Confession time: I am a donut lover. I love donuts. I always have. They're my weakness. Particularly chocolate frosted, chocolate glazed, lemon filled, jelly filled...oh who am I kidding? I love them all. Except for a plain donut. Because why are you even eating a donut if its plain??
While I bend over backward for donuts, I have never made my own. On purpose, mind you. I always refused to buy a donut pan or donut maker because I feared that once I let myself start, I wouldn't be able to stop. I didn't want to even tip toe near that black hole.
Then I received one as a gift for Christmas and, well, I guess the jig was up! I had done so well avoiding donut-topia and now I had no choice but to make donuts.
MAKE ALL THE DONUTS!!
My first attempts were iffy but I had a feeling something as simple as chocolate chip donuts would be a safe bet. I found an easy to follow and straight forward donut recipe from Just So Tasty that I wanted to try but switched up the icing. Then I thought it'd be even more decadent and - dare I say, orgasmic - if I added some raspberry extract to the frosting (because what is more orgasmic than chocolate mixed with raspberry?!).
BECAUSE VALENTINE'S DAY AND ALL THAT!
Decorated with some fun pink, red, and white sprinkles, my donuts were not only sexy inside (remember that orgasmic raspberry and chocolate combo, people) but sassy on the outside to match! That's my kind of donut!
So yeah, speaking of...Valentine's Day kinda crept up on us there, didn't it? It's this weekend! I sort of love Valentine's Day almost as much as Christmas. While a part of me is all "boooo it's just a commercial holiday created by Hallmark and candy people to make money off our sappy souls!" a bigger part of me is a sap and a romantic and I will take any opportunity to shower Cody in love. He just looooves it...not.
We don't do much but we do celebrate in our own way. Last year we made reservations at The Melting Pot, a fondue restaurant that had a special Valentine's Day menu, and traveled there in the middle of one of our big blizzards. It was a crazy night but so worth it! I mean, I am not going to let some snow (ok more like 2 feet) stop me from having fondue! MELTED CHEESE AND CHOCOLATE, PEOPLE!
What do you plan to do this Valentine's Day? Whatever it is, I hope it's memorable. But I mean, if you end up sitting on the couch, eating all these donuts instead, you'll be OK with it. I promise.
Chocolate Chip Donuts with Chocolate Raspberry Ganache Frosting
For the donuts:
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 1 egg, room temperature
- 6 tablespoons buttermilk, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons chocolate chips
For the frosting:
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon raspberry extract
- Sassy seasonal sprinkles
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray donut pan with non-stick spray.
- In a large bowl, whisk together your flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, and salt.
- In a separate bowl, combine the melted butter, egg, buttermilk, and vanilla.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and whisk until combined.
- Once mixed, fold in the chocolate chips.
- Spoon or pipe your batter into the donut pan so that each cavity is 3/4 full.
- Bake donuts for 8-10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the donut comes out clean.
- Cool donuts in pan for 10 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack to completely cool.
- To make your ganache, heat your heavy cream in a small sauce pan on medium heat until simmering.
- In a heat-proof bowl, pour the heavy cream over the chocolate chips to melt. Let sit for a minute or two before stirring.
- Once chips have all melted and have been combined with the cream, add your raspberry extract and stir to mix.
- Let ganache cool to room temperature - it will thicken as it cools.
- Once cooled, gently dip tops of donuts into ganache until covered.
- Optional: cover them with festive sprinkles.
- Let donuts sit on wax paper or plate until ganache has set.
