The thought of allowing donuts to go to waste is a dark and twisted concept. Luckily; however, donuts can be frozen so that none of your sweet treats go to waste. In fact, donuts can be left in the freezer for up to two months, giving you plenty of time to get around to eating them.
We can almost certainly guarantee that they won’t be in your freezer for that long though! Today we’re going to be looking at how to freeze and defrost donuts as well as some considerations to think of before you freeze them.
How To Freeze Donuts
No matter what donuts you have at home, you can freeze them easily before they get wasted. You’ll need your donuts, a large freezer bag, and two sheets of wax paper that are around the same size as the freezer bag.
Take one sheet of wax paper and fit it inside of the bag. It’s easiest to do this with the bag lying as flat as possible on a countertop. Next, fit the donuts into the bag so that they’re sitting on the wax paper.
If you’re freezing more than one donut, make sure that they’re not overlapping each other. It is best if your donuts are not touching each other at all so that they don’t freeze together. However, this can be difficult to carry out.
Once all of your donuts are in the freezer bag, slide the other sheet of wax paper over the top of them. You need to get as much air out of the bag as possible, so gently push down on the bag as you close the seal.
Before you close the seal all the way, take a straw and suck the last remnants of air out of the bag. This will act as a vacuum and the bag will wrap tightly around the donuts. Close the seal completely and store your donuts in the freezer.
Make sure that your store your donuts lying down in the freezer. You can eat them within two months of freezing them, so make sure that you write the date on the freezer bag before forgetting that they’re even in the freezer.
How To Defrost Donuts
Defrosting donuts is much quicker than defrosting a lot of other foods. This is because donuts are best eaten slightly warm. Simply take however many donuts you want to defrost and blast them in the microwave on 50% power. Start off with ten-second increments until the donuts are ready to be eaten.
The reason why you should only microwave your donuts on low power for short bursts of time is that you don’t want to overcook your donuts. Donuts can become very dry very quickly, which will ruin your eating experience.
If you have frozen your donuts with glaze on them, they will be ready to eat right out of the microwave. However, if they are not glazed or filled you will need to do this as they come out of the microwave. You can always blast them one last time if they are too cold by the time you’ve completed the finishing touches.
If you want to make sure that your donuts are ready to be eaten later that day but don’t want them as soon as they’re out of the microwave, you can leave them in the refrigerator for a couple of hours before microwaving them right before you want to eat them.
This method takes longer but means that you won’t need to microwave them for as long to defrost them. We prefer this method because we don’t need to hang around the microwave for too long, but the above method is great if you simply cannot wait for your sugar fix.
Factors to Consider Before Freezing Donuts
While freezing donuts is a great way to ensure that you don’t waste any food, you do have to consider a few factors beforehand. For starters, freezing donuts takes a while to get them in the bag and to get all of the air out of the bag.
If you froze four donuts and only wanted to defrost them one at a time, you would have to remove the air from the bag every time you wanted to take a donut out of the freezer. This can be tricky when the bag is already frozen and might turn out to be more effort than it’s worth.
Another consideration to make is whether you’re freezing filled donuts or not. Many fillings have a dairy base, such as custard, that can separate in the freezer. This means that you could bite into your donut only to find all of the fillings have separated.
Instead of getting a mouthful of custard, you might be getting a bite of fatty liquid. Unfortunately, you cannot mix the filling back together while they’re in the donut. So, it’s best to freeze only glazed or plain donuts and fill them after they’re defrosted.
Finally, defrosting donuts in the microwave makes it very easy to overcook them. Instead of a yummy donut, you’ll be left with a rock-solid ring that only just resembles a donut. This would put all of your hard work to waste, which is why we recommend cooking them at a low temperature with quick bursts of power.
Summary
To sum up, yes you can freeze donuts and it’s a great way to preserve tasty treats if you’ve accidentally bought or made too many. However, getting your donuts ready for freezing is harder than you might think and you’ll need to make sure that you have the correct supplies beforehand.
Defrosting donuts is easier than freezing them, but make sure that you don’t burn them! The best way to defrost your snacks is to leave them in the refrigerator for a couple of hours before blasting them in the microwave for a few minutes. Make sure to keep checking them so that they don’t dry out or burn.
Some donuts freeze better than others. We would advise you to only freeze glazed or plain donuts to avoid the filling from separating as they defrost. Otherwise, the taste and texture of your donuts might be compromised. Enjoy!
