Chocolate Puff Pastry Donuts are so light, fluffy, and have the best chocolate glaze! These easy donuts are simple to fry up at home and customize with toppings!
Puff Pastry Donuts:
Frozen puff pastry is a true super hero of the kitchen! I always have a box of pastry dough in my freezer, at all times to make things like these donuts and our Easy Baked Sopapillas. I love cooking from scratch when I can, but why make your own puff pastry when you can buy it, it’s just as good, and you can transform it into almost anything! These donuts are so heavenly, they’re light and fluffy and fried to perfection so they really hit that donut craving. The glaze is a simple chocolate ganache that only takes a few minutes to throw together. You can top these with whatever you like! These are such a fun cool weather time of the year weekend breakfast. You can even let your kiddos help you cut the pastry into donuts, and dip in the glaze, it’s so easy!
Making Puff Pastry Donuts:
You will need one sheet of puff pastry for this recipe. Lay it out on a large piece of parchment paper, or even wax paper is fine. Now, you can use a donut cutter if you have one to cut into perfect shapes. If you don’t have a donut cutter, don’t worry! You can make the donuts shapes with a biscuit cutter (as long as you have different sizes). Or, if you don’t have either, just use a drinking glass, and then a shot glass to cut the center holes. After they’re cut, you’ll fry them in batches just about 3 minutes per batch. Lay them on a cooling rack on top of a baking sheet to cool slightly until all batches are cooked.
Making the Chocolate Glaze:
Our glaze for these donuts is out of this world! It’s a simple chocolate ganache, which is so easy to make. The glaze consists of dark or semi-sweet chocolate, warm cream, butter, and a bit of salt. You warm the cream up, pour it right over the chocolate and let it stand for a few minutes to melt. Then, in goes the butter and salt, and you can start dipping your donuts!
A Few Recipe Tips and Notes:
- Don’t worry if you don’t have a donut cutter. Use biscuit cutters or a drinking glass and shot glass that are about 2 3/4 inches in diameter for the big cutter, and about 1 1/4 inches for the smaller (hole in the middle) cutter. It doesn’t have to be perfect or exact!
- Use whatever chocolate that you prefer to eat plain for this recipe. I love dark chocolate here, but I know it is too bitter for some people. Semi-sweet chocolate is fine too! If you want to skip the chocolate, you can also just dip in melted butter and then a mix of cinnamon/sugar.
- For the toppings I used crushed salted pistachios as well as chocolate cookies (Oreos) because that’s what I had on hand. These are amazing topped with sprinkles, any kind of chopped nuts you like, or crushed cookies, or even candy!
- These doughnuts are best eaten fresh the same day/right after you make them! You can store any leftovers in an airtight container, and it’s best to eat them within 24 hours just for best flavor. If saving them, I like to pop in the microwave for about 10-15 seconds to warm them up.
Enjoy!
~Nichole
Chocolate Puff Pastry Donuts
Ingredients
- 48 Ounces Vegetable Oil, For Frying
- 1 Sheet Sheet Puff Pastry Dough
- 4 Ounces Dark Chocolate Semi-Sweet or 60-90% Dark Chocolate
- ½ Cup Heavy Cream
- 2 Tablespoons Butter
- Pinch Salt
- 2-3 Tablespoons Brewed Espresso or Strong Coffee OPTIONAL
- Optional toppings: Chopped nuts or cookies of your choice
Instructions
- Heat the vegetable oil in a deep-frying pan over medium heat.
- Using a donut cutter or a large glass and a shot glass, cut the pastry dough into donuts. Remove the remaining dough and toss out, or use it to make donut holes.
- Once the oil is hot, fry 4 dough pieces at a time for about 3 minutes or until they are light golden brown on both sides.
- Remove from the oil and drain on a cooling rack placed on top of a baking sheet.
- Repeat the process until all of the donuts have been fried.
- To make the ganache, heat the heavy cream in the microwave for 30 seconds and see if it is hot, but not boiling. If it’s not ready, return to the microwave for 10 seconds at a time, checking between each time.
- Break the chocolate into a bowl and pour the heavy cream over it. Stir and let it sit for 4-5 minutes before stirring until it reaches a smooth consistency.
- Add the butter, pinch of salt and espresso and stir once again.
- Once the donuts have cooled enough to handle, dip them in the ganache and let them drip off a bit before returning them to the cookie rack or plate.
- Add your toppings at this point and let them cool for 2-3 minutes before serving.
- These donuts are best enjoyed fresh.
Notes
Instead of frying the dough, can I bake it?
Hi! Sorry, as of now I have only tried frying it so I can’t say for sure how to bake it. If I end up testing it out, I will add a note to the recipe and let you know 🙂