Mexican chocolate donuts

These doughnuts - donas de chocolate Mexicano - are made using a special filled pancake pan, but you can also make them as regular pancakes, and serve the filling as a topping.

Fill these donas de chocolate Mexicano with dulce de leche, jam or chocolate spread. Credit: Pati's Mexican Table

• makes

  12

• prep

  5 minutes

• cook

  15 minutes

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

• 240 ml milk
• 175 g Mexican chocolate bars cut into large chunks (see Note)
• 175 g (scant 1 ¼  cups) plain flour
• 1½ tbs sugar
  
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• pinch kosher or coarse sea salt
• 2 tbsp + 1 tsp unsalted butter, melted,  plus extra for greasing the pan
• 1 large egg
• dulce de leche or cajeta, chocolate and hazelnut spread, jams or preserves, for fillings
• icing' sugar, optional for dusting)

These are made with an Ebleskiver filled pancake pan.

Instructions

In a medium saucepan, heat milk over medium-low heat. Add chocolate chunks and stir occasionally until it has dissolved, a few minutes. Remove from heat and using a molinillo or whisk, emulsify or foam as much as you can. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, combine the flour with the sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the melted butter to the dry ingredients as well as the beaten egg and start to mix with a spatula. Slowly, pour the Mexican chocolate milk, mixing fast so the egg will not cook if the milk is still hot. Continue to combine until you get an even and homogeneous batter, just a minute or so. You should have a shiny and a bit runny batter. Taste it: it’s so good! Let it sit for a few minutes, it will fluff up a bit, which is what you want.

Meanwhile, heat your special pan (if using a skillet, see Note) over low to medium-low heat until very hot, about 4 or 5 minutes. Butter the pan and spoon batter into each hole, about ¾ of the way up each cup. Once you can move the balloons around (like when pancakes are ready to flip), but the batter in the center can still be runny, you can add a half a teaspoon of a filling of your choice. Cover with a bit more batter to fill the cups just a tad beyond the rim. Using two spoons or two wooden skewers, flip the donuts to the other side. Give them a minute or two and remove from the pan. Dust with confectioners' sugar, if desired, (I always do!) and eat while hot.

Note

• Mexican chocolate is a grainer style of chocolate, usually flavoured with almonds and cinnamon. Mexican chocolate bars are available in Australia from specialist shops and on-line retailers. Read more about this chocolate on Pati’s website here. You can substitute 175g of semi-sweet chocolate plus 1 tsp of cinnamon in this recipe.  

• If making normal pancakes, heat the skillet over medium-low heat until very hot. Grease with unsalted butter and ladle small amounts of batter into the pan. Flip once the top shows bubbles and the bottom is cooked enough to be released from the pan. Cook on the other side for a minute or two and serve. Add the dulce de leche, jam, etc as topping instead of as a filling.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.