The Best Chocolate Baked Doughnuts

Preheat oven to 375°F. Generously spray a doughnut pan with cooking spray, set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, brown sugar, cocoa powder, sugar, espresso powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Make a well in center of flour mixture, set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine egg, milk, melted butter, and vanilla. Add wet ingredients to flour mixture, stirring until smooth.(Some folding may be required to incorporate all the flour mixture.) Stir in chocolate chips.

Spoon batter into pans, filling cavities about ¾ full (please see note below). Bake for 8–12 minutes, until tops spring back when lightly touched or toothpick comes out with moist crumbs attached when inserted. Remove from oven and let cool in pan for 5 minutes.

Invert doughnuts onto a cooling rack and let cool almost completely before glazing. During this time you can go ahead and re-spray pan and bake more doughnuts.

For the glaze:
In a medium bowl, combine powdered sugar, corn syrup, and vanilla. Add milk, whisking to combine (start with ¼ cup and add a little more if glaze is too thick).

Place wax or parchment paper under rack/s with doughnuts. Spread glaze generously over doughnut tops, or dip if making mini doughnuts (if desired, top with sprinkles). Let stand a few minutes to allow glaze to set before serving.

Make 15 doughnuts.

Notes:
1. For mini doughnuts, I would recommend halving the recipe, unless you need more than 36 doughnuts (the recipe as is would yield about 70 or more).
2. For a mini doughnut pan, fill cavities ½ full instead of ¾. Bake for 6–8 minutes.
3. These doughnuts are pretty versatile topping-wise. I haven’t tried any of these options personally, but I think some glazes/toppings that would be fun to play around with include:
a. For a fall theme, try a pumpkin or maple glaze.
b. For Christmas, maybe a chocolate peppermint glaze with crushed peppermints on top?
c. A ganache topping would be tasty!
d. A plain powdered sugar coating would be fun as well.