These Bronuts are made from brownie batter from scratch and turned in to donuts. They’re the ultimate chocolatey, thick, fudgy stick-to-the-roof-of-your-mouth kind of sweet treat. Brownie recipes have just gotten an upgrade.
Brownie donuts are all the rage. They aren’t just “chocolate donuts,” no way! Think of the richest brownies you’ve had (like these brownies with cream cheese frosting) that aren’t at all cake-like. That’s these times three. Deep, dark brownie doughnuts filled with chocolate chips and topped with chocolate glaze – yum!
Speaking of brownies, you don’t have to worry about messing with a mold if you don’t want to – just grab a Cast Iron Skillet and pour that batter in.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Best for chocaholics: Grab your favorite bittersweet bar and creamy milk chocolate chips for the best contrast.
- Make-ahead recipe: Did you know these brownie donuts taste even better the next day? So they’re a breakfast recipe that you can make the night before and then simply wake up and enjoy.
- Fun party options: Select sprinkles that fit your holiday to create a beautiful dessert spread, and they’re perfect for all of your parties.
Ingredients Needed
I’ve highlighted a couple of ingredients below with some relevant notes. Aside from this, the ingredients needed are pretty basic.
- Butter – We use unsalted for this recipe but you can use salted if you prefer. Just remember that you may want to reduce the amount of salt the recipe calls for if using salted butter.
- Bittersweet Chocolate – Select your favorite high-quality brand of bittersweet chocolate as the perfect base for these brownie donuts.
- Chocolate Chips – I love to use milk or semisweet as a contrast to the deep, dark batter.
- Eggs – You might be shocked to see we need four eggs. But that’s the secret to fudgy brownies: a high ratio of eggs to flour and cocoa.
- Sugar – Combining both brown and white sugars is what gives a really deep flavor experience.
Substitutions
Sometimes substitutions are necessary because of ingredients that are unavailable or needed for dietary restrictions. Here are some suggestions that can help:
- Chocolate chips – got a favorite milk chocolate bar? Go ahead and chop it up instead of already-formed chips
- Butter – salted or unsalted are both fine. I know some bakers swear by only using unsalted, but if your store only had salted on sale, it’s totally fine.
Variations
OK, I know not everyone loves chocolate as much as I do. You can absolutely cut back on the chocolate!
- Frosting – skip the cocoa powder in the frosting ingredients and use only powdered sugar to make a sweet vanilla frosting.
- Sprinkles – use mini chocolate chips in place of sprinkles, pick different colored jimmies, or even leave them off completely.
- Chocolate Chips – try white chocolate for a fun contrast when the doughnuts are bit into.
Equipment
A donut pan is something not everyone has – but it sure does make it easy! This is a two-pack and the recipe does make at least 12 donuts, but you definitely don’t need to buy two. If you have just one pan that makes 6 donuts, the batter is fine resting while the first pan cooks and cools.
How to Make Bronuts
These Brownie Donuts are made in 2 quick parts:
- mix batter and bake
- ice and sprinkle
I recommend baking all the donuts first, whether that’s in one or two rounds in the oven, then let them all cool completely before icing. Much like baking a cake, the donuts need to be cool so the icing doesn’t melt right off.
*Be sure to see the recipe card below for the full ingredients list & instructions!*
Preheat the oven and get out a saucepan.
STEP 1. Melt the butter. Add bittersweet chocolate and butter to the saucepan and get things going! (Images 1 and 2).
STEP 2. Beat the eggs. Whisk the eggs and sugars together in a bowl (Image 3). It should froth and increase in volume (Image 4).
STEP 3. Add the melted butter and chocolate to the egg mixture and fold together (Image 5) then stir in the vanilla and oil (Image 6).
Tip: Do NOT overmix! Stirring too much will activate the gluten in the flour and make your brownie donuts more cake-like. Fold in the flour until you no longer see any streaks of flour. Likewise, only just fold the chocolate chips to incorporate.
STEP 4. Add flour, cocoa, and salt (Image 7). Stir just until all streaks of white are gone (Image 8).
STEP 5. Gently mix in chocolate chips (Image 9).
STEP 6. Spray the mold with cooking spray and use a piping bag to fill the molds (Images 10 and 11). Bake until a toothpick tester is still slightly wet.
Tip: Don’t overbake – just like a pan of brownies, these will likely still seem underbaked when you remove them from the oven. That is key to keep the fudgy interior. Your cake tester will still have some wet batter on it and that’s ok!
STEP 7. Once the donuts are cool, add icing ingredients to a bowl (Image 12) then whisk until smooth (Image 13).
STEP 8. Have cooled donuts ready on a cooling rack (Image 14), and carefully dip the top of each donut into the bowl of icing (Image 15).
Tip: If adding sprinkles, be sure and do that before the icing has fully set so they are glued on.
