Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
Taste: Sweet and chocolaty, a perfect indulgence!
Texture: The doughnuts are perfectly moist and fudgy yet soft, the icing is ridiculously thick, and the Oreos on top add a wonderful crunch.
Appearance: Eee soooo adorable!
Ease: Much easier than making a yeast dough and deep frying it! I love baked doughnuts because they take less than an hour to make.
Pros: Fun and tasty twist on the doughnut, plus they’re simple to make.
Cons: None, really.
Would I make this again? Of course! Though there are many more doughnut variations I want to make.
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I dare you to make these Cookies and Cream Chocolate Doughnuts without anyone in the house noticing. Just the sight of these over-the-top doughnuts is bound to get your mouth watering. If you do manage to whip up a batch of these doughnuts (they take less than an hour!) be sure to enjoy one on the couch while watching some trash TV with a glass of cold milk nearby. It’s really the only way they can truly be savored. You’re going to love this recipe because not only are the doughnuts baked instead of fried, seriously cutting down on your time in the kitchen and on the indulgence factor, but they just taste like heaven mixed in with a sprinkle of childhood memories. I mean, who didn’t love Oreos growing up? I used my beloved Wilton doughnut pans to bake these. They’re super cheap on Amazon but you can also find them at stores like Michael’s and Sur la Table if you don’t already have them.
If you make this Cookies and Cream Chocolate Doughnuts recipe, be sure to take a picture and tag it #handletheheat on Instagram. I LOVE seeing your photos!
Cookies and Cream Chocolate Doughnuts
Ingredients
For the doughnuts:
- 2/3 cup (2.3 ounces or 65 grams) cocoa powder, preferably Dutch-process
- 1 3/4 cups (7.88 ounces or 223 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons white vinegar
- 1 stick (4 ounces) butter, melted
For the icing:
- 2 cups (8.8 ounces or 250 grams) powdered sugar, sifted
- 4 tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 8 Oreo cookies, crushed
Instructions
Make the doughnuts:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly greasy two standard 6-cavity doughnut pans. In a large bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a medium bowl whisk together the eggs, milk, vanilla, and vinegar. Add to the dry ingredients with the melted butter and stir until combined. Scoop the batter into a zip-top plastic bag or piping bag, cut a hole in one corner, and pipe the batter into the doughnut molds, filling about 3/4 full. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool in pans for 2 minutes before flipping the pans upside down over a rack to remove the doughnuts.
Make the icing:
- Whisk together the sugar, milk, and vanilla until smooth and combined. The mixture will be very thick. Dip the tops of the doughnuts in the icing or use a spoon to spread a thick layer. Sprinkle with crushed Oreo cookies before letting set for about 20 minutes, or until the icing is slightly hardened. Serve or store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days. You may microwave the doughnuts for 15 seconds before serving to refresh.
i have made these before and they turned out great! do you think same recipe could be used for mini cupcakes? i enjoyed the taste and would be great not to have to hunt for something different haha
Hi Eden! So glad to hear that you enjoyed these doughnuts! This recipe might make mini cupcakes that are a little heavier than regular cupcakes, but it might work just fine – we haven’t tried baking these that way, so we can’t say for sure. Alternatively, you could use Tessa’s Best Chocolate Cupcake recipe, and just use this doughnut icing recipe to top the mini cupcakes. Let us know how it goes if you give this a try 🙂
I chose to make this recipe for a family bake-off. It was so easy to make and tasted really well. The best part of making this recipe was the Oreos. Hope I win the back-off!!
These are AMAZING. I have made them 3x now. Perfect. I sub flax meal for eggs because of egg allergy and still the bimb
Can you use a silicone doughnut mould instead of the steel pan? Would there be any kind of differences?
These turned out AMAZING. My little dude has an egg allergy so I subbed 2 Flax eggs and they held together perfectly. I was worried about how thick the batter was but they were perfect.
I made this for a College and career retreat and they loved them!! Will be making over and over again. I wish I could post pics they look this good as they tasted!
Only thing is that regular fried donuts take literally TWO MINUTES to fry and two minutes to either glaze or dip in icing. It doesn’t take 20 minutes for one batch. I was trying to find new ideas for the donut shop but this would take too long.
Tessa,
Would you recommend using sweetened or unsweetened cocoa powder?
I am SO excited to try this recipe out! I just bought a doughnut pan and have been exploring the endless possibilities of making these little guys! So many options! Thanks so much for the post! 🙂