Chocolatey Halloween Baked Donuts

I found THE most amazing chocolate donut recipe.  I will look no further, this one is it!  I love when a recipe is just right on the first try.  Another great thing is that it yields 6 donuts, so if you have the urge to make them you will not end up with an army of donuts that need eating!!

So, here's the recipe:

Chocolate Baked Donuts

(adapted from Handle the Heat)

Note : It may seem strange to add nutmeg to a chocolate recipe, but nutmeg is the key to a recognizable doughnut flavor. It’s fine to leave it out, but your doughnuts may taste a bit more like chocolate cupcakes.

1 cup of flour

2 tablespoons Dutch cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

2/3 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon fine grain salt

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 cup milk (I used 2%)

1/4 cup plain yogurt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 large egg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and lightly grease donut pan (or muffin tin).  Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda, then whisk in sugar, nutmeg and salt.  Using your fingers, add the butter working it into the dry ingredients until course crumbles are formed.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, yogurt and egg.  Add the dry ingredients and stir until they are just combined.

You do not want to over mix the donuts or they will bake up dense and heavy, rather than light and fluffy.  To place donut batter into the donut pan cavities, pour the batter into a ziploc bag, cutting off one corner.  You can then squeeze the batter into the pan with minimal mess.  Fill each cavity about 1/2 to 3/4 full.

If you overfill the pan the donuts will bake up without a hole in the middle.  Bake for 8-10 minutes until the donuts spring back lightly when touched.  Place on a rack to cool slightly before adding the glaze.

Chocolate Glaze

from Alton Brown

1/4 Cup unsalted butter

4 tablespoons whole milk, warmed (I used 2%)

1/2 tablespoon light corn syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

1 cup confectioners sugar, sifted

Combine butter, milk, corn syrup and vanilla in a medium sauce pan over medium heat until butter is melted.  Decrease heat, blend in  chocolate, whisking until it's melted.  Turn off the heat and add powdered sugar, whisking until smooth.  Place the mixture over a bowl of hot water and dip immediately into the glaze mixture.  Allow glaze to set 30 minutes before serving.

I wanted to "Halloween-up" my donuts, so added black gel food dye into the donut batter to darken it up a bit.  I also added black dye to the chocolate glaze until it was a nice, deep, black color.  I tried dipping the first two donuts in the glaze, but they broke apart and were a mess.  For the remaining 4 I place a sheet of waxed paper underneath the cooling rack and spooned on the glaze.  This worked perfectly.  When I finished, I removed the waxed paper and was left with no mess at all.

Once glazed, I sprinkled on some orange and white ice cream sprinkles I had in my pantry.  They look delicious and taste even better!  What a great way to start off Halloween day by baking these for breakfast with your ghouls and goblins.  :)