baked peppermint hot chocolate doughnuts
Doughnuts to start the week. I dub that an immediate win.
Ladies and gents, it’s Christmas Eve week. I guess I can say Christmas week too, but since the holiday falls on Monday I feel like that’s cheating the system a little bit. Ah well. Say what you will, but the holly jolly fast approaches.
And I have fruit flies fucking everywhere in my house. But that’s not an appealing fact to insert into a recipe post so I won’t expound further.
I haven’t shared a doughnut recipe since the Bourbon Apple Cider Doughnuts back in the fall, and somehow I think it’s sacrilegious that two months have elapsed since I’ve shown my ‘nuts on the Interwebs. Shame on me. We’re changing that today.
Peppermint bark, peppermint mochas, and peppermint cocoa are holiday mainstays, so let’s plug that flavor favorite into a doughnut and call it brunch. Easy, not so sleazy, and sure to please. Bake these up on Christmas morning or as a nightcap, or between today and next week if you need a little something sweet that isn’t cookies.
Though, we’ve got plenty of those a-coming still, not to worry.
Deez (Dough)nuts
All doughnuts start pretty much the same way. All of my blog posts about doughnuts have, also, probably started pretty much the same way: by telling you that my recipe is pretty much the same all around, add or subtract a few flavor nuances.
Let’s get right to it. Mix up some melted and slightly cooled butter and sugar, then beat in those eggs, some vanilla, and plain Greek yogurt.
Then: flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and baking soda. Keep your mixer going while you stream in some buttermilk. Only mix until everything is uniform, no longer, else your doughnuts will turn out tougher than Rocky Balboa.
Plop your batter into a piping bag. Grease two doughnut pans (6 slots a pop), and swirl in the batter. Fill ‘er up only 2/3 of the way.
Bake the doughnuts until poofy, springy, and no longer gooey. Cool 5 minutes in the pans, then shimmy them over to a wire rack to finish cooling. Doughnuts donut take long to cool, so if you’re impatient, this is a swell baking pasttime for you.
Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Peppermint
A chocolate peppermint shell seals the deal on these rounds of dough.
Sidebar: I’m guessing the word doughnut derives from the fact that most traditional fried dudes actually are molded from a yeast dough, but baked doughnuts are more batter-like. I guess batternuts would be a rather unappealing name…
Anywhoozles…chocolate shell. Microwave dark chocolate chips with a spoonful of coconut oil until completely smooth, then stir in some peppermint extract. Be super careful with peppermint extract – too heavy a hand and you’ll have Colgate. Not great.
Slide a piece of parchment beneath your wire rack to make messy cleanup easier. Dunk one side of each doughnut into the shell, then place undipped side down back onto the rack. Sprinkle with some chopped up peppermint bark (my favorite), or crushed candy cane bits. Anything festive and pepperminty, really.
So pretty. So tasty.
To make ahead, I recommend baking up the doughnuts up to 3 days ahead but waiting to put on the shell until the day of serving. Simply to preserve the prettiness.
If you’re a dunker like me, a dip in a hot cup of coffee is godlike. Especially since the chocolate shell will melt slightly and drizzle into your mug of joe…A nice little touch, I think.
Tried this recipe out? Leave a rating and comment below with your thoughts, and don’t forget to come say hi on Instagram and show me what you made!
Doughnut day is every day:
Baked Birthday Funfetti Doughnuts
Baked Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Doughnuts
Baked Biscoff Cookie Butter Doughnuts
baked peppermint hot chocolate doughnuts
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp butter, melted
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2/3 cup plain whole milk Greek yogurt, at room temperature
- 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 1/4 tsp peppermint extract
- crushed peppermint bark, for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 2 6-slot doughnut pans with oil or butter.
- In a bowl, beat the butter and sugar until combined. Whip in the eggs, one at a time, then the vanilla extract and Greek yogurt. Add the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and baking soda. With the mixer running, stream in the buttermilk, stirring until just combined. Do not overmix you rat bastards.
- Transfer the batter into a piping bag, or a ziptop bag with a corner snipped off. Pipe the batter into the prepared doughnut pans, filling 2/3 of the way.
- Bake the doughnuts for 10-12 minutes until the centers are set and an inserted toothpick emerges with just a few moist crumbs. Let cool 5 minutes in the pan, then run a knife around the edge of each doughnut and move them to a wire rack. Cool completely.
- In a microwave safe bowl, heat the chocolate and coconut oil for 1 minute. Stir until the bowl is no longer warm. If needed, heat an additional 20-30 seconds until completely smooth. Stir in the peppermint extract. Cool for 5 minutes.
- Place a piece of parchment paper beneath the wire rack. Dunk one side of each doughnut into the chocolate, letting excess drip back into the bowl. Place dry-side down onto the wire rack. Sprinkle with crushed peppermint bark. Let set for 8-10 minutes, or dig right in and enjoy the messiness!
