peanut butter cup donuts
August 30, 2011 Yes, technically I have already made peanut butter donuts.
Remember? They were covered with toasted marshmallows?
Well, the reasoning behind this is because Chris doesn’t like dessert too much. Insane, I know. Occasionally he’s in the mood for a cookie or ice cream, but not often.
One sweet treat, he has always loved though, are peanut butter cups. He has also really been enjoying the donuts when I make them. So why not make a peanut butter cup donut?
I knew he would enjoy this much more than cake. This whole donut craze has really gotten the best of me, if you couldn’t tell. Maybe it’s because they are insanely delicious? Maybe because the flour combination I threw together, makes the perfect cakey-donut texture? Maybe because they are fun to eat? Maybe because they are prepped + baked in no time and take 1/8th of the time to decorate than cake or cupcakes?
Maybe it’s all of those reasons combined!
I took my peanut butter cake donut recipe + kept it pretty much the same, besides adding a pinch of cinnamon to the mix. For the topping, I wanted a chocolate coating that would give you a nice crunch, like biting into a peanut butter cup.
Peanut butter was mixed in with the dark chocolate.
Then, the donuts were sprinkled + refrigerated, so the coating would set and give it that nice crunch.
Want an extra pnut-buttery donut?
Just add peanut butter chips, or sprinkle the chocolate coating with chopped peanuts.
Have a nut allergy? Or want to send these to school with your kiddos, but can’t send food with nuts? Just swap out the peanut butter for sunflower butter! Should work like a charm. :)
How fun are the sprinkles? I just can’t get over it!
Peanut Butter Cup Donuts [yields 6 donuts]
- 1/2c oat flour [ground from rolled oats/steel cut/oat groats]
- 1/2c sweet rice flour
- 2T coconut flour
- 1/4c creamy peanut butter, melted
- 1/3c sucanat [or pure cane sugar]
- 2 large eggs
- 2T unsweetened applesauce
- 1/2c unsweetened almond milk
- 2t vanilla
- 1/2t salt
- 1t baking powder
- 1/8t cinnamon
- 1/3c peanut butter chips [opt]
- Preheat your oven to 350* [I use 375* for high elevation] + grease your donut pan.
- In a medium sized bowl mix together the oat flour, sweet rice flour, coconut flour, sucanat, salt + baking powder.
- In a small bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, vanilla + applesauce.
- Whisk in the melted peanut butter.
- Stir wet into dry, until combined. Do not over stir. It will look slightly lumpy.
- Stir in peanut butter chips, if using.
- With a spoon, spatula or piping bag, transfer the batter to your pan, leaving a little room at the top.
- Bake for 16-20min.
- Test with a toothpick for doneness. You want a slightly moist toothpick. Not gooey but not bone dry.
- Let them cool in the pan for 2-3min then turn out onto a cooling rack.
- Frost when cooled.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Coating [for 6 donuts]
- 1c dark chocolate chips
- 2T creamy peanut butter
- Melt together in a double boiler or slowly in the microwave. *If using the microwave, heat for increments of 20sec, stirring in between.
- Pour into a small bowl and stir to combine + let cool a bit and thicken. You can stick in the freezer for a few minutes to help it cool off + thicken. Just don’t forget about it. ;)
- Dip the donut in using your hands, and let the chocolate drip off a bit.
- Place on a cooling wrack or pan and put them in the fridge to set.
- Take out 15min prior to eating.
*Use a small bowl for dipping. The higher the chocolate is in the bowl, the easier it will be to dip!
*Store donuts, covered in the fridge to keep fresh. They won’t dry out + will still have their cake-like texture.
Before placing them in the fridge, I got a little photo happy. They were just too cute.
Yes these are gluten free. Typically, you may not want to make a gluten free recipe if you don’t have to.
But I assure you, it’s worth it with these.
Even if I was able to make them with gluten-filled flour, I wouldn’t.
The above flour combination is magical. Just try it + see!
Many of you have asked about fall-themed donuts.
You better believe those are on my list! Just waiting until it feels a little more like fall over here.
Pumpkin spice?
Apple crumb?
Any other fall donuts you’d like to see?
And don’t forget, not a problem if you don’t have a donut pan. You can bake these in muffin tins! Not quite as cute, but still delicious. [fyi-They’ll take a few extra minutes to bake.]
The birthday boy was quite pleased with his mountain of peanut butter donuts and the party guests weren’t complaining either!
Time for leftovers!
Ashley
Family + Friends, Recipes, donuts in chocolate 
Reader Comments (110)
Something with maple and brown sugar. Those two combined scream fall to me.
Lucky, lucky birthday boy. I need to come visit you on my birthday. :-) Mountains of peanut butter donuts are never a bad thing.
All of the above on the Fall doughnut choices!!
I really want a doughnut now. And nothing but that peanut butter cup one will satisfy.
OMG - These look SOO delicious! Lucky birthday boy! :)
I second the maple & brown sugar! Plus an apple cider/cinnamon kind :)
I've never been a huge donut fan but the ones you make are too freakin cute!
