Flavorful honey-lemon ricotta donut bites are hard to say no to. Serve them with a drizzle of honey, powdered sugar, fresh thyme leaves, a pot of coffee and good company.

Honey Lemon Ricotta Donut Bites

I know, I know. Citrus season is basically over. It’s been over in some parts of the country for several weeks. But in my defense, my Meyer lemon tree keeps putting out fruit and I am not going to complain about it. And neither will you once you take a bite of these habit-forming honey lemon ricotta donut bites.

For a while now, at least since I shared the recipe for apple pie beignets, I have been wanting to play around with more donut recipes. After making lemon ricotta pancakes earlier this spring, I knew what flavor I was going to tackle first. I opted to add honey and a small amount of fresh ginger to the donut batter, just to give them an extra boost in flavor and boy, am I in love with the results. After I made these and finally nailed all of the flavors and just the right texture, I couldn’t help but think these would have been perfect for Mother’s Day… oh well, I’m sure dad’s will love them too!

Typically, I am not a fan of deep frying in general. I don’t like eating greasy food and since I’m a whopping 5’2”, that puts me directly in harms way of oil splashes. I was reminded of my dislike of frying more than once while making these lemon ricotta donut bites, and I think someone, somewhere should invent some sort of contraption to keep us fun sized humans out of harms way. #kitcheninventionsnooneneeds

But these little bites of goodness are worth the temporary pain and mess across the kitchen stove. They’re fluffy in texture and big in flavor. Fortunately those big flavors are somewhat subtle, and can be toned up or down depending upon your preferences. My husband is a huge fan of adding a generous drizzle of bourbon to the batter (or to the honey glaze), just for a little extra power.

Honey Lemon Ricotta Donut Bites Ingredients & Instructions