If you're going to fry donuts, you may as well go all out and make glazed chocolate frosted donuts. And add in coffee for good measure!
Is there anything worse than the sound of your alarm clock going off on a weekday morning? Actually, yes. You know what's worse? When you wake up naturally and think to yourself, "please, God, let it be 2:00 a.m. so that I have three more hours of sleep ahead of me."
But then, despite the fact your eyes are still closed, you notice some light coming in through the blinds. And when you turn to look at the clock, you see that it's 4:58 a.m. and realize you have approximately two minutes left in your warm and cozy bed with your dog snuggled in close with you before the alarm goes off.
That is worse than being woken up by your alarm. Then, if you're me, you have to figure out how to ease your way out of bed while your dog is draped across you absolutely refusing to budge. Do you even know how difficult it is to get out of bed when you're snuggled up with a warm little fluff ball? Ugh. The only thing that can save things is a donut. Or 12.
Bonus points if said donut involves coffee... Like these ones. Really, there's nothing fancy about these donuts, other than the fact that there's a little coffee mixed in to the dough. And they're glazed and chocolate frosted. Oops?
Oh, and did I mention they're fried and not baked? Guys, it's been so long since I fried donuts and I was majorly craving them, so I went for it. I've actually been craving glazed and chocolate frosted donuts for weeks, but for some reason, I thought frying donuts was going to be such a commitment.
It's really not and I forgot just how easy they were. And since I was craving both glazed and chocolate frosted donuts, I decided I would just combine my cravings into one donut. Perhaps a little bit excessive, but ask me if I care (hint... I don't!).
Glazed Coffee Chocolate Frosted Donut Recipe
If you haven't done much baking with yeast, I think donuts are a great place to start. Mainly because the reward makes everything so well worth it. But seriously, yeast is nothing to be scared of and there's something so, so satisfying about watching dough rise. The dough for these coffee donuts can be quickly whipped up in a mixer (or in a bowl with a hand mixer) and then placed in a bowl to rise.
Even just looking at these photos is like therapy for me.
You can literally cut the donuts with a drinking glass and shot glass if you don't have round cookie cutters or a donut cutter. [affiliate link!] See? No fancy tools required. Just a lot of oil.
But you shouldn't be intimidated by that either. All you need to do is bring the oil up to 375 degrees and let the donuts fry for like 1.5 minutes. It doesn't get smoky or too smelly (like frying with oil sometimes does).
And you're left with beautiful homemade coffee donuts. Which are basically a blank canvas for doing absolutely anything you want. Like I mentioned, there's no way I could decide between a glaze and a chocolate frosting, so I went with both. It was worth it.
I'm pretty sure that's how Krispy Kreme does theirs. Though I wouldn't really know considering Krispy Kreme lasted in Boston for a total of .5 seconds. Everyone was so excited the chain was coming, but then nobody ended up frequenting it.
Probably because we're a city that's stuck on its Dunkin' Donuts (seriously, my town has EIGHT Dunkin' Donuts in it... And my town isn't that big). But I also think it's because independent donut shops are becoming more of a thing. I rarely go to Dunkin's because we also have a couple really good donut shops near us.
Not that I should really be frequenting donut shops very often... Especially when I'm making these babies right at home. But you know... Sometimes on Saturday morning, the feeling strikes.
I normally crave strawberry frosted, but for some reason I haven't been able to stop thinking about chocolate frosted donuts lately. The more sprinkles the better.
While some people may tell you that donuts don't make an appropriate breakfast, I'm willing to argue that with a) hey, whatever gets you out of bed in the morning and b) there's coffee in these, so... breakfast. The coffee was kind of an afterthought, but I'm all about coffee anything and everything and it gave these donuts a little extra kick that I was looking for.
Obviously if you're making donuts, you need to fry up the donut holes as well since waste is a terrible thing. I simply glazed the coffee donut holes since I figured adding chocolate frosting would be going a little too far. Plus, that glaze is really good.
I might actually start waking up at 4:58 and being happy my alarm is about to go off knowing that these are waiting for me in the kitchen.
Of course, I'd be even happier if I could sleep in until 8:00 and then leisurely indulge in one of these chocolate frosted donuts while reading my favorite food blogs and watching the Today Show. But hey, beggars can't be choosers, right?
