Chocolate Donuts

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These Chocolate Donuts are moist, sweet, and very chocolatey. This recipe delivers the best texture and flavor for donuts that are addictive and delicious.

If you can’t get enough of these donuts, you have to try our old fashioned sour cream donuts and jelly-filled brioche donuts.

Chocolate Donuts covered in sprinkles, one missing a bite

Table Of Contents

Recipe Details
What You’ll Need
Ingredient Notes
Add-ins and Substitutions
How to Make Chocolate Donuts
Recipe Tips
FAQs
Serving Suggestions
Make This Recipe in Advance
More Delicious Donuts!
Full Recipe Instructions

Recipe Details

I love donuts, don’t you? Making these yummy Chocolate Donuts is not as hard as you think and you’ll love enjoying them with coffee, milk, or other desserts.

TASTE: These donuts are sweet, but also a little tangy. That’s because they’re made with sour cream to give a delicious contrast to the sweetness of the chocolate
TEXTURE: These Chocolate Donuts are the best because they are moist and dense. They have a crisp fried outside, but are soft and chewy inside.
TIME: These homemade donuts will take 1 hour 40 minutes.
EASE: Making donuts can seem intimidating. But with these simple instructions and lots of step-by-step photos, this recipe will make it so easy.

What You’ll Need

Ingredients for Chocolate Donuts, including sugar, brown sugar, flour, heavy cream, cocoa powder, semisweet chocolate chips, butter, sour cream, egg, cornstarch, vanilla, baking powder and soda, and salt.

Ingredient Notes

Cocoa powder- This chocolatey powder adds the flavor to your donuts. It’s very potent and when mixed with sugar, makes your donuts so good.
Sour cream- This is the key to moist Chocolate Donuts. Folding in sour cream gives them a tangy flavor and moist texture.
Heavy cream- This high-fat liquid helps melt and smooth out the chocolate for the glaze. The fat will keep it from seizing up as well as make it creamy.
Brown sugar & Sugar- These are your sweeteners. Brown sugar adds a richer, deeper flavor because of the molasses.
Semisweet chocolate chips- Semisweet works best for this chocolate glaze. Chips or a block that’s been chopped small is best so it will melt quickly in the hot cream.

Add-ins and Substitutions

Substitute Greek yogurt- Add some protein to your donuts by using plain Greek yogurt instead of sour cream.
Add espresso powder- This will give your donuts a kick as well as enhance their sweetness with a little bit of bitterness.
Substitute gluten-free flour- Using a gluten-free all-purpose flour, cup for cup, in this recipe will result in delicious gluten-free Chocolate Donuts.
Add toppings- You can sprinkle the donuts while the glaze is still wet with sprinkles, coconut flakes, or chopped nuts for extra flavor or a more festive look.

How to Make Chocolate Donuts

Beat butter and sugars. With an electric hand mixer, beat together the softened butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar.
Add the egg and vanilla. Now add the egg and vanilla extract, mixing until combined.
Sift the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, cornstarch, and salt together. Then add 1/3 of the sifted flour mixture to the wet ingredients, and stir with a spatula.

Steps to make Chocolate Donuts, including mixing the wet ingredients, then sifting the dry, and combining for the donut dough.

Mix in the sour cream. Add 1/3 of the sour cream and mix. Then add 1/3 of the flour mixture and mix. Continue doing this in an alternating pattern until everything is combined.
Cover and chill. Place the donut dough onto a large sheet of plastic wrap and cover it tightly. Refrigerate it for 1 hour, or until firm.

Steps to make Chocolate Donuts, including folding in the sour cream and dry ingredients, then chilling the dough.

