Chocolate Frosted Doughnuts
Doughnuts are usually one of those ‘calorie bombs’ that people trying to lose weight are encouraged to choose sparingly, if at all. Not surprising, I suppose, since they’re basically deep fried cake coated in frosting. Buying a doughnut pan last year totally changed my perspective on incorporating doughnuts into my diet. Baked doughnuts are delicious! So far I’ve made Peanut Butter & Jelly doughnuts, Lemon Poppyseed doughnuts, Strawberry doughnuts and Spice doughnuts, but I realized recently I’ve been totally neglecting chocolate doughnuts! I decided that situation needed to be remedied STAT, so here you go: a chocolate doughnut dipped in chocolate and finished off with a fun dose of sprinkles. These baked doughnuts are lighter and fluffier than their deep fried counterparts, but they are a great way to satisfy a chocolate craving. The doughnut part is good, but the melted chocolate chip frosting is what makes these great, at least for me. Now you can have your doughnuts and eat them too! To view your WW PersonalPoints for this recipe and track it in the WW app or site, click here!
Chocolate Frosted Doughnuts
Ingredients
Doughnut Ingredients:
- ½ cup white whole wheat flour
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup skim milk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 1 ½ teaspoons canola oil
- 2 tablespoon unsweetened applesauce
Frosting Ingredients:
- ¼ cup chocolate chips
- ½ teaspoon canola oil
- 1 ½ teaspoons agave nectar or corn syrup
- 1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon rainbow sprinkles
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450. Lightly mist a doughnut pan with cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder and salt until combined. Add the egg, milk, vanilla, oil and applesauce and stir until thoroughly mixed.
- Using a spoon or piping bag, evenly distribute the batter mixture into the spaces in the doughnut pan. Bake for 7-8 minutes or until a toothpick stuck in comes out clean. Cool completely.
- Place chocolate chips in a bowl and drizzle the oil and agave nectar over the top. Microwave in 20 second intervals until chocolate is just melted (do not overcook). Add vanilla and stir until smooth. Quickly (before the chocolate sets) dip the top side of each doughnut into the melted chocolate and use a spoon to spread if necessary. Before the chocolate sets on the doughnuts, top each one with a half teaspoon of rainbow sprinkles.
Notes
4 per doughnut (P+ calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com) adapted from Prevention RD
Yummy! Can’t wait to try these.
Hope you like them!
Now I wish I had a doughnut pan…
I got mine for about $10 on Amazon!
Making these on wed!!!!
These look so good! I just got a doughnut pan a couple of months ago and have been looking for some WW friendly recipes. Can’t wait to try them!!
Hope you like them! I have a few doughnut recipes on here. I think the lemon poppyseed are my favorite.
I don’t have a donut pan but I do have a pan that has six hearts in it. Would that work? I want to test it out before I buy one.
I have no idea, but feel free to try it out!
Thanks. I’m just trying not to buy any new kitchen stuff right now.
The heart pan worked perfectly! I made them tonight to have for a Valentine’s day breakfast.
These look luscious. I bought a donut pan a few years ago and only used it once to make whole wheat donuts. They were good so I can’t explain why I haven’t done it more. Thanks for the reminder.
I hadn’t made a doughnut recipe in a while either, Martha. Time to bust out the ol’ doughnut pan!
these look so good! I’m going to have to get a doughnut pan!
Do it! I love mine 🙂
OMgoodness, are you kidding me? I can eat a chocolate donut & still stay within my pts, WOW! I love your blog. I rememer the first dish I tried was the bubble up enchilada & from there I’ve tried so many others. I havent had one bad recipe, even when I adapted them to my preference, lol! Now I have to get a donut pan because I LOVE chocolate & I want to make this donut. Thanks for sharing
Thanks! I’m so glad you’ve been loving the recipes. I’ve definitely never regretted buying my doughnut pan!
These look good enough for Krispy Kreme!
Aw, thanks Lisa!
Just found your blog and I’m so happy I did!!! I’m on WW, about 9 pounds from goal, and your recipes look delicious!!
Thanks, Wilma! Congrats on all your WW success so far!
These are in the oven as we speak! Passing on the frosting though, as I have no chocolate chips, but I did add a pinch of ground coffee and a little cinnamon!
The frosting is the best part! Hope you like them anyway. 🙂
I have been lurking for awhile, but when I saw these, I had to try them. I ventured out this morning for a doughnut pan, and on my way, lost control of my car for a few seconds as I skidded on black ice. Heart racing, adrenaline pumping, I continued on. Then, the road was closed off. But, since these doughnuts were calling my name, I found an alternate route!
Several hours later, I just savored my delicious chocolate doughnut. It was worth it!
Thanks for the recipe. It’s a keeper!
Oh my goodness! I’m so glad you’re okay! I would feel so bad if you were critically injured in a quest to make one of my recipes, lol. Black ice is the WORST.
I’m so glad you made it and that the doughnuts were worth the crazy trip!
Just went out to the store and got my donut pans so now it’s time to make the donuts. Hope they taste as good as they look.
Hope you liked them!
They were delicious. I had a rough time putting the chocolate on because it hardened too fast. Any suggestions? I am going to try the peanut butter and jelly ones tomorrow.
The most likely problem is that you might have overcooked the chocolate. The oil is in there to help keep it smooth but it’s super easy to overcook chocolate chips and then it’s pretty hard to get them smooth again. If that happens you can always try mixing in a touch more oil.