Happy Monday!! I hope the idea of a Glazed Coffee Chocolate Frosted Donut with extra sprinkles is enough to help make the start of the week a little bit easier on you. Next week is the 4th of July, so I hope that means you get a little extra time off... I'm lucky enough to have Monday and Tuesday off, which makes me probably the happiest person alive right now.
What's your favorite kind of donut?
If you're looking for more delicious donut recipes, check out these Blueberry Mojito Donuts and these Grapefruit Donuts. I also can't wait to make these Maple Glazed Donuts from Cooking for My Soul.
📖 Recipe
Glazed Coffee Chocolate Frosted Donuts
Ingredients
Coffee Donuts:
- 1 ¼ cups whole milk
- 2 ¼ teaspoons or one package active dry yeast
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup 1 stick butter, melted and cooled
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 2 Tbsp coffee grounds
- 1 tsp salt
- 4 ½ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling out the dough
- 2 quarts canola oil (or other neutral oil), plus more for bowl
- 1 batch donut glaze (recipe below)
- 1 batch chocolate frosting (recipe below)
- Rainbow sprinkles
Donut Glaze:
- 3 cups confectioners' sugar
- ¼ cup plus 2 Tbsp whole milk
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla
Chocolate Frosting:
- 3 cups confectioners' sugar
- 5 Tbsp cocoa powder
- ¼ cup plus 2 Tbsp whole milk
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla
Instructions
Coffee Donuts
- In a small saucepan, heat milk until it's warm but not hot, about 90 degrees.
- Pour milk into the bowl of a stand mixer or other large bowl if using an electric mixer) and sprinkle Fit stand mixer with dough hook or use electric mixer to beat the eggs, butter, sugar, coffee grounds, and salt into the yeast mixture.
- Add half of the flour (2 cups ¼ cups) and mix until combined.
- Mix in the rest of the flour until the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
- If dough feels too wet, add more flour, 1 tablespoon at a time.
- If the dough becomes too thick to knead in the mixer, transfer it to a lightly floured surface and gently knead it until smooth.
- Grease a large bowl with a little oil, transfer the dough to the bowl, and cover with a kitchen towel. Let rise at room temperature until dough doubles in size, about 1 hour.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and roll to ½-inch thickness.
- Cut doughnuts with a lightly floured doughnut cutter, cookie cutter (one large and one small), or a drinking glass (and shot glass), making sure the larger round is 3-3 ½ inches in diameter. Reserve donut holes.
- After cutting donuts from dough, knead any leftover dough together again, taking care not to overwork and let rest for a few minutes before rolling out and cutting again.
- Place doughnuts on two floured baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between each one. Cover with a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place until dough is slightly puffed up, about 45 minutes (if your kitchen is too cool, you can pre-heat oven to 200 degrees, turn off, and then place pans in oven with door slightly cracked).
- When donuts are almost done rising, put oil in a heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven over medium heat and bring to 375 degrees.
- While oil is coming to temperature, line cooling racks, baking sheets, or plates with paper towels.
- Carefully place donuts in oil, a few at a time (you can use a metal spatula if they're too delicate to pick up with your hands).
- Fry for 30-45 seconds, until bottoms are deep golden, and then use a slotted spoon to flip and cook for another 30 seconds until donuts are golden all over.
- Transfer donuts to the prepared plates or racks and repeat with the rest of the dough, keeping oil at 375 degrees. Once donuts are fried, repeat with donut holes, taking note that these will fry faster than donuts.
- Once donuts are cool enough to touch, dunk in glaze, flip over and dunk again, and let excess drizzle off before placing on wire racks with paper towels underneath to catch any additional excess glaze.
- Let glaze harden before dipping tops of doughnuts in chocolate frosting and adding rainbow sprinkles.
Donut Glaze
- In a medium bowl, whisk together confectioners' sugar, milk, and vanilla until smooth. If glaze is too thick, add additional milk 1 tsp at a time.
Chocolate Frosting
- In a medium bowl, whisk together, confectioners' sugar, cocoa powder, milk, and vanilla, If frosting is too thick, add additional milk 1 tsp at a time.
L.C. @ A Life of Authenticity says
I love the idea of fried donuts. They taste really good. However, I'm not a fan of coffee, so I probably would not like this particular flavor. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Agnes Dela Cruz says
Looks delish! I will include this recipe on my weekend baking with my daughter. Family loves anything chocolatey and they will love this.
