If you like pretzels, peanut butter, and donuts, then you will love these Peanut Butter & Pretzel Donuts! The homemade yeast donuts are generously iced with an indulgent peanut butter frosting and topped with a variety of different pretzels and a drizzle of chocolate! The combination hits just the right salty-sweet note and they are the perfect donuts with which to celebrate National Donut Day!

Peanut Butter & Pretzel Donuts

I think my favorite thing about these donuts is the peanut butter frosting! It’s so creamy and delicious! I then topped it with both whole and crushed peanut butter-filled pretzels and yogurt dipped pretzels!

These yeast-raised donuts take a bit of time to make, but the recipe is easy and the reward is worth it. I like to make them on a lazy Sunday morning. Or, if I’m going to someone’s house for brunch, I’ll make the donut base and whip up the frosting the night before and then decorate the donuts in the morning.

You can also just pick up some plain glazed donuts from the store and top them with the peanut butter frostings and toppings! It’s then semi-homemade, but you don’t have to tell anyone that!

The full, printable recipe is below, but here’s what you’ll need:

Ingredients:

Donut base:

active dry yeast
milk
eggs
all-purpose flour
granulated sugar
salt
unsalted butter
non-stick cooking spray
vegetable oil

Frosting & toppings:

confectioners’ sugar
peanut butter
unsalted butter
vanilla extract
yogurt dipped pretzels
peanut butter filled pretzels

I have the full recipe for just the yeast donut base below and then the recipe for the peanut butter frosting/toppings follows.

Yeast Donuts

Ingredients

5 tsp. active dry yeast
1¾ cups milk
2 large eggs
5 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
½ cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. salt
6 tbsp. unsalted butter
non-stick cooking spray
vegetable oil

Instructions

Prep/measure your ingredients: sift the flour, prep a large mixing bowl with non-stick spray.
Warm half of your milk on the stove, bring it to a simmer, then add the other half of cold milk. Milk should be 110 degrees.
In your stand mixer, fitted with the hook attachment, add your yeast, warm milk, and a pinch of sugar and whisk together.
Add the eggs and mix on low for about 1 minute.
Add your sifted flour, sugar, and salt (make sure to add the salt last as salt kills yeast) and mix on low for 4 minutes.
Add your butter and mix for about 5 minutes until the dough is one piece and slapping against the sides of the bowl.
Transfer the dough to your prepped mixing bowl, spray the top of the dough with cooking spray, cover with plastic wrap, and let the dough proof (rise) for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Use this time to prep your next phase: start warming up your oil, set up cooling racks with parchment paper underneath, set out cookie sheets lined with parchment paper and dusted with flour, prep your work surface with flour, and get ahead on the dishes.
Once the dough has doubled in size, transfer the dough onto your work surface (I use a butcher block dusted with flour), coat with flour, and cut in half, setting aside half to use later.
Take half and roll out to ½ inch thick.
Cut out donuts using donut cutter. Place the donuts onto the baking sheets lined with parchment paper to proof a second time while cutting out the rest of the donuts. (15 minutes).
Repeat with your second ball of dough.
Gather all the scraps, knead together, re-roll, and cut out more donuts.
Once the oil is at 350 degrees, you can start frying. Using your skimmer, place a donut in the oil. Flip the donut after 10 seconds in the oil so both sides have been in contact with the oil (to prevent further proofing and odd-shaped donuts). Once one side has reached a golden brown color, flip and cook the other side to the same color and then remove. Don't overload your fryer as the temperature of the oil will drop. I only cook 4-5 donuts at a time if small, 2-3 if large.
Let the donuts drip and cool on the cooling racks and then frost each donut with peanut butter frosting (see below)

Peanut Butter & Pretzel Donuts

Ingredients

1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 cup peanut butter
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, cubed, at room temperature
¾ tspn vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1 cup yogurt dipped pretzels
Peanut butter filled pretzels

Instructions

Combine the confectioners’ sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla extract, and pinch of salt into a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix, stopping to scrape the bowl with a spatula, then mix on high until creamy. Ice your donuts with the peanut butter icing, then top with whole and broken peanut butter pretzels and yogurt-dipped pretzels.