I hope you love the PB&J doughnuts!
A doughnut that is not bad for you….heck yeah!!! My kids LOVE you for this recipe Emily!! 🙂
Thanks, Amee! Glad they love the doughnuts!
Made these tonight with two variations on the frosting (because I tried to use what I already had in the cupboard). I topped three of them the frosting recipe above using white chocolate chips and topped that with sweetened coconut flakes. Yum! The other three I just dipped into melted chocolate chips without the oil and syrup and added chocolate sprinkles. I think those were for the chocolate lover! Very good chocolate donut recipe. Thank you for sharing.
Happy to hear these were a success! I love coconut – yummy addition! 🙂
These were so good! Do you have a recipe for just plain doughnuts? btw, love your blog!!!
Thanks! I have a recipe for Baked Spice Doughnuts, which are the closest I have to “plain”: http://emilybites.com/2011/03/baked-spice-doughnuts.html
Just found your site and I LOVE it! So many good looking things to try. I have been on Weight Watchers for a month now so any new recipes are AWESOME. I have to say doughnuts are my weakness so I am SO excited to try these. I have a mini muffin pan…do you think I can use that instead of the regular size? And how do you think that would effect the WW point value? By half maybe?? Not sure? I should invest in a normal size pan, but hoping I can use what I have now. 😉 Take Care
Jaime 🙂
Thanks, Jaime, glad you’re excited about my blog! I have never made these in a mini muffin pan, so I really have no idea how many the recipe would make or what the P+ value would be. I guess you could just see how many it makes and then run it through the recipe builder to figure it out. Hope they turn out great! 🙂
He he..I went out and bought a regular size doughnut pan..woo Hoo. Now to make them! Thank you. 😉
Jaime 🙂
Yay, I hope you love them! 🙂
I just insisted this recipe. The donuts were fine . As usual, I had trouble with the chocolate. It seized up before I could dip one donut. I tried it three times. The last time I put it in the microwave for 15 seconds. I’ m sure it’s operator error because I have trouble with chocolate often. Do you have any ideas for next time? I ended up just spreading it on…but it looks rough and not as pretty as yours! 🙂
Oops! Meant I just finished this recipe! Darn iPad. 🙂
Any substitute for the wheat flour? Thanks.
Wow! I just found your blow yesterday and went to the grocery store today so I could try out some recipes. All I have to say is you are a life savor. I have been on Weight Watchers for about 4 months now, and I am about 10 pounds away from my goal, and this last month has been difficult because I think I got burnt out. I kind of strayed from the plan a little bit on vacations and what not, but I am back on, and after finding your blow, I am more excited than ever. I made your tostadas for dinner (they were delicious and so easy) and then made these doughnuts for a fun dessert, and they were sooooo good. I am so happy to have a doughnut and not feel guilty about it. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
Oops, that was supposed to say “I just found your *blog* yesterday”
-Melissa
Emily, I just want to say thank you so much for what you do. My family started working with a nutritionist this year, and we came across your blog and my nutritionist loves your ideas! So far this year, using mostly YOUR recipes, my family of 5 has lost a combined total of 170 pounds! You helped us see that healthy food does not have to suck! We eat better now than we ever have and people can’t believe the things that we can have, thanks to you.
That being said, I made these donuts for the first time today. I followed it and it was great. I did try 1 thing different. On one of the donuts, instead of your icing, I mixed up some chocolate peanut butter (PB2). that was even more awesome 🙂
Thanks again for everything you do. It is more appreciated than you will ever know.
O
My doghnuts turned out great but asfter 20 seconds in the microwave and mixing it within 10 seconds my frosting clumped together. any suggestions on how to fix this?
Could you sub the white whole wheat for whole wheat pastry flour? Or would it give them a totally different consistency?
I just made these tonight – AMAZING!!! Thanks!
Just found your blog, you have saved my life lol…I’m a baking addict who is trying to do weight watchers and it’s tough when I’m used to a cookie, cupcake or brownie treat every day! Tomorrow I am getting the ingredients I need and making these donuts…I have pinned a bunch of your yummy looking recipes and I thank you so much for them!
I bought the donut pan specifically for your recipes Saturday and finally got around to making these last night. As soon as they were cool I popped them into the freezer in single serve baggies and just ate my first one! Minus the icing because I didn’t have time. They were SO GOOD!!! So far, I’ve loved every recipe I’ve tried! Thanks for doing all the research, trials, etc. to give us great WW recipes!
Your doughnut recipes look great. I was wondering if you have a Pumpkin version.
I know I’m late to the party here, but I love your recipes! Earlier this evening my husband was bemoaning the fact that we live approximately 350 miles from the nearest Dunkin Donuts. Luckily, I remembered this recipe and was able to make plates of fresh, hot, chocolate glazed donuts for he and his study group this evening. Even though I used a powdered sugar/vanilla glaze instead of the chocolate chip one you used (I didn’t have chocolate chips!) they were a HUGE hit. Thank you!
I love a snack that I can have ready to go in the oven before it’s preheated! These were such a nice treat, even though I skipped the frosting. I’m sure my son will enjoy some for breakfast, if there are any left in the morning!
Made these today and my son (12 years) and I loved them. I didn’t have a donut pan so I used my old cake pop pan and it turned out with amazing donut bites. Will be making these again thank you for sharing
I like chocolate doughnuts!