Store-bought glazed doughnuts never taste bad, but they can't compete with fresh doughnuts covered with a homemade glaze. Milk and sugar are the only ingredients needed to make a thin dipping glaze. The glaze encases the doughnuts in sugary sweetness and, in many cases, eventually hardens with a white haze. Making a simple doughnut glaze is also a way to include kids in the process since they can't help with cooking in hot grease. In addition to dipping whole doughnuts, you can cover the round doughnut holes to make bite-sized treats.
Step 1
Sift powdered sugar into a mixing bowl with a sifter or wire mesh sieve. You'll need 1 cup of powdered sugar to make roughly 1/2 cup of glaze.
Step 2
Add 2 tablespoons of milk for every cup of powdered sugar.
Step 3
Mix the milk and powdered sugar with a wire whisk until thoroughly combined and the sugar dissolves. The finished glaze should be thick enough to coat the back side of a spoon, but thin enough to drizzle easily. Stir in more milk a teaspoon at a time until you achieve the desired glaze consistency. The total amount of milk needed depends on your personal preference, but can also be affected by humidity. It can take between 2 and 6 tablespoons of milk to achieve a thin glaze with 1 cup of sugar.
Step 4
Stir in vanilla extract to taste, using about 1 teaspoon for every cup of sugar to produce a mild vanilla flavor. Use clear vanilla extract instead of the common brown extract if you want a pure white glaze. Skip flavoring altogether if you prefer a plain glaze. You can also flavor the glaze with almond extract, lemon extract, orange juice or cocoa powder instead of the vanilla extract, although vanilla is the most common flavoring for doughnut glaze.