Old Fashioned Chocolate Donuts
These old fashioned chocolate donuts are light and tender, packed with chocolate flavour and covered in a sweet, shiny vanilla glaze. They are like a cross between donut and a brownie and since there is no yeast or cake flour in this recipe, they are quick and easy to make!
Equipment
- Large Heavy bottomed Pan
- Large Mixing Bowl
- Rolling Pin
- Donut cutter or Large round cookie cutter and a pipping nozzle to the cut the donuts with
- Candy or Food Thermometer
- Chopsticks
- Slotted Spoon
Ingredients
Old Fashioned Chocolate Donut Ingredients
- 50 g softened butter (3.5 tbsp)
- 100 g melted dark chocolate (3.5 oz)
- 300 g sour cream (1 1/4 cups)
- 150 g caster sugar (3/4 cup)
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp espresso powder (optional)
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 2 tsp vanilla paste or extract
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 300 g plain or all purpose flour (2 1/2 cups)
- 100 g cornflour / corn starch (1 cup)
- 120 g cocoa powder (1 cup)
- 2 L oil for frying (I used vegetable oil)
Vanilla Glaze Ingredients
- 520 g icing sugar (4 cups)
- 2 tbsp golden syrup or corn syrup
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla paste or extract
- 50 ml milk - (this amount can vary but add a little at a time, till you get the right consistency) (1/4 cup)
Instructions
- Cream together the butter and sugar.
- Then, add in the egg yolks a whip for about 5 minutes, till it’s light yellow and fluffy.
- Next, add in the sour cream and whip for a further 5 minutes, this time, the mixture should be even paler and almost doubled in size.
- Now, fold in the spices, coffee, vanilla, chocolate and salt. Being careful not to over mix and put this mixture to the side.
- For the dry ingredients, sift together the plain flour, cornflour, cocoa powder and baking powder twice (It’s really important to double sift these together.)
- Now, add in a cup of your flour mixture at a time, into the wet mixture, fold well each time, until all of the flour is gone and you are left with a sticky dough. (Make sure not to over mix at this stage, just fold the dry mixture enough so that it is combined.)
- The dough is now ready and should be slightly sticky, bring the dough together so that it is one big ball (You don’t need to knead it) and place into a bowl, covered in cling film / saran wrap and allow it to rest in the fridge for at least an hour.
- Once the dough has fully chilled, roll out the dough, on a floured surface, ½ to a ¼ of an inch in thickness, cut out the donuts and refrigerate for 30 minutes. You can also roll up the scraps, refrigerate them for around 15 minutes and re-roll and cut out more donuts (make sure to not roll out the dough too thin!)
- Make the vanilla glaze by combining, icing sugar, vanilla, golden syrup / corn syrup and milk until you have a thin glaze that is solid in colour. It should be a light beige, almost white colour and be able to coat the back of a spoon, set this to the side.
- Fill a heavy bottomed pan with 2L of oil and heat to 325°F.
- In the meantime, set up a cooling rack with either parchment paper or paper towels underneath, to take the donuts out onto. Next to that, place a plate with a couple of chopsticks or skewers and a slotted spoon, now you're ready to fry. (more details here)
- Carefully slide in the donuts one at a time, careful not to overcrowd the pan, or they won’t fry properly. Frying only 3 - 4 at a time.
- Fry for 1 1/2 - 2 minutes on either side, they should be very lightly coloured on the outside and crackly on the top. Once fried, place them onto a cooling rack.
- Once the donuts are cool enough to handle, immerse them into the glaze and place on a cooling rack, (with some parchment paper underneath to catch any extra glaze) and the donuts are ready!
Notes
- Use two chopsticks or long skewers to turn the donuts over as you fry them
- Store the donuts in a airtight container or tin, once the glaze has fully set and store at room temperature at they should last for about 3 days
- If you don’t have a rolling pin use can use a closed bottle of olive oil or wine instead
- If you don't like cinnamon or nutmeg, simply leave it out, your donuts will be lighter and have a stronger vanilla flavour
- To cut the donuts, use a doughnut cutter if you have one or, a cookie cutter or mug, with a small piping tip to cut out the centres
- Optional but important, using but melted chocolate and espresso powder, will 10x these donuts, but they are totally optional
- This dough is, slightly temperamental depending on what the weather is so, feel free to add in a little more flour if it gets too sticky