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French Crullers

French Crullers

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If you love these sweet treats from Dunkin’ Donuts, learn how to make French Crullers from scratch with simple ingredients. They’re the perfect treat to eat with your morning cup of coffee.

Up close view of French Crullers stacked on a silver serving tray.

If you always grab a French Cruller when you’re at Dunkin’, you’ll be glad to know that you can make the light, sweet treat at home using fresh, flavorful ingredients. Once you start making these treats at home, you’ll never feel the need to go out and buy them from the chain store again!

Overhead view of French Crullers stacked on a silver serving tray.

French Cruller

I don’t know about you but when it comes to French Crullers, I just can’t get enough of them. They have the perfect taste and texture that pairs well with nearly anything, such as coffee, hot tea, hot chocolate, and more. So, if you’re looking for a sweet treat to add to your morning routine, I recommend trying this recipe. It’s not hard to prepare these fried goodies and customize them to your liking to make them even more enjoyable.

Up close view of French Crullers stacked on a silver serving tray.

Why You’ll Love This Cruller Doughnut Recipe

  • Simple – This isn’t the kind of recipe that will leave you frustrated. These French Crullers are a must-have if you want something simple to make that you can eat as a snack or for breakfast.
  • Tasty – Trust me when I say that these French Crullers are just as good, if not better than what you can get at Dunkin’!
  • Customizable – You can customize these fried goods by adding different toppings to them, which is perfect if you’re preparing these for yourself and your loved ones who may have different preferences than you.
Overhead view of French Crullers stacked on a silver serving tray.

French Doughnut Ingredients

  • Flour – Use flour as the base for your French Crullers.
  • Butter – Allow your butter to sit out and reach room temperature.
  • Vanilla – Enhance the flavor of these fried treats with a touch of vanilla added to the batter.
  • Eggs – You’ll need four eggs and the addition of two egg whites to prepare these goodies.

You’ll also need salt, sugar, and water to prepare these French Crullers. When preparing the glaze, use powdered sugar with vanilla, hot water, and corn syrup.

Overhead view of the ingredients needed to complete this recipe.

French Crullers Variations

  • Instead of preparing the traditional glaze for the French Crullers, you can drizzle chocolate or caramel syrup on top of them, both of which will taste amazing with these fried treats.
  • If you don’t want a glaze, you can also sprinkle powdered sugar on top of the crullers as a finishing touch. The powdered sugar’s sweet, light texture makes it an excellent choice.
  • After adding your glaze to the French Crullers, consider adding colorful sprinkles on top or even using mini chocolate chip morsels for added flavor. The sprinkles are great when serving these crullers to your kids.
Front view of three French Crullers stacked on a white dish.

Cruller Donut Notes

  • Make sure you’re adding your eggs into the mixing bowl one at a time instead of tossing all of them in at once. After adding all the eggs, you’ll need to mix until completely smooth.
  • If you don’t have a piping bag to use with your dough, you can use a Ziploc freezer bag, attaching the star tip to the bottom of it.
  • Use tongs to carefully remove your fried crullers from the oil and shake them a bit over the pot of oil to remove any excess before placing them on a plate with paper towels. The paper towels can soak up any excess oil.

French Crullers FAQs

Can I use shortening instead of butter?

Yes, you can use shortening as an alternative to butter in this recipe for French Crullers. However, it can alter the taste of the recipe a bit.

When do I put the batter into the oil?

Wait for your oil to get nice and hot before you add any of the batter to the oil. It’s the best way to get that crispy, slightly crunchy texture that crullers tend to have on the exterior.

Up close view of French Crullers stacked on a silver serving tray.

Do I have to add a glaze to these?

While the glaze tastes amazing and really gives these French Crullers the perfect taste, it’s optional. You don’t have to add it if you don’t like it.

Front view of 2 half French Crullers stacked on a white dish.

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The recipe

French Crullers

  • Prep30 minutes
  • Cook5 minutes
  • Total35 minutes
  • Servings16

Ingredients

Donuts:

  • 1 1/4 cups Water
  • 1/2 cup Butter room temperature
  • 4 1/2 tsp Sugar
  • 1/2 tsp Salt
  • 1/2 tsp Vanilla
  • 1 1/4 cups Flour
  • 4 Eggs
  • 2 Egg whites

Glaze:

  • 2 cups Powdered sugar
  • 1 Tbs Corn syrup
  • 2-3 tsp Hot water
  • 2 tsp Vanilla

Instructions

Donuts:

  1. In a medium sized saucepan over medium high heat, combine water, butter, sugar, salt and vanilla. Bring to a boil.
  2. Add the flour and stir in until incorporated. Continue cooking and stirring the mixture until it begins coating the bottom of the saucepan in places. Remove from the heat.
  3. Carefully transfer the mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on a medium-low speed for a few minutes, or until the mixture has cooled slightly.
  4. While the mixer is running, add the eggs one at a time, letting each one incorporate into the mixture before adding the next. Then the egg whites last, Once all of the eggs and egg whites have been added, continue mixing until smooth and glossy and the dough starts to hold a little shape.
  5. In a large stockpot, preheat 3-4” of oil to 375°. Cut a piece of parchment paper into 3-4” squares. Spoon the dough into a piping bag fitted with a very large open star tip. Pipe dough squares. Spoon the dough into a piping bag fitted with a very large open star tip. Pipe dough circles about 3-4" in diameter onto the parchment squares. Place the piped dough circles with the parchment into the preheated oil.
  6. Gently remove the parchment paper with tongs and fry for about 2-3 minutes on each side or until a caramel golden color. Once cooked and golden, carefully remove the crullers from the oil and place on a wire cooling rack over paper towels to let any excess oil drip out. Repeat the frying process with the remaining dough.

Glaze:

  1. In a small mixing bowl add powdered sugar, corn syrup, hot water and vanilla. Whisk until smooth. One at a time, dip warm crullers into the bowl of glaze. Using a fork, turn the doughnut over to completely cover it with the glaze. Lift the donut out of the glaze and let as much excess glaze drip back into the bowl then place onto a wire cooling rack to let the excess glaze drip off.