Chocolate Donuts with Peppermint Ganache

I’ll be doing a donut segment next week on The Morning Show on Global News, so I’ve been testing some festive donut recipes.  I say testing because my gingerbread donuts need a bit of tweaking… Who knew that cooking molasses was a thing, much more aggressive than fancy molasses and in the same container! Be careful!

These donuts however, came out just as I wanted.  I have a go-to chocolate donut recipe that incorporates Guinness and it proved itself as a winner here in a Christmas-y context.  Paired with a bittersweet ganache and crushed candy canes, it’s not too sweet and has a nice minty flavour, not to mention some crunch!

If you don’t have peppermint extract, don’t worry as the candy canes will add enough mint flavour.  You could also put a twist on these by replacing the candy canes with flaky sea salt and omitting the peppermint extract for a salty hit that looks like snow.

Stay tuned for gingerbread donuts!

Ingredients

• 1 cup cake flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• Pinch baking soda
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 cup salted butter, melted
• 6 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 cup Guinness
• 2 tbsp sour cream
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla

Ganache Ingredients

• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate
• 1/8-1/4 tsp peppermint extract
• Crushed candy canes, to sprinkle

Steps

Preheat oven to 425F and grease a donut tin with butter.

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Stir with a whisk until uniform and set aside.  In a small bowl, whisk together Guinness, sour cream, egg and vanilla and set aside.

Whisk together butter and sugar in a large bowl.  Add half the dry ingredients and whisk until incorporated.  Add wet ingredients, then remaining dry ingredients, whisking until just incorporated after each addition.

Spoon batter into donut pan until 1/2-3/4 full.  Bake 7-8 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean and allow to cool completely on a wire rack before glazing.

While donuts are cooling, make ganache. In the microwave or on stovetop, bring cream to an almost boil and pour over chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl.  Let sit for 5 minutes, then whisk together until smooth.  Set aside.

Dip donuts in ganache, wiggling around to cover the sides. Sprinkle on crushed candy canes as desired and allow to set on a rack with aluminum foil underneath to catch drips.