Chocolate Samoa Donuts

Sometimes I find a recipe and make it that same day because I can't wait. Other times, there are recipes that I'm equally excited about but for some reason or another, they stay on my "to bake" list for weeks (or months..) until one day I question my sanity for waiting for so long. This is one of those.

Before I go into more detail about these donuts, I need to talk about How I Met Your Mother. After watching this past week's episode, I saw all these ads for the "HIMYM Farewell". Now, I know this is the last season but season/series finales tend to be in May, so I thought I had another 2 months with this show. NOPE. March 31 is the finale. WHAT. WHEN. WHY. I had NO idea that the end was so close.

I know, I know, this season is only about the one weekend so how much longer can it go on for.. but but but.. I love this show. Not just because the creators are Wesleyan alumni and Ted, Lily, and Marshall all went to Wes (though that played a huge part in getting me to first watch the show - found out about it at school). But it's funny, heart warming, and always a pick me up (even the 'bad' episodes).

So when this show goes off the air in 10 days, I'm definitely going to need a tray of these donuts to help me get through the finale.

I've had the idea for Samoa donuts for a long time. They're my favorite girl scout cookie, and there has to be some way to incorporate those flavors into a donut. I know I should have used a vanilla donut or perhaps these brown butter donuts to look and taste like the original cookie (and I definitely will make this recipe again with the brown butter donut base) , but I originally imagined using a chocolate donut. Besides, who can say no to chocolate? Not this girl. Especially when the bottom is dipped in chocolate, covered in coconut and salted caramel sauce, and topped with more chocolate drizzle. Makes me so weak in the knees. So weak.

Now, if you have regular caramel sauce, you can definitely use that. But I am in looooove with salted caramel sauce (plus it's what I had in the fridge) so it's what I used. Even though samoas use a regular caramel, I personally loved how the salt played against the rich chocolate donuts and chocolate coating. It definitely helped cut through the richness.

While these donuts might look fancy, they come together in no time. While the donuts cool, you make the coconut/caramel mixture and melt the chocolate. Dipping the donuts takes approximately 2 minutes and then topping the donuts another 2 minutes. You can have half a dozen donuts ready to go in under an hour.

Chocolate Samoa Donuts

makes 6 donuts

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, browned
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 large egg
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup shredded coconut, toasted
1/2 cup salted caramel sauce
1 cup dark chocolate candy melts (chocolate chips work fine too)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spray a donut pan liberally with cooking spray. Set aside.

To brown butter: In a small sauce pan, melt butter. Once melted, whisk continuously until brown flecks form on the bottom and the butter has a nutty, caramel-y smell. Remove from heat, whisking for 15 more seconds. Pour immediately into a separate bowl.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk together browned butter, buttermilk, egg, brown sugar, and vanilla extract until smooth. Pour wet ingredients onto dry ingredients and gently fold together, just until combined.

Pour batter into a ziplock bag. Cut the edge and pipe batter into donut well, filling 3/4 of the way full. Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until donut springs back at your touch. Let cool for 5 minutes in pan and then remove donuts and let cool completely on wire cooling rack.

Line a baking sheet or the counter with parchment paper or aluminum foil.

While donuts cool, melt chocolate in a microwave safe bowl in 30 second increments, stirring in between. Once chocolate is melted and smooth, dip bottoms of donuts into chocolate. Set donuts chocolate side down onto parchment paper/foil. Let chocolate set.

In a small bowl, mix together toasted coconut and salted caramel sauce. Spoon mixture onto tops of donuts. Drizzle remaining chocolate over the top. Once everything has set, store in airtight containers.

[source: donut recipe adapted from my chocolate donuts]