprinkles and edible glitter
Donut Glaze
- 5 cups powdered sugar
- ⅔ cup half-n-half
- 2 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- red and pink gel paste food coloring
Instructions
Donut Glaze
- Whisk together the powdered sugar, half-n-half, and vanilla extract until smooth.
- Put 1/2 cup into two small bowls (1/2 cup in each bowl). Tint one with red food coloring and the other with pink. Pour the remaining glaze into a deep bowl that isn't too wide. Set aside..
Donuts
- Flatten the biscuits and cut them into heart shapes using a heart-shaped cookie cutter.
- Use a mini heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut out the center. Save to make donut holes, if desired.
- Dip four of the donuts in the melted butter.
- Place them in the air fryer basket (or on a baking sheet if using the oven)
- Cook in the air fryer at 330˚F for 8-10 minutes, or until golden brown, flipping them over halfway through. (if using the oven bake at 350˚F for 12-14 minutes).
- Coat warm donuts with plain glaze, making sure to coat the sides as well, and place them on a wire rack to set. Repeat with remaining donuts. Donut holes only take 3-4 minutes in the air fryer and 5-8 minutes in the oven.
Decorating Donuts
- Stir the bowls of glaze again. If needed you can add a 1/4 teaspoon of half-n-half if it isn't thin enough. Drizzle a little of the red and pink glazes into the bowl of plain glaze.
- Dip a glazed donut into the colorful glaze, allowing the excess to run off, and place it on the wire rack.
- Immediately add sprinkles and glitter before the glaze sets.
- Repeat with the remaining donuts and donut holes.
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