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Your February needs these Easy Chocolate Heart Doughnuts.
Valentine’s Day or not, your month needs these easy and fun doughnuts. For one (and most importantly), this is a month of celebration. As a lot of you have already seen, my brother Red won his first Olympic Gold medal in South Korea this past Sunday. I have never been so happy for someone in my entire life. I have said this time and time again, but that kid is truly one of my favorite people, and I could not be happier for him. Watching him compete and take Gold in his final run will be a moment I will never, ever forget. I just cannot express how happy and proud I am. Red is currently on a media whirlwind tour and traveling from South Korea, to LA, then to NYC for press…including Late Night with Jimmy Kimmel (tonight), so be sure to keep an eye out for him. America is about to get to know Red Gerard real well.
I have so much to share about this incredible experience and cannot wait to put it into a post for you all. I’m flying home to Colorado with some of my family tomorrow, and will gather up photos to put a post together for you all on Friday. Be on the look out!
If you’re looking for instant updates, check out Instagram where I’ve been posting plenty about our time here in South Korea.
In the meantime, let’s celebrate both this huge win for my brother and Valentine’s Day with these easy chocolate heart doughnuts. FYI…if Red could have gotten his hands on these, he would have loved them!
I’m not usually that big on making homemade doughnuts (I hate frying things), but on certain occasions I’m all for it. For such a long time I’ve had this heart doughnut in my head and when I finally made them, I fell in love with them! As did my mom…it was actually one of those moments I live for…when she rolls her eyes back, gets this dreamy look and declares how incredibly delicious something is.
Not only are these doughnuts super cute, but they are SO GOOD.
I mean, are you looking at them?
This is a simple doughnut dough, stuffed with a light whipped Nutella filling, and dusted with a little sugar for good measure.
Simple and delicious. Not sure much can beat sinking your teeth into one of these doughnuts. They’re definitely a decadent treat, but so worth it.
As I said, I kept the dough recipe pretty simple and the filling even simpler. The doughnuts can be made and ready in under two hours, shorter if your kitchen happens to be extra toasty and warm (the warmer the kitchen, the faster the doughnuts will rise).
I used small and medium heart-shaped cookie cutters to create a couple different sized doughnuts. I fried the doughnuts and then stuffed them with a whipped Nutella filling for an extra sweet, almost mousse like, filling. It’s unreal how good each and every bite is.
If by chance you don’t love the taste of Nutella, you can use melted semi-sweet chocolate in place.
If there was ever a doughnut to make at home, this is it. Make them for Valentine’s Day, make them to celebrate with my family and I, or make them just because you want a really good homemade doughnut!
Either way make them. Your week needs a good, chocolatey treat, it really does.
Easy Chocolate Heart Doughnuts
Servings: 12 doughnuts
Calories Per Serving: 302 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups warm milk
- 2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, plus more for rolling
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 2 eggs
- 4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
Chocolate Glaze
- 1/2 cup Nutella
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- 1. In a large mixing bowl (I like to use my stand mixer), combine the warm milk, yeast, butter and egg, mix a little to combine and then add 4 cups flour and the salt. Knead the dough, using a dough hook or your hands, until the dough comes together and is smooth, about 3 minutes with a mixer, and 5-10 by hand. If the dough seems too sticky, add the remaining 1/4 cup flour. The dough should come together, but be slightly sticky to touch. Grease a large bowl and place the dough ball inside. Cover the bowl and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, at least 30 minutes.2. To fry the doughnuts, line 2 baking sheets with parchment. Lightly flour a work surface and roll out the dough to a 1/2-inch thickness. Using a heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut out the hearts. Arrange the doughnuts on the prepared baking sheet, leaving at least 1 inch between doughnuts. Cover the doughnuts loosely with plastic wrap while the oil heats.3. In a heavy-bottomed large pot or deep fryer, heat at least 2 inches of oil until a deep-fry thermometer registers 350 degrees F. Working in batches, use a slotted metal spoon or spatula to carefully place the doughnuts in the hot oil. Fry, flipping once, until light golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes per side. When done, transfer to a wire rack to cool. Make sure to return the oil to 350 degrees F. between batches.4. To make the glaze, mix together the Nutella, heavy cream, and vanilla until smooth and combined. Spoon the chocolate into a pastry bag fitted with a tip or just use a ziplock bag with the corner snipped off. Pierce the base of each cooled doughnut with the piping tube (or us a knife) and pipe a little filling into each doughnut. Generously sprinkle each doughnut sugar. Enjoy!
