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These delicious, light, baked chocolate Bourbon donuts are wonderfully moist thanks to a hazelnutty Nutella batter. The glaze is a wonderful espresso chocolate bourbon ganache made with heavy cream, butter, chocolate, vanilla extract, espresso powder and, of course, Bourbon.
This post was originally published on Jan. 1, 2016. I have updated it based on reader feedback to make it better and to share it with you again today.
What I love most about these chocolate donuts is the glaze, which is a chocolate Bourbon ganache that I made with heavy cream, butter, chocolate, vanilla extract, espresso powder and, of course, Bourbon. It’s not one of those hard chocolate shells you sometimes see, instead it’s soft and creamy; I personally like that better in combination with cakey things.
How to make chocolate Bourbon donuts step by step:
The actual donuts are made with all your usual ingredients plus one special ingredient and that is Nutella! Nutella does not only add its signature hazelnut flavor here but it also makes these donuts chocolatey and wonderfully moist.
The preparation of the batter is very easy, you don’t need a mixer or anything, you just whisk everything together by hand.
You start with your dry ingredients: 1 cup all-purpose flour, 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 teaspoon baking powder and a pinch of salt. Then you whisk in 1/4 cup Nutella. You have to make sure the Nutella is at room temperature, it’s not soft enough when it comes straight out of the fridge. If you forgot to set it out, you can just warm it up in the microwave for a few seconds.
Tips to make chocolate Bourbon donuts:
The easiest way to mix the Nutella into the flour/cocoa blend is to press it in with the whisk, similar to cutting fat into flour. And it doesn’t have to be perfectly blended, it’s okay if it’s clumpy.
Next you grab a second bowl and whisk together 1 egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 1/3 cup granulated sugar, followed by 1/2 cup milk and 3 tablespoons melted, unsalted butter. The melted butter will likely solidify when it hits the cold milk and that’s totally okay.
Now you whisk the dry ingredients into your wet ingredients and your batter is done! (It will still be a little bit clumpy and that’s fine). Fill it into greased donut pans and bake the donuts for 12 to 15 minutes.
Once the donuts have cooled, glaze them with the chocolate Bourbon glaze and serve them with a glass of milk (or Bourbon)!
More delicious chocolate Bourbon recipes:
Chocolate Bourbon Donuts
Ingredients:
For the donuts:
- non-stick spray or vegetable shortening for the donut pans
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- pinch of salt
- 1/4 cup hazelnut spread (such as Nutella), at room temperature
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
For the glaze:
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1.5 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/4 teaspoon instant espresso powder
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
- 1 tablespoon Bourbon
- 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped*
Instructions:
For the donuts:
- Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Spray two 6-cavity donut pans with nonstick spray or grease with vegetable shortening and set aside.
- Whisk flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt together in a bowl.
- Whisk in the Nutella. (This works best if you press the Nutella into the flour mix with the whisk.) Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, whisk egg, vanilla and sugar together until well combined.
- Whisk milk and melted butter into the egg mix. (The butter will likely solidify into tiny pieces when it hits the cold milk mix and that's fine.)
- Whisk the dry ingredients into the egg mix. (The batter will still be a bit clumpy from the Nutella, don't worry about that.)
- Using two spoons, divide the batter into the donut pans, filling the individual cavities about half full, and bake for 12-15 minutes.
- Let the donuts cool in the pans, then unmold them carefully.
For the glaze:
- Add cream, butter, espresso powder, vanilla and salt to a saucepan, bring to a boil and stir until combined.
- Take off the heat and stir in the Bourbon.
- Pour the hot mix over the chocolate and let sit for a minute.
- Stir until everything is well combined and no chocolate clumps remain. (You may need to heat the mixture over a pot of simmering water to melt the last clumps of chocolate).
- Spoon the glaze over the donuts.
Notes:
Nutrition
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Nicole, these look so irresistible! That ganache is killing me!!
Thank you, Kelly!! (I have to say the ganache is mighty good, I could eat it with a spoon just by itself. :))
These look so good Nicole and that ganache style glaze looks so indulgent.
You’ve captured the doughnuts perfectly. I don’t know how you’ve managed to photograph everything that is brown and make it look like it has so much colour and depth.
Thank you so much, Angela! For some reason I really love to photograph brown, the more brown there is in the set the more I like it. :)
Chocolate espresso (and bourbon!) are such a perfect match, I can hardly imagine how decadent and rich these donuts must be – very envious of your house right now! Gorgeous photos and styling too, as usual – I love reading your thought process of how you get the shot. Happy new year!
Thank you so much, Claudia! Happy New Year to you too! :)
Holy smokes, now you’ve pushed me over the edge with these. Stunning! If it weren’t raining cats and dogs outside I’d venture to the store and buy the donut pan stat. Tomorrow for sure. :)
Donut pans are fun, I love mine! :)
I am swooning over these donuts! Chocolate and bourbon are an incredible duo! Gorgeous photography!
Thank you so much, Jen! I agree, chocolate and Bourbon are the best, as a matter of fact I don’t really like Bourbon without chocolate! :)
The glaze on those donuts is so mesmerising! I bet they didn’t last long! Stunning shot! x
They didn’t ;) As always, thank you so much for your kind words, Louise!
Oh geez, these look so good. Probably the last thing I need after all the “bad” stuff I ate in the past couple weeks. I will eat these with my imagination :P
There you go, imagination is more important that reality! :)
Happy New Year Nicole, what can I say you did it again. These look amazing, and that chocolate glaze, just what every donut needs.
Thank you, Rosemary! I was very happy with the shine on that glaze. :)
Happy New Year to you! These donuts look fantastic! :D
Thank you so much, Roxana! :)
The donuts look delicious. Well, I have been known to purchase a little sample bottle for a recipe — perhaps that in the background would have worked but then again, it would make the donuts look monstrous — but that wouldn’t be bad at all. I like the dark look. I could dress all in black, sneak in there, gently reach up over the table — I’m wearing black gloves and sneak one off the plate. Would you miss it? I would leave a few crumbs :-) Happy New Year!
Haha, that’s what I love about the dark photos, they can be so mysterious. :) The sample bottles tend to be too small indeed although maybe I just haven’t looked thoroughly enough for just the right size, I’ll pay closer attention next time I’m in a liquor store. Happy New Year to you too, Marisa! :)