Chocolate buttermilk donuts

Jackpot! I've been trying to perfect my chocolate donut recipe for awhile now, because my brother loves them so much. Each time I've made them, however, they were either too dense or too dry or not chocolatey enough. Well, after poring over a dozen or so recipes for chocolate donuts, buttermilk donuts, and chocolate buttermilk donuts, I think I was able to fashion a recipe of my own that I like very much. I present to you now, my best chocolate donut:

I've said that donuts are easy to make, right? Well, if I haven't, they are, and you should try them! I used my trusty donut maker, but you can use a donut pan with an oven at 350 degrees and get the same results.

Just mix the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet in another. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and stir until just combined. Presto! You have a delicious batter that will net you some delicious donuts. I made a vanilla buttermilk glaze, because a chocolate glaze seems like piling on. Of course, you go right ahead and make a chocolate glaze if you want to. That's your prerogative.

I froze about half of them, so my brother could take them with him and heat them in the toaster oven at his leisure. The glaze was packed in a separate container. Packing the glaze separately reminded me of the Toaster Strudels that we ate so much of as kids. You heat up the dessert masquerading as breakfast and then drizzle the glaze all over it. Messy, but totally worth the sticky fingers.

I think donuts make a great dessert when you have friends over too. You can make them in advance and people are always so tickled to have a homemade donut! I serve them with coffee or milk or ice cream, depending upon the crowd.

Enjoy!

Chocolate buttermilk donuts with a buttermilk glaze
(makes about 24 donuts)
adapted from Averie Cooks

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup cake flour (you can probably just use one or the other depending upon what you have)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2-3 tsp instant coffee or espresso powder (use more if you actually want to taste the coffee)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

2 large eggs
1/2 cup vegetable (or another neutral-tasting) oil
1 to 1 1/2 cup cold buttermilk
2 tsp vanilla

Buttermilk glaze (recipe below)

Instructions

Preheat donut maker or preheat oven to 350F. Spray donut maker (or donut pan, if using) with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients. In another bowl, whisk together all the wet ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients. Stir together until combined. I like my batter to be the consistency of a thick cake batter. If your batter needs a little thinning, stir in another 1/4-1/2 cup of buttermilk.

Scoop batter into donut maker/pan. Cook in the donut maker for 5-7 minutes or in oven for about 10-12, I think. Take out of the oven/donut maker and as soon as you can handle it, take the hot donuts and dip them in the buttermilk glaze. I was lazy this time and just set them on a plate, which doesn't really allow the glaze to fully harden on the bottom. If you're better than me (or at least less lazy), let them cool on a rack so that the glaze hardens. Place paper towels or a baking sheet placed under the rack so it catches the glaze that drips off the donuts. Otherwise, you'll have to wipe down your counter.


Buttermilk donut glaze
adapted from Simply Scratch

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
4-6 tbsp buttermilk
2 tsp vanilla extract

In a bowl, stir all the ingredients together until no lumps of sugar remain.