Baked chocolate chocolate-chip donuts

It's been a while since I last used my little donut pan (maybe due to the lack of snow days) so I thought it was time to take it out for a spin.  Baking a batch of donuts also served the purpose of helping me use up some of the buttermilk in my fridge. Whenever I buy buttermilk to make pancakes or a cake recipe, I'm on a mission to put as much of it to good use as possible.  

Baked chocolate chocolate-chip donut with peanut butter glaze/icing

Well, the buttermilk went towards a very good mission here.  These baked chocolate chocolate-chip donuts are essentially a fun way to enjoy a few bites of chocolate cake! Handheld, portable, fun, and, most importantly, tasty - they made me glad I hadn't forgotten about my little donut pan.

We already love chocolate chip donuts but hadn't tried chocolate chocolate-chip ones until now, and we may have found a new favorite.  I used Christina's recipe from Dessert for Two and it turned out great; I love the lady - when she says the recipe makes 6 donuts, it really makes 6 donuts!  And they're tasty little things - moist chocolate cake rings imbedded with mini chocolate chips.  The donuts are good enough on their own that you almost don't need a glaze.

Have fun with the glaze! 

Much as I could eat these donuts all on their own, you have to admit that the glaze on a donut (like icing on a cupcake) is half the fun and most people wouldn't want to go without it...so add a little extra flavor, and have fun!  I loved Christina's original recipe of making mint chocolate chip donuts (and I knew my son would love it) but I had a strong hankering to make peanut butter glaze.  Really, there are many varieties you can make by simply tweaking what you add to the powdered sugar for the glaze - it can be anything from a little maple syrup, to cocoa powder, fruit juice, or peanut butter.  It's fun to customize!  

I have to fess up to the obvious: my peanut butter "glaze" was more of an icing. I have trouble gauging just the right consistency for my donut glazes so I thought I'd experiment with making it a little thicker and spreading the icing onto the donuts. Since they are called "frosted" donuts and we're basically looking at chocolate cake here, a thicker icing totally works, right?

Besides the peanut butter glaze/icing, I also felt like making a coffee glaze for these donuts...so I did!  I glazed 2 of the six donuts from my batch with a coffee glaze (pictured on the round plate below; you can tell it's a thinner glaze there).  The coffee glazed donuts were quite popular at my house!

In front, donut with a coffee glaze

And you know something?  These donuts were so enjoyable, they disappeared so fast, and I was feeling so guilty about not making the mint chocolate chip donuts my son really wanted that I made a second batch in the same week!

Mint chocolate chip donuts, with a mint glaze

I'm glad I did!  The mint chocolate chip donuts were much-appreciated by the little guy.  It tasted a bit like you're having chocolate chip ice cream somehow!  And so I've now learned...a dozen baked chocolate donuts is totally reasonable for a family of 3 to enjoy in a few days!

Peanut butter cinnamon rolls

Time for the first post of the year...how exciting!  In 2016, I hope to continue to do what I've been doing here - trying recipes that appeal to me and hopefully discovering some new family favorites in the process.  At this point, we pretty much know what we like so the same themes will generally prevail...in other words, there will be lots of chocolate and I'll be keeping an eye out for simple yet scrumptious recipes.  For the most part, the blog's focus will stay on the sweet side of happenings in my kitchen. While I actually cook more than I bake in "real" life, this blog is mostly my little sweet retreat and I think having a little something sweet really makes life better.

One thing I love to eat and talk about, besides chocolate, is breakfast!  Weekend morning breakfasts are a highlight of the week.  Not only do we share something tasty to eat, we chat and linger around the table.  It's an awesome way to start the day and connect with each other.

Every so often, we have cinnamon rolls.  Since I started making them in 2014 based on a small-batch recipe from Oh, Ladycakes, it's been a favorite.  I even have a little cinnamon roll dance I like to do because I'm silly like that sometimes.  I've made several versions (including some must-try almond buns) and this time, let's welcome peanut butter!

I love peanut butter on an English muffin or toast in the morning so a cinnamon roll spin has been on my mind for some time.  What could be easier than just grabbing some peanut butter and slathering it onto the dough for an easy and deliciously satisfying filling!  You end up with ultra tender, soft, squishy rolls (trademarks of this cinnamon roll dough), filled with creamy and crunchy peanut butter (I used both) in each bite.  If you like peanut butter, it's a no-brainer.

I realized some time ago that you have to splurge and go for a glaze on your cinnamon rolls in most cases.  Even just a little bit enhances the overall experience, adding an extra layer of sweetness, flavor, and a general feeling of indulgence that makes it feel all the more fulfilling.  Considering there's just 1 tablespoon of butter and 4 teaspoons of sugar used to make this small-batch of 4 rolls, I think a little glaze is completely reasonable.  So I whipped up a simple peanut butter glaze and I am wholeheartedly glad I did.

Incidentally, I paired my peanut butter cinnamon roll with some Hong Kong style milk tea.  I made an easy knock-off version, simply using strong black tea (steeping at least 2 English breakfast teabags for 2 cups of boiling water), sweetening it lightly with sugar, and stirring in evaporated milk until a creamy color emerges.

I had leftover evaporated milk in the fridge after making a batch of Cantonese egg tarts for my in-laws over the holiday break and this tea was a great use of it.  If only I had thought to serve the egg tarts with the milk tea!