There will always be time for the fall-themed donuts.
"You better believe those are on my list! Just waiting until it feels a little more like fall over here. "--
GOOD CALL!
I'd personally ALWAYS take PB + Choc over pumpkin ANY DAY!!
These look amazing!
Looks heavenly!!
Maple Walnut? Pecan pie? Those would be amazing!
how cute I just made chocolate donuts with pb frosting today yum o!
Oh jeeze now I'm starving. Have you seen any good raised donut recipes out there? Or do they need to be fried to raise?
Yummy!! Love the sprinkles touch!
alright. thats IT! just bought the donut pan on amazon (literally..it just processed haha), and you better believe i'll be writing down all of these recipes :)
Can you stoppp?! But not really. I wish you could send me a sample pack of all of these delicious donut concoctions!
i would love you forever if you came up with a honey-sweetened GF apple donut! i can't eat gluten OR sugar but i crave an apple donut every fall without fail. it's been 5 years since i've had one. time to change that, i think!
Can I make these with brown rice flour? Or is it worth a trip to the store for sweet rice flour?
Brown rice should be fine, as far as I can tell from googling about it!
Oooh, tough one. I'll have to work on that, since honey will make the texture totally different. Good challenge!
I wish I could too!
Hahaa, awesome!
Are you talking about yeast donuts? I think I've seem some that are baked after rising...but I can't remember exactly. Sorry! Maybe try googling "yeast baked doughnuts" ?
Ahhhh yummmm
Oh man, I'm totally looking forward to the pumpkin doughnuts...I'm a pumpkin freak!
I honestly never used to be either, until I started making them myself!
Definitely making the apple cider/cinnamon!
Yummm. A brown sugar doughnut with a maple glaze?
GINGERBREAD! :)
Christmas! :)
Just stop it! I can't afford a donut pan right now...but this has me believing I NEED one as badly as I need gasoline for my car. Can I even move forward in life without these?? Lol. Seriously, though, these are insane! Would love to make them someday!
Yes Please. That was EXACTLY what I was going to ask for.
I have white rice flour and no coconut flour? Is it ok to substitute the oat flour or rice flour for the coconut flour?
Oh crap. I am going to have to go make these. ASAP. Those pics sparked a serious craving
persimmons for fall!
Oh man these are perfect for me! Except I don't have rice or coconut flour and don't really want to buy it for only 2 tbsp :/. I can't sub out whole wheat pastry flour for the two other flours right?
My husband doesn't crave sweet things too often either, but I actually think it is a good thing because otherwise I would be tempted to bake more!
The sweet rice flour comes in pretty small boxes [the EnerG brand] and are about $3 at WF, but coconut flour is kind of pricey, so I understand. We have a natural food store that has great deals on bulk flours, which is the only reason I have the coconut flour. Actually, the other day, I messed up and added white flour instead of coconut flour b/c they look so similar. It seemed to make the batter much runnier and I ended up adding a few more Tbl of oat flour. They turned out great! I think you can just sub out the coconut flour for 2T more rice flour as well. I'm not sure you could sub 1/2c whole wheat for the 1/2c rice flour. Let me know if you experiment! Also, mama pea has a few donut recipes using wheat/white flours!
White rice flour should work fine, from what I've found through googling. And I think the rice flour is a closer texture to the coconut flour for a substitute. Let me know how it works!
You can make them in a muffin pan!!! Just bake them a little longer. :)
My muffin tins are seriously calling my name! Jacobs favorite are the pb chocolate cups too. You are a genius Ashley!
These look so good! And I'm always looking for new ways to use my coconut flour!
Oh. My goodness!!! I love the addition of coconut flour in them. That would give them such a soft, slightly sweet flavor!
These always look SO good. Are they pretty moist (ugh, I hate that word)?
This isn't a fall flavor, and previous commenters mentioned some good ones, but my favorite cake doughnut when I was little was cherry cake. They were pretty, girly, and yum!
Oh my dear lord these donuts look so amazing! I don't think I've ever come across a yummier flavoured donut!
Yikes, these look delicious! I need to bust out the ol' donut pan that Mama Pea sent me and whip up a batch of these babies. Not sure this is fall-themed, but a peach cobbler donut would make my day. I have tons of farmers market peaches :) xo
I would pay you some money to ship me these...
Love that last photo!
you have won me over...with all the donut pics and receipes...I must go out and buy a donut pan to start working my magic in the kitchen..OH, my little one will be head over heels when we make home made donuts with sprinkles...
Thank you for at least waiting until August is over before we start focusing on fall recipes! We must hang on to summer for as long as we can. (But maple *anything* has to be good!)
My husband isn't a big sweets fan either, but he too likes peanut butter cups. I am SO making these for him. He just happens to have a birthday in 18 days too. Perfect!
yuuuum! ain't nuthin wrong with that!
Ahhh, that is perfect!! :) Believe me, I'm holding onto summer over here!! Although, it's been cooling off at night for the past few weeks, which has been amazing. :)
Haha!! Apparently I need to start a donut + nut butter business!