Cinnamon Sugar Mini Doughnuts with Nutella Dipping Sauce

I love doughnuts. I feel America loves doughnuts. So much so that I think doughnuts are the new cupcakes. Doughnuts are now ubiquitous and you’re going to see more and more places make gourmet doughnuts because I think people are tired of just eating blah doughnuts from chains. You watch!

For me doughnuts were always something that I looked forward to devouring when I was a kid. My favorite still to this day are grocery store doughnuts, they are always so huge and so delicious. To me nothing is better than a standard plain doughnut with chocolate frosting on top.

The genesis of doughnuts is somewhat of a mystery, most claim that they got their start with the Dutch settlers in North America (Manhattan) during the early 19th century. It was called a oliekoek which means “oil cake” which probably refers to the fact that the dough was fried (which is what happens with doughnuts). The name doughnut is said to have the following origins:

“Fast-forward to the mid-19th century and Elizabeth Gregory, a New England ship captain’s mother who made a wicked deep-fried dough that cleverly used her son’s spice cargo of nutmeg and cinnamon, along with lemon rind. Some say she made it so son Hanson and his crew could store a pastry on long voyages, one that might help ward off scurvy and colds. In any case, Mrs. Gregory put hazelnuts or walnuts in the center, where the dough might not cook through, and in a literal-minded way called them doughnuts.” 

From there doughnuts would slowly become ingratiated into North American cuisine, but they wouldn’t find their true stride until World War I. During this time, it’s said that American troops in the trenches were fed doughnuts but volunteers hoping to lift the spirits of the troops to remind them of something back home. Doughnuts would become ultra popular in the 20’s and 30’s when they were seen as a cheap dessert that even the poorest of Americans could afford. Now it’s easy to say that doughnuts are super popular and making somewhat of a comeback in spite of today’s calorie conscious society.

Anyways, recently when I was in Italy I was able to see the light when it came to doughnuts. The Italians do doughnuts right, they cover their doughnuts with cinnamon sugar and fill them with chocolate hazelnut. Then to compound that whole thing, I recently saw one of those magical quick videos that makes a delicious food item in less than a minute. Most of the times those videos are BS on how simple they make it look, but this actually was. In the video they simply cut up some pieces of dough that were in a can (think Pillsbury Grands) and they fry them. The pieces of dough are then covered in cinnamon sugar and dipped in a Nutella cream sauce.

So with that information I went on my way to creating mini doughnuts for myself, I was hosting a dinner party so I wanted to have a fun dessert rather than something boring and basic. These were so simple to make yet so freaking delicious. You have to try these. You don’t have to make them into the prototypical doughnut shape if you don’t want to, I had a mini doughnut mold that I used, that was pretty effective. You can also just make a 5 inch long piece of thin dough and then connect the two sides.

The dipping sauce is sinfully easy, all you do is mixing nutella with heavy whipping cream until you have a smooth consistency.

Anyway you slice it, you need to have these in your life.

Recipe – Cinnamon Sugar Mini Doughnuts with Nutella Dipping Sauce

Ingredients

1 can of Flaky Biscuit Dough (don’t get the southