Donut fear, fruity pebbles are here! These donuts are made using a classic, basic fried yeasted donut recipe with a fruity pebble milk glaze. You can make the glaze by soaking fruity pebbles in milk overnight to really capture the flavor, before topping off the donuts with fruity pebbles! These were absolutely delicious and I’m sure you can recreate them with any other of your favorite cereals!
Fruity Pebble Donuts
Ingredients
Dough
- 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (675g)
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk (360ml)
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp (113g)
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar (75g)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tbsp instant yeast (11g)
- 1 tsp fine sea salt (5g)
- Neutral oil for frying (vegetable or canola), 2 quarts(ish)
Fruity Pebble Glaze
- 1/2 cup Fruity Pebbles (25g), plus extra for topping
- 1/2 cup whole milk (120ml)
- 2 cups powdered sugar (250g)
Instructions
Prepare the Fruity Pebble milk
- In a medium bowl, add your Fruity Pebbles and milk, and give a little stir to mix. For maximum flavor extraction, I recommend doing this the night before and letting sit in the fridge, however letting the cereal soak while prepping the dough day of will get the job done.
Make the Dough
- Add the milk to a heat-safe measuring cup, and heat to roughly 95°F (too hot and you'll kill the yeast!). I recommend giving it short blasts in the microwave and checking the temp every time. Once heated, whisk in the instant yeast, making sure the yeast is well mixed. Next, whisk in the granulated sugar. Let rest at room temp while prepping the rest of the ingredients, the yeast will start coming alive in the meantime. This means light and airy donuts!
- In a small bowl, combine the 2 whole eggs and 1 egg yolk and whisk lightly to combine. In the bowl of a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment, add the milk/yeast mix, followed by the whisked eggs. Begin mixing the wet ingredients on medium speed, letting them start to come together while getting the flour ready.
- In a large bowl, measure out your flour (I say this often, but I HIGHLY recommend baking by weight if you can, you results will be so much more consistent). Add the fine sea salt and whisk well to combine.
- With the stand mixer on medium, begin adding the dry ingredients one large spoonful (3-4 tbsp) at a time. Pause if necessary to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Once all your flour has been added, let the mixer go a minute or two until a dough has begun to form (if you're already there, then skip this) and then reduce to medium-low and knead for 2-3 minutes.
- With the mixer still going, begin adding your softened butter 1-2 tbsp at a time. Room temp is very important here, or the butter will never incorporate correctly. Once all the butter has been added, let the mixer keep going for 5-10 minutes, or until a nice smooth dough has formed (this can take a bit, the greasy butter can cause the dough to slip around in the bowl and take a bit to incorporate, that's ok). You know you're done when the dough looks uniform and is starting to pull from the sides of the bowl. IT WILL BE STICKY! That's expected, don't worry.
- Gently scoop the dough out into a large, well greased bowl, then cover with plastic wrap and let rise at room temp for ~1.5 hours, or until doubled in size.
- Once risen, dust with flour and gently degas the dough, and then transfer to a well floured work surface. Dust with more flour and then roll out to a large rectangle that's 3/4" thick.
- Using either a donut cutter or two biscuit cutters, I recommend 3" & 1", cut out your donuts and gently transfer them to a floured baking sheet (you will likely need 2). Keep the donut holes too! They fry up easily and are your bonus snack for your hard work. If desired, you can gather up the excess dough from cutting, knead it together for a minute or two, then let it rest for about 5 minutes before rerolling to cut more donuts.
- Cover the doughnuts with plastic wrap and again allow to rise at room temp for about 45 mintues; they should look nice and puffy when ready.
Fry the Donuts
- Add 2 quarts of neutral oil to a large, heavy bottomed pot (a dutch oven works perfectly) and heat to 350°F. If you have one, a candy thermometer works really well here to help you keep a constant eye on the temp, as it'll drop pretty quickly if you fry too many donuts in quick succession. Similarly, too hot and the outside of the donut will burn but leave the inside raw.
- To fry, I recommend greasing a spatula very liberally with cooking spray (to keep the donut from sticking while you're trying to keep your fingers far away from hot oil) and carefully but quickly transfer 2-3 donuts into the oil. These go quick! Fry for about 45 seconds – 1 minute on the first side, and then flip and repeat on the reverse. They should be a light brown, not deep golden.
- Once done, promptly remove from the oil with a spider (a long fork can work in a pinch, but please be careful!) and transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool and drain off excess oil. Repeat with the rest of your donuts (and donut holes!). Let them cool completely to room temp before glazing.
Glaze the Donuts
- To make the glaze, first strain the Fruity Pebble milk through a fine mesh sieve into a medium bowl. Add the powedered sugar and whisk well to combine. Glaze is always a bit finnicky, so have some extra whole milk and powdered sugar on hand to add (very small amounts!) if your glaze is too thick or thin. We want a pretty thick glaze, as it needs to sit on top of the donut, rather than thinly coat it (we're not going for Krispy Kreme style). I recommend finding your ugliest donut as a tester to see if your glaze is the right consistency.
- Dip your donuts face down into the glaze, making sure it coats the top half thoroughly. Quickly remove and flip the donut over and place back on the wire rack. While the glaze is still wet, sprinkle with extra Fruity Pebbles for decoration. Repeat with the remaining donuts.
- Enjoy!
