It’s probably time I tell you that I’ve never been a huge fan of the raised donut (doughnut?) – at least as a breakfast food. Warm sugar-covered fried dough served to me after a full meal? Fine. But, when I’m hungry, raised donuts are just too light; it takes, like, 3 to fill to me up and I’m not sure that falls under anyone’s definition of “in moderation.” Cake donuts, however, are a different story. Old fashioned glazed are probably my favorite (which, it turns out, are often double fried, so I guess that fits) but plain old cake donut is a very close second, particularly when they are of the chocolate variety.

So, what about baked donuts? As I’ve mentioned in the past, they are a different category all together. More cake than donut, you must greet them with different expectations. However, if you don’t want to be up at 7am heating 4 inches of peanut oil to the perfect temperature, then baking a donut can be a genius alternative. Particularly if you add chocolate. And glaze! Cause, then, it’s basically chocolate cake for breakfast. And who can’t get behind that?

Nutella Glazed Baked Chocolate Donuts

For the Donuts:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 large egg

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Sprinkles, chopped nuts, coconut, etc…

For the Nutella Glaze:

3/4 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

¼ C Nutella

pinch o' salt

3 to 4 tablespoons whole milk

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Oven at 325. Prepare a donut pan with nonstick cooking spray. Don't skip this step!! I have ruined many a batch of donut by thinking my nonstick pan was good enough - it is not!!!

For the donuts:

Whisk together dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Measure the buttermilk and whisk in egg, butter and vanilla. Add the buttermilk mixture to the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined. Scoop into a quart sized Ziploc bag. Snip off a corner and use it as a make-shift piping bag, filling each donut ring 1/3-1/2 full. Cook for 10-12 minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let sit for five minutes, then turn onto cooling rack. Let cool completely before glazing.

For the glaze:

Mix all ingredients together with 2 of the tablespoons of milk. Add more milk as necessary to thin.

To decorate:

When cooled, dip the donuts into the glaze. Cover with sprinkles, coconut or chopped nuts and let set a little. Or eat. These are best eaten soon after making if glazed. If wanting to hold ‘em around a little longer, keep unglazed donut in airtight container for up to 3 days, glazing as needed. I would imagine that, unglazed, these freeze well, too, although we’ve never made it that far…

Recipe adapted from Joy The Baker