Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Pumpkin Donuts with Chocolate Espresso Ganache


Now that I started rocking some spoopy outfits, I am in full fall mode. If I am being honest, though, I was in fall mode weeks and weeks ago. What can I say? It makes me happy to wake up on chilly mornings and see the leaves starting to change.


I was starting to give into my pumpkin cravings when I was invited to join the Tollhouse Tribe. Perfect timing! I was itching to make some pumpkin donuts! Everyone recognizes Nestle Tollhouse - their chocolate chips are THE morsel for all things scrumptious. I'm willing to bet that when you whip up a batch of cookies, you turn to Nestle morsels.


But did you know there is more to these morsels than cookies? Nestle has all kinds of fun flavors now from milk chocolate to butterscotch to unicorn! Yep, unicorn! I plan on having some fun with those in the coming weeks, but for today, I focused on the espresso chips and decided to make a chocolate and espresso ganache to dip my pumpkin donuts into. After all, what goes better with pumpkin than coffee?


The espresso chips are made with real coffee and are quite strong in their zing so I decided to make my ganache with half espresso chips and half milk chocolate. It was the perfect mix for these donuts!


So many ganache recipes online call for equal parts - 1 cup chocolate, 1 cup milk. But in my experience, that creates chocolate soup that never thickens up. In the past, I have modified these recipes and found that 1/2 cup of milk was plenty for 1 cup of chocolate. I suspect that you'll experience the same if you make these donuts. Have you ever made ganache? Have you struggled with the typical ratios like I have?


Ganache mysteries aside, the recipe below is spot on and won't disappoint you. The pumpkin donut is light, fluffy, and not all too strong on the pumpkin flavor so you can totally amp up the spice measurement below if you want a strong pumpkin punch. It works perfectly with the espresso ganache. It's like a pumpkin spice coffee in solid form!



Pumpkin Donuts with Chocolate Espresso Ganache
Adapted from Food With Feeling

For the pumpkin donuts:
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • pinch of salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup
  • 1/2 cup almond milk (or regular milk, if you prefer!)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup pumpkin puree

For the chocolate espresso ganache:
  • 1/2 cup Nestle Tollhouse Espresso Chips
  • 1/2 cup Nestle Tollhouse Milk Chocolate Chips
  • 1/2 cup almond milk (or regular milk, if you prefer!)

  1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F and grease your donut pan (this recipe will make roughly 6 donuts but it doubles easily if you want a full dozen).
  2. In a bowl, combine the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin pie spice.
  3. Stir in the wet ingredients: milk, maple syrup, vanilla extract, and pumpkin puree.
  4. Mix until well combined.
  5. Carefully pour or spoon the batter into the donut pan.
  6. Bake for 9-11 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
  7. Let the donuts cool completely before dipping into the espresso ganache.
  8. For the ganache, heat the almond milk until just simmering (you can do this in the microwave or on the stovetop).
  9. Pour the heated milk over the chips in a medium bowl and let sit for 1-2 minutes.
  10. Carefully mix the milk and now melted chips until combined.
  11. Let sit until thickened to the desired consistency (I refrigerated it for about 15 minutes or so).
  12. Dip each donut into the thickened ganache and leave them be for as long as you can manage for the ganache to set.
  13. Devour each donut before the end of the day out of pure lack of will power and then proceed to bounce off the walls.