Love your stuff!!!
Thank you Lola! xTieghan
tres bien, merci pour le partage ^^^
xo prediksi parlay
Thank you!
superb, vien danke 🙂
Thank you!
look so Delicious. i want try it
I hope you do! Thank you!
For one (and most importantly), this is a month of celebration.
Yes!
lovely doughnut!
Thanks!
These are the most adorable doughnuts ever – love the heart shape! 🙂
Thank you so much!
Maybe I will try to make it home for my family event later. Thank you for the article you wrote and shared this.
I hope these turn out amazing for you! Thank you!
How lucky that your whole family was there to watch and celebrate Red’s gold medal!!! The media loves you guys!!!
I made these donuts for a pre-valentine treat, while they didn’t look as pretty as yours, they were OUT OF THIS WORLD! Best eaten warm and gooey!
Eileen
That is amazing! I am so glad you enjoyed these Eileen! Thank you!
Congrats to your family and your brother on his medal! How exciting! He was so fun to watch.
While watching last night’s Olympics we tried out these donuts and holy cow they are so good! I might have eaten five. It’s hard to know. I think I blacked out on a donut high and lost count. Anything with Nutella is an instant hit in our house. I’d always assumed donuts were super involved and complicated but you made them so easy! So thank you!
I did want to double check that I had made them right; I didn’t see where to put that 1 tbsp of sugar so I tossed it in the dough, since it sounded good but I honestly have no idea. I might also suggest adding the rising time to one of the estimates. I know I should have read it through more thoroughly before decided to make them, but I’d already gathered everything when I saw that part so they just took a little longer than I anticipated. Not a big deal, since they were so worth it. Just required a bit of a schedule adjustment!
Thank you again for the recipe! I’m going to have to try not to make them too often!
Hi Veronica! Thank you so much, we are all so happy and proud of Red! It is still so crazy to think about! I am so glad you liked these doughnuts and hope they turned out amazing for you!!
So happy for your brother and for your entire family!! What fantastic news! Thank you so much for this recipe as well – can’t wait to make them!!!
Thank you so much Marie! We are all SO happy and proud of him!!
Oh wow! This is not a good thing to look at so early in the morning. Especially when you have been on a low carb diet for over 6 months. I am afraid I would blow this diet if I was in the presence of those donuts. They look so delicious.
Red is a familiar name now in our family. I told my sister about him and your blog. My brother in law text me about him winning. So funny how you watch for people when you sort of know of them. I am sure you are are on cloud 9 or above. HA!!
Haha well I am glad they look good to you Charlotte! Thank you!
Hey Tieghan,
I love these doughnuts and congratulations on red winning a gold metal! 🙂 I’m so happy for him and saw an interview with him and you and Asher giving him a huge hug. It made me smile. 🙂
I’m looking forward to hearing how the rest of your trip went and hope you have a safe flight back.
Thank you so much Kristin! I am so proud of him!!
YUM THESE LOOK AWESEOM! Major congrats to your brother he had such a spectacular final run, totally deserved that Gold :))
Thank you so much Selina!
I just love your cookbook! There is something for everyone. The photographs are beyond words. The Valentine doughnuts look awesome! I will have to try that recipe soon. I read about your brother, Red in an article in the New York Times. You and your blog were mentioned in the article. I didn’t know the connection before. Congrats to your brother and family!
Thank you so much Nancy! I am so happy for him!