Dutch Chocolate Donuts

I am back! I cannot believe it has been nearly one month since I have posted. As most bloggers realize, sometimes life can get hectic. Between vacationing and working in the bakery on the weekend, blog time was not available.

Also, my idea of cooking with my husband project has gone by the wayside as well. I have decided to do what I can when I can, no schedule. Besides, the spontaneity of when makes things more fun. As far as planning what to bake, I have a long list.

That brings me to the subject of the "untested" and "no picture" recipes that are posted on the web. I call it recipe gambling. The creation could be a flop or turn out pretty awesome but that is the risk you take. This blog does have both tried and true recipes as well as the unique and obscure. 

As a comeback, I bring you chocolate in a most delicious form-donuts. This one comes straight from a chocolate maker, so these gems are spot on when it comes to squelching that chocolate craving. Pair one with coffee in the morning and you will be good to go. This recipe makes about 9 standard sized donuts.

Dutch Chocolate Donuts
adapted from Ghirardelli

Ingredients/ Donut
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup dutch cocoa
1 1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup mini semi sweet chocolate

Ingredients/Choc Glaze
1 tbs light corn syrup
3 oz chopped chocolate bar (60% cacao)
3 tbs butter
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups powdered sugar
4-5 tbs hot water

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Prepare a donut pan by greasing the interior of the cavities. Also, place a piece of parchment or wax paper under a cooling rack set on a flat surface.

In a medium size bowl, mix the melted butter and milk. Then add the egg, using a fork to break up the yolks to blend. Once thoroughly mixed, set aside.

Using another bowl, sift together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and cocoa. Whisk in both types of sugars. Add the egg mixture and combine, using a wooden spoon to blend the ingredients together. Lastly, fold in the mini chocolate chips.

Snip off a corner of a sealing freezer bag. Make sure the hole is big enough to get the chocolate chips through. Fill the bag with the batter and seal. Pipe the batter into the prepared pan cavities, filling about 3/4 full.

Bake 10-12 minutes, rotating pan at the halfway baking point. Donuts are done when tester comes out clean. Let donuts cool in pan on rack for 3 minutes, then invert onto rack.

For the chocolate glaze, set up a double boiler. Fill with chopped chocolate and butter. Let the mixture melt, stirring occasionally. Once melted, remove from heat and mix in corn syrup and vanilla. Then sift in powdered sugar in one cup increments until all is blended. Stir in hot water, one tablespoon at a time, to bring to the correct consistency.

Spoon glaze over donuts, letting excess drip off. If desired, sprinkle with sea salt. Let glaze set before serving.
                             **LAST YEAR: Chocolate Dream Cake**

Spice Donuts

I have been craving some donuts lately.  I was disappointed the last time I bought some, so I decided on homemade donuts.  I wanted to make a variety and  really was not interested in frying a bunch of dough.  Baked cake donuts would be easier and last longer than fried.  I split the recipes in half and made 2 dozen, with 6 in each flavor.  Out of all of them, my favorite were the spice ones.  They all were pretty good, but in my mind, the spice ones paired best with hot coffee and cold weather.

The recipe below is for 1 dozen cake donuts.  These are fairly simple to make and yield pretty tasty results.  You can glaze these or top however you want, but I feel that the cinnamon sugar coating brings out the best in texture and flavor.

Spice Donuts
adapted from 150 Best Donut Recipes

Ingredients/ Donuts
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup whole milk
1 tbs melted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract

Ingredients/Topping
1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and spray 2-6 cavity donut pans with non stick spray.

In one bowl, sift together the baking powder, salt, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and allspice.  Then mix in the sugar and set aside.

The next bowl should be filled with eggs, melted butter, milk and vanilla extract.  Whisk all the ingredients together and pour in the bowl with the dry ingredients.  Mix with a wooden spoon until  blended.  I added some more milk to mine because it was a little thick.  The consistency should be like a thick frosting, not doughy.

Cut  a small piece of the corner off of a quart size freezer bag and fill with the batter.  Use the bag as you would a pastry tip and fill all 12 of the donut cavities evenly.  They should be about 2/3 full.  Bake in oven until springy to the touch, about 10-14 minutes.  Mine were done in 10 minutes.

Remove pans and let cool for 5 minutes.  As they are cooling, mix the cinnamon and sugar together for the topping. Invert the donuts from the pans, let cool completely.  Dip each donut into the melted butter and roll in sugar.  You can just do the tops or the whole donut as I did.
                        **LAST YEAR:High Octane Mini Pies*