An old fashioned donut shaped into a rectangular bar. These bars are made with buttermilk and flavored with nutmeg and dipped into a light vanilla glaze.
These are a delicious treat to serve anytime you are craving a donut!
Why make this recipe
These buttermilk bars are a delicious fried donut that is made without yeast. It's really an old fashioned donut or a cake donut and is similar to these cinnamon sugar donuts.
I love a good donut and I seem to have several recipes - some are fried and some are baked. The one thing they all have in common is they are all delicious!
If you are a donut lover too, you'll want to try these maple bars, apple fritters, baked chocolate donuts, baked mini powdered sugar donuts and these apple cider baked donuts.
Key ingredients
- Buttermilk - after all, these are buttermilk bars!
- Flour - all purpose flour
- Nutmeg - freshly grated if available, but ground will do.
- Sugar - granulated for the dough and powdered sugar for the glaze
Steps to make
- Combine sugar, melted butter and vanilla
- Add eggs, one at a time
- Mix in buttermilk
- Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg
- Add flour mixture to buttermilk mixture. Stir just until combined. Use a spatula to fold any remaining flour into batter
- Place batter into a smaller bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour
- Place dough on a heavily flour surface
- Shape dough with flour hands, into a long rectangle
- Slice dough into rectangles
- Place a slit in the center of each rectangle, slicing almost all the way through. This helps the bars cook through the center
- Cook in preheated 375 degree oil
- Place on a baking rack to cool
- Make glaze by combining powdered sugar, vanilla and boiling water
- Dip the top of each bar into the glaze
- Allow the glaze to dry before eating
Tips for successful bars
- Once you add the flour, do not overmix. Just stir until combined. Overmixing will cause the donuts to be tough
- Be certain to fully chill the dough. It is very sticky and chilling makes the dough more manageable to work.
- Use a generous amount of flour on your surface and on your hands. Even though the dough is chilled, it will still be sticky.
- Cut bars into evenly sized pieces for consistent cooking time
- The slit in the center helps make certain the donuts cook in the center and it also gives the bars an interesting look.
- Make certain oil is preheated to 375 degrees. Use a thermometer and check temperature often to make certain it doesn't go above 380 or below 365.
- Only cook a few bars at a time. Do not overcrowd pan or the donuts will not cook evenly.
Frequently asked questions
The dough or batter can be made ahead of time. It needs at least an hour in the refrigerator to chill. You can chill the dough up to 24 hours before frying. Once the bars are made, they are best eaten the same day. Leftovers are still good, but they tend to go stale quickly. Store any leftovers in an airtight container.
Yes, this recipe can be doubled and you will still get great results.
No, but the glaze really makes these bars look and taste great.
If you make this recipe, I’d love to hear about it! Leave a comment below and snap a picture and tag me on Instagram @beyondthechickencoop
Be sure to check out all my delicious baking recipes!
Buttermilk Bars
Ingredients
Donuts
- 2 cups flour (plus additional flour for rolling out dough)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- 2 tablespoons butter (melted)
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 2 eggs
- ⅓ cup buttermilk
- oil for frying (I use canola oil)
Glaze
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ¼ cup boiling water
Instructions
Donuts
- Combine sugar, melted butter and vanilla2 tablespoons butter, ¾ cup granulated sugar, ½ teaspoon vanilla
- Add eggs, one at a time and mix well2 eggs
- Mix in buttermilk⅓ cup buttermilk
- Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- Add flour mixture to buttermilk mixture. Stir just until combined. Use a spatula to fold any remaining flour into batter
- Place batter into a smaller bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour
Shaping and Frying
- Place oil in a heavy pot. You will need at least two inches of oil (amount will vary depending on size of pot) Heat oil until it reaches 375 degrees.oil for frying
- Generously flour surface for shaping dough. Place dough on surface and sprinkle top of dough with a light coating of flour. Flour your hands and shape into a long 24"x3" rectangle. You can use a well floured rolling pin, but your hands work just as well with this soft dough. The dough will still be sticky!
