I absolutely love fall. I love how the weather turns slightly colder, making the mornings crisp and clear. And how it’s slightly more acceptable to hang out under my blanket holding a cup of hot chocolate past noon. (Not that I would ever not do that on weekends lol) And of course I love the food. When I think fall food, I think comforting noodle soups, apples, cinnamon, and earl grey. Earl grey is probably one of my favorite fall ingredients. I usually drink it in tea form but my favorite way of having this stuff is in my desserts! That’s why I created an amazing earl grey mochi donut recipe this week to satisfy my earl grey cravings.
What is earl grey tea?
Earl grey tea is something I’ve always enjoyed drinking, but I didn’t know much about it so I took the time to do some research on it this week. Earl grey tea is considered a tea blend consisting of tea flavored with oil of bergamot. It is usually made of black tea but in recent years people have been using oolong and green teas to make it. I used a variation of earl grey for this recipe called cream earl grey which is earl grey with some vanilla. It’s less intense flavor wise compared to normal earl grey tea which I love.
You can get earl grey tea loose leaf or in tea bags, but there is a difference in flavor between the two. Loose leaf teas are made of whole tea leaves which adds better flavor compared to tea bags which are made of cut leaves. You should be able to use earl grey tea bags for this recipe, but just know the flavor will be different. Use 1 tea bag to steep and use 1 to grind into powder.
Making sure the earl grey flavor comes through
One of the biggest difficulties I had was making sure the subtle earl grey flavor came through. The first time I tested these donuts I couldn’t taste the earl grey flavor at all. In addition, the lemon glaze I pair this donut with was overwhelming it, so I decided to add some ground up earl grey tea to the batter to bring out the flavor more. I used my trusty spice grinder for this. This Krups spice grinder has to be the best $20 purchase I’ve ever made. Here is another one I love too for a similar price.
Why did I make a lemon glaze
When I thought about what glaze to make to pair with these earl grey mochi donuts I had a load of ideas. First I thought lavender and then I thought maybe a simple vanilla glaze. Eventually, I landed on lemon. A lemon glaze goes well with earl grey, and it adds a bit of brightness to these donuts. Plus the taste of sugar and lemon together is heavenly. If you don’t love the taste of lemon, like I mentioned above a lavender or vanilla glaze will work too!
Making these earl grey donuts
These mochi donuts are so easy to make. Here are the directions!
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
- Heat the milk in a sauce pan for about a minute. Once milk is warm, pour over earl grey tea and let steep for 10 minutes.
- In a large bowl, mix together the rice flour, baking powder, and earl grey tea powder. Set aside.
- In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the butter, vanilla extract, and sugar. Add in the eggs and whisk until combined. Finally, add in the earl grey milk from step 2 and whisk.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the large bowl with the dry ingredients. Use a spatula to combine until you get a thick dough.
- Spoon the dough into a pastry bag or use a ziplock bag to pipe the dough into a donut pan. I used a donut pan with donut molds that are 3 inches in diameter.
- Grease the donut pan. Pipe your batter into the donut molds.
- Bake for about 7-9 minutes.
- Make the glaze. Add all the ingredients for the glaze into a small bowl and whisk together.
- Once the donuts are out of the oven, cool for 20 minutes.
- Dip donuts into the glaze and put them on a cooling rack to dry. It should take about 20 minutes for the glaze to fully dry.
Did you make these earl grey mochi donuts?
If you made this dish, I would love to see!
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Earl Grey Mochi Donuts
Equipment
Ingredients
Earl Grey Mochi Donut
- 1 ¼ cup whole milk
- 1 tbsp loose leaf earl grey tea
- 2 cups sweet rice flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tbsp loose leaf earl grey tea powdered
- 3 tbsp butter melted
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
Lemon Glaze
- 2 tbsp whole milk
- 1 ¾ cup powdered sugar
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
- Heat the milk in a sauce pan for about a minute. Once milk is warm, pour over earl grey tea and let steep for 10 minutes.
- In a large bowl, mix together the rice flour, baking powder, and earl grey tea powder. Set aside.
