Chocolate Stuffed Donuts

One of the first food blogs I discovered and became addicted too was by Heidi over at 101cookbooks. I love the style, look and feel she oozes from her gorgeous site.

I check her site religiously in anticipation what she has discovered next and this recipe is one I have been holding out to make.

The perfect opportunity arose on the weekend. Last year I went to a music festival called Splendour in the Grass with a few friends. One of the highlights was the discovery of donuts stuffed with chocolate. Hot spongy dough with cinnamon sugar and oozing rich chocolate in the middle. Heaven if you ask me!! I couldn’t join the trip to Splendour this time around, but talk of chocolate donuts was back. A few of my darling friends who went this year came over for dinner on the weekend, so I grasped the opportunity and made donuts.

Tony loves working with dough, kneading especially, so I think we were a little cocky, as we’d had some huge successes with yeast lately. This time, not so much. We couldn’t get them to rise. Much.

We tried everything.

After many hours, and a cranked up heater they rose and were eaten with glee.

1 1/3 cups warm milk
1 packet active dry yeast
2 tablespoons butter
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
5 cups flour
Pinch nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 large block of dark chocolate, broken into pieces

Place 1/3 cup of the warm milk in a bowl. Stir in the yeast and set aside for five minutes or so. Make sure the milk isn't too hot as it can kill the yeast.

Add the butter and sugar into the remaining cup of warm milk and add it to the yeast mixture. Stir in the eggs, flour, nutmeg, and salt until the flour is incorporated.

Knead the dough until it is supple and smooth, not sticky. Shape into a ball and put into oiled bowl and cover and put in a warm place. Let rise for an hour or until the dough has roughly doubled in size.

Next, pull off small pieces and flatten a little with your thumb, pop a piece of chocolate into the dough and close it over itself and pinch to seal the edges. Roll them a little to make them round and place a tray lined with baking paper. Cover with a clean cloth and let rise for another 45 minutes.

Bake in a 190C/375F oven until the bottoms are just golden, 8 to 10 minutes - start checking around 8. While the doughnuts are baking, place the butter in a medium bowl. Place the sugar and cinnamon in a separate bowl.

Remove the doughnuts from the oven and let cool for just a minute or two. Dip each one in the melted butter and a quick toss in the sugar bowl. Eat immediately if not sooner.

S