- Cut into 12 evenly sized pieces - 2"x3" bars
- When oil reaches 375 degrees, you are ready to begin frying. Place a slit down the center of each bar. You want the slit to be deep, but do not cut the bar in half.
- Place 2-3 bars in oil. Do not overcrowd pot. The size of your pot will determine how many you can cook at one time. Cook bars for 1 ½ minutes - 2 minutes per side. You want a nice brown color.
- Remove bars from oil and place on a baking sheet lined with a rack. Continue cooking remaining bars. Be certain to recheck temperature to make certain the oil stays between 365-380.
Glaze
- While bars are still slightly warm, begin mixing glaze.
- Combine powdered sugar, vanilla and boiling water to a bowl. Whisk until smooth.2 cups powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla, ¼ cup boiling water
- Dip the top of each bar into the glaze. Place bars back on rack to allow excess glaze to drip off.
- Let bars sit for 10-15 minutes before serving so glaze will set up.
Notes
- Once you add the flour, do not overmix. Just stir until combined. Overmixing will cause the donuts to be tough
- Be certain to fully chill the dough. It is very sticky and chilling makes the dough more manageable to work.
- Use a generous amount of flour on your surface and on your hands. Even though the dough is chilled, it will still be sticky.
- Cut bars into evenly sized pieces for consistent cooking time
- The slit in the center helps make certain the donuts cook in the center and it also gives the bars an interesting look.
- Make certain oil is preheated to 375 degrees. Use a thermometer and check temperature often to make certain it doesn't go above 380 or below 365.
- Only cook a few bars at a time. Do not overcrowd pan or the donuts will not cook evenly.
Millie says
have you cooked in an air fryer, I love buttermilk bars, but would like to try a little more "healthy" version.
Kathy says
Hi Millie,
I'm afraid I have not used an air fryer before so I don't know how they would turn out. I do have a few baked donut recipes (not the same as a buttermilk bar!) that you may want to try.
Kathy 🙂
Arrow says
These donuts turned out very poorly for us. They didn't cook all the way through, they weren't very flavorful and were a big disappointment. Not sure why they didn't turn out for us because it looks like it worked for other people. Very unfortunate.
Kathy says
Hi Arrow,
I'm sorry these didn't turn out for you. Did you use a thermometer to measure the temperature of your oil? If the oil is too hot, the outside will look cooked before the inside of the donut is cooked. The taste is mimicked after an old fashioned donut I ate as a child. It's different than a regular donut.
Kathy
Tiffani says
Thanks for the great recipe. I made one change and I added chopped, drained maraschino cherries and a drop of almond extract to recreate a buttermilk bar I had in Oregon a few years ago. A definite keeper.
Kathy says
Hi Tiffani,
Thanks for your comment! Glad you enjoyed these buttermilk bars. The addition of the maraschino cherry sounds so interesting. I'll have to give that a try!
Kathy 🙂
Riley says
Great recipe I fried 3 and baked the remaining 9 (400F 18 minutes) of course there’s nothing like the fried version, still, very tasty! I glazed them hot out of the oven so it set up nice and crackly. I also injected some raspberry jam. I would make these again a bit less nutmeg next time for me. Thanks for the recipe 🙏
Kathy says
Thank you! I think now I need to try baking them and I love the idea of filling with raspberry jam. Great idea!
David @ Spiced says
For when "you are craving a donut"....so you mean all the time!? 🙂 I love a good donut, and these look fantastic, Kathy. They remind me of the donuts that Little Debbie makes - at least I think it was Little Debbie. I used to love those as a kid! I need to make a batch of these ASAP!
Kathy says
They are similar to those Little Debbie snacks. I was testing these one day for my husband and his friend. They were calling them Little Debbie's but after eating a few they started calling them "Little Kathy's". Who knows, maybe we have a new name!