Tiffany Stuart says
Wow this recipe has all the good stuff. Coffee, chocolate, sprinkles. Just Yum!!
Tandy I Lavender and Lime says
I know how you feel about walking up just before the alarm goes off. I usually spend 15 minutes snoozing when that happens. Luckily for me Dave feeds the dogs so they rush to meet him, leaving my feet free. Time to make some doughnuts for sure.
Niki McNeill says
Wow this is a perfect combo! Coffee & donuts rolled into one. Now if only there was a way to make them calorie free 🙂
marcie says
I hate when my alarm goes off...it's the worst sound of the day! I haven't baked with yeast in forever and I wish one of these beautiful donuts was in front of me right now. I love that there's coffee in the donut!
Blair villanueva says
Oh my these are sinfully delicious! Me likey 🙂 and still i will paired it with my coffee.
Shivranjani Rathore says
Your post is mouth watering and I am cutting down on sugary stuff. I enjoy my donut just as it is.
http://www.thevagabondwayfarer.com
Stephanie@ApplesforCJ says
You can never argue with coffee and chocolate in the mornings. Sounds good to me 🙂
Tiffany says
Oh gosh - YUM! Coffee and chocolate are my favorite combinations, especially when it comes to donuts! Def making this!
sarah says
oh yum! i totally feel ya on the alarm thing. these days my baby has been waking up really early so mornings have been tough. i wish i had one (or six) of these in my kitchen! 🙂
simon says
Pff.. You are killing me with this recipe... It's 22h. and I'm about to go to bed and now I want these for breakfast tomorrow but now way I will get them... 🙁
ah pfff... luckily they look that good they make me happy too :p
Janette | Culinary Ginger says
Wow, this is the ultimate donut and they would get me bolting out of bed 🙂
Tasheena @ SimplyTasheena.com says
I want one right now! I'm going to try and not run to the store to get the ingredients.
Lynn | The Road to Honey says
Yes, yes, yes. The dreaded 5 am alarm. And it's even worse when you come to realize it means your heading to crossfit to have your Boo-TAY served to you on a platter (which is my morning tomorrow ?). That said, I can see how these beauties would have anyone high jumping their way out of the bed. They look absolutely scrumptious.
cheri says
My husband is my alam clock he automatically wakes up at the same time everyday, (kind of drives me nuts) anyway, love these donuts with there glaze and frosting!
Alicia P says
Omg, that looks soooo good! I love donuts! And with coffee is even better! 🙂
Kelsie | the itsy-bitsy kitchen says
I do that EVERY morning--look at the clock hoping I have plenty of time to go back to sleep and then realize nope, might as well get up now. UGH! But if I could wake up to one (or five) of these donuts I might get up a little faster :). LOVE the coffee and chocolate combo!
Christie Brown says
Boy-oh-boy! I'm drooling! You've combined the elixir of life that is coffee, with the deliciousness that is doughnuts?! I'm in heaven. I've never tried making my own doughnuts before so I'll definitely be giving these a try. 🙂
Ashley@CookNourishBliss says
Yup, I totally agree - I HATE when I wake up a few minutes before my alarm - the worst! But these donuts! They sound fantastic!
Sheri says
These just look so good! I have a sweet tooth so this is perfect for me. If I had these waiting in the kitchen I would definitely get out of bed early.
Anosa says
Oh yum! I love donuts, I can eat donuts all day and night but I have never attempted to make them from scratch before lol and your coffee chocolate frosted ones looks absolutely delicious
Claire Santiago says
Thanks for sharing this. This is awesome, something that my kids will surely enjoy. Now I can make their favorite donuts at home.
Nancy Buchanan says
I made the mistake of reading this post when I don't have access to a kitchen - now all I can think about is making these donuts!!! I absolutely love that they use coffee grounds - that texture would be amazing!!! Double glaze? Yessss!! Sign me up!!
Brandi says
Coffee chocolate sounds amazing! Your photos are gorgeous. This recipe is a must try.
Joslyn says
Are the coffee grounds supposed to be dried before adding them into the recipe?
Sues says
@Joslyn- They should be fresh coffee grounds (right out of the bag/canister), so no need to dry them 🙂