Roll and cut the donut dough. Lightly dust your work surface with flour and roll out the dough until it’s about 1/2-inch thick. Using a donut cutter or 2 different-sized biscuit cutters, cut out as many donuts as possible. Dust the cutters in flour to prevent sticking.
Reshape the dough and cut more donuts. Roll the scraps out again and cut out the donuts, repeating this step until you use it all up. This should come out to be about 12 donuts.
Fry the donuts. Fill a heavy-bottomed pot with about 2 inches of corn oil and bring it to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Carefully fry the donuts in batches, about 2 minutes on each side.

Steps to make Chocolate Donuts, including rolling out and then cutting out the donut shapes, and baking.

Make the chocolate glaze. Heat up the heavy cream to a light boil and then add the chocolate chips. Submerge them and whisk to mix them together. Once the glaze is smooth, whisk in the melted unsalted butter.
Dip the chocolate donuts into the glaze. Dip the slightly cooled donuts into the glaze and then lay them on a cooling rack to set. Serve and enjoy.

Pro Tip: You may need to reheat the chocolate glaze mixture for 10 seconds at a time in the microwave to keep it warm for dipping.

Steps to make Chocolate Donuts, including making the chocolate glaze and dipping the donuts in it.

Recipe Tips

Alternate the sour cream and flour mixture- When combining the sour cream and the flour with the other ingredients, alternating allows them to combine fully without excess mixing that will overwork the dough.
Dust the donut cutters with flour- The donut dough can get a little sticky, so use a little bit of flour to keep them from sticking and stretching the dough out of shape while cutting.
Fry the donuts carefully at 325 degrees Fahrenheit- Keep a close eye on the frying donuts to make sure they don’t burn. Check the temperature of the oil with a thermometer periodically as you fry them in batches because the temp can creep up as you go.
Absorb extra oil after frying- Place the cooked donuts on a paper towel-lined plate to absorb any extra oil. This will make covering them with chocolate easier.

FAQs

What is chocolate donut glaze made from?

This chocolate glaze is rich and smooth, made from heavy cream, chocolate chips, and melted butter. It is similar to a rich chocolate ganache and adds tons of sweet flavor to your Chocolate Donuts.

How do I melt chocolate?

While you can melt chocolate in the microwave, for a chocolate donut glaze, you heat heavy cream and then add chocolate chips or chopped chocolate from a block to it, stirring. This will allow the hot cream to melt the chocolate, and the fat in the cream will keep it from seizing so the glaze is smooth.

Chocolate Donuts covered in sprinkles, close up of one missing a bite

Serving Suggestions

These Chocolate Donuts are versatile and scrumptious. You can pair them with your favorite desserts, coffees, or make them a breakfast treat. Here’s some great ways to serve them.

Cake pops: Serve these donuts with a mini treat, like these Chocolate Cake Pops, Oreo Cake Pops (VIDEO), Red Velvet Cake Pops (VIDEO), or Vanilla Cake Pops (VIDEO).
Cookies: Pair your Chocolate Donuts with White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies, Double Chocolate Cookies (VIDEO), and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Breakfast: Enjoy them with a savory breakfast dish, like a Croissant Breakfast Sandwich, Crispy Breakfast Burrito (VIDEO), or Easy Poached Eggs with Caramelized Onions.
Coffee: You’ll love these donuts with a Pumpkin Spice Latte, Caramel Frappuccino (Starbucks Copycat), or Iced Caramel Macchiato.

Make This Recipe in Advance

Make ahead: You can make these donuts a few days in advance if you store them in an airtight container. Keep them cool to avoid the glaze melting off or the donuts drying out.

Storing: To store these Chocolate Donuts, place them in an airtight container. They can be kept at room temperature if the air is cool (avoid direct sunlight) or in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.

Freeze: You can also freeze them for 3 months in a ziplock freezer bag. Defrost overnight in the fridge to enjoy in the morning.

More Delicious Donuts!

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Dina

Hi, I’m Dina, so glad you stopped by! I believe life is too short for bad coffee and boring meals. With my easy to follow step-by-step recipes, you’ll be surprised at how quickly a wholesome and delicious meal can come together. I hope you find something you enjoy!