- In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the butter, vanilla extract, and sugar. Add in the eggs and whisk until combined. Finally, add in the earl grey milk from step 2 and whisk.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the large bowl with the dry ingredients. Use a spatula to combine until you get a thick dough.
- Spoon the dough into a pastry bag or use a ziploc bag to pipe the dough into a donut pan. I used a donut pan with donut molds that are 3 inches in diameter.
- Grease the donut pan. Pipe your batter into the donut molds.
- Bake for about 7-9 minutes.
- Make the glaze. Add all the ingredients for the glaze into a small bowl and whisk together.
- Once the donuts are out of the oven, cool for 20 minutes.
- Dip donuts into the glaze and put them on a cooling rack to dry. It should take about 20 minutes for the glaze to fully dry.
Hi Becca,
Have you ever tried making these donuts dairy free? I am wondering if I can sub the milk for almond milk or should it be full fat coconut milk? I am pretty confident I can sub the butter for a plant based butter. I would love to know your thoughts. Your recipe looks amazing! Thank you
I think either should work! Let me know how it goes if you try it. Thank you so much for your kind words!
Hi Becca,
I used Coconut Milk and a plant based butter. The donuts turned out great! I might bake a little longer, mine were a little under baked. I also noticed the batter I let sit for the second batch turned out better. Next time I think I will the the batter rest and bake for 10-11 minutes. Thank you for the fantastic recipe!!
That sounds amazing! Thank you for trying out the recipe.
hello! i don’t have a donut mold, so is there a way i can make these as muffins or a cake instead? would it work?
Yes a muffin mold will work, but the bake time will differ. I would say bake for about 20 minutes until the muffin springs back at you when you poke it. Let me know how they turn out!
Hi!
I was curious if the amount you made was for to fill up one pan of 12 mini donuts? I know your serving size says 12, but does that mean 1 mini donut/serving? Thank you!! 🙂
Hi Esther,
Yes I meant 12 mini donuts. I use a donut pan that is 3 inches (7.6 cm) in diameter. Let me know if you have any other questions!
Hello! I have a larger donut pan (the one that has 6 molds per pan), how long should I bake these for?
Without knowing how big your donut pan is, I would suggest trying to double the time. Bake for 14 minutes and then stick a toothpick in the donut and see if it comes out clean. If it doesn’t, bake for another 1-2 minutes and test again. I hope this helps!
Thank you for sharing this! Just tried your recipe but I subbed the earl grey for matcha powder and used matcha white chocolate ganache for the frosting. Sooo good! I’m wondering if it’s possible to freeze the donuts once baked, and if yes, how long is it good for?
Hi Jenn! Those substitutions sound amazing! Especially that matcha white chocolate ganache. I have to try that myself in the future. Yes it’s possible to freeze the donuts once baked. They can keep up to 3 months.
I made the recipe as stated, but my batter was really runny for some reason. I had to bake them for 15 minutes and when I took them out, they deflated immediately and were still a little soft, so I baked them again for 5 minutes. But they’re still flat and soft. Any ideas on what might be wrong? I’m pretty sure my baking powder is still fresh.
Hi Jocelyn. After looking at this recipe, I think I might have made a mistake in the ingredients. It should be 1 1/4 cup of whole milk. Last month, I manually copied my recipes over from another recipe card, so I probably copied it incorrectly. I am so sorry about that. I corrected the mistake in the recipe.
Made these today and subbed Thai tea for the Earl Grey. I didn’t have whole milk so I used skim milk with a splash of heavy cream instead. They baked up beautifully in my donut pan! Usually, donuts tend to overflow in my donut pan (maybe I tend to overfill!), but this recipe gave me perfectly shaped donuts. I’ve never baked with rice flour before, and the texture was a bit grainier than expected. Overall, I would make these again!
Hi Nathania! Thank you for making this recipe! So glad they worked for you!
Hi Becca, just wondering do you strain the milk from the earl grey after steeping? only adding the milk is that correct? Can’t wait to try this recipe.
Hi Jolie! Yes only add the milk. Let me know how it goes!