Recipe Pro Tips
- High quality ingredients. Since these are so chocolatey, you definitely want to start with the best chocolate you can. Pick something you’d enjoy eating on its own.
- Correct technique. Don’t be tempted to overmix the brownie batter, we want these brownies to taste thick and fudgy but not cakey.
Recipe FAQs
This may be a new word to you, but a bronut is a combination of a brownie and a donut. The best, super fudgy brownie batter baked into the shape of a donut! This is a similar concept to cronuts – croissant donuts!
Not sure you want to invest in a donut pan? You can make your own donut mold but it can be a bit finicky. Start with a square of foil and gather the center up to make a “point” for the hole in a donut and then gather up the edges to make walls. You can either shape it by hand or wrap it around a biscuit cutter to get the right shape (but don’t bake your cutter!).
Cake donuts are usually baked, just like cake. The raising agents (egg here, or baking powder/soda in other baked goods) have a chemical reaction in the oven to gain the right texture. On the other hand, yeast donuts will be fried to get the quick raising action of super fluffy bread dough!
Bronuts should be stored in an airtight container at room temperature where they will keep for at least 4 days. The flavor is even better the next day!
What to Serve with Bronuts
This bronut recipe goes well with fruit if you want to feel virtuous and sneak them for breakfast. As a dessert recipe, they obviously stand alone but you could go all out and whip up some Cookies and Cream Milkshakes to make it a real party!
More Donut Recipes You’ll Love
Did you make this? I’d be so grateful if you left a “star” rating below to let me know what you thought! Then, the next time you need a quick and easy recipe, come back to Fantabulosity to browse all of my easy recipes!
Recipe
Bronuts
Equipment
- Piping Bags
- donut pans
- Cooking Spray
Ingredients
- 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped or 1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
- ¾ cup unsalted butter cut into small pieces
- 4 eggs
- ¾ cup light brown soft sugar
- ½ cup granulated white sugar
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup all purpose flour
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup semi sweet or milk chocolate chips
For topping
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 6 tablespoons cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 6 tablespoons whole milk
- 2 tablespoons sprinkles
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F.
- Put the chopped chocolate and butter into a saucepan set over a low heat. Heat until fully melted then set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the eggs brown sugar and white sugar. Beat for a couple of minutes until the mixture looks thick and frothy and has increased in volume by about half.
- Pour the melted chocolate mixture into the beaten egg mixture. Use a spatula or wooden spoon to fold the ingredients together until it’s a uniform color.
- Add the vegetable oil and vanilla extract and briefly mix until combined.
- Tip in the flour, cocoa powder and salt.
- Fold the ingredients very gently. Stop mixing when you can no longer see white streaks of flour.
- Tip in the chocolate chips and mix gently to combine.
- Put the donut moulds onto a baking sheet and spray them with cake release.
- Transfer the brownie batter to a piping bag. Snip the end off with a pair of scissors then pipe the brownie batter into the molds until they are almost full. You might have some brownie batter left over (see notes).
- Put the baking sheet into the oven and bake for 15 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and leave the moulds to cool to room temperature on a cooling rack.
- Once cool, pop the Brownie Donuts out of the molds.
- To make the glaze, put the powdered sugar and cocoa powder into a mixing bowl and use a handheld whisk to combine.
- Add the vanilla extract and 6 tablespoons of milk and mix thoroughly.
- Check the consistency – you may need to add additional milk by the tablespoon to thin it out.
- It should look the consistency of thick melted chocolate.
- Dip the donuts into the glaze giving them a little shake as you pull them out of the bowl. If desired, add sprinkles right away before the glaze sets.
Notes
- As this recipe is completely chocolate centric we recommend only using the highest quality chocolate you can afford. It will make the world of difference to the overall brownie flavor. Use high quality bittersweet baking chips OR 2 4 ounce bars of bittersweet chocolate – the good stuff!
- Don’t be tempted to overmix the brownie batter, we want these brownies to taste thick and fudgy but not cakey.
- If you have any batter left over after filling the molds just leave it in the piping bag and wait until the other brownie donuts are done cooking and the moulds have cooled. It will be fine in the bag while you wait.
- Likewise, don’t over bake them. The brownies will bake up quicker in the donut molds than if you used a pan. 15 minutes should be plenty. You can check for doneness with a toothpick which should come out with some wet crumbs stuck to it.
- As the Brownie Donuts cool they will continue to set and will become more fudgy with time.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
Sharina says
I can’t get enough of these beautiful and festive bronuts! Let my kids help me in making them and we totally enjoyed it! They turned out to be decadent and fun to eat.
April says
I’m such a sucker for a good donut, and these were incredible, I couldn’t stop eating them!
Caroline Y says
WHOA!! These are beyond amazing. I surprised my kids with these and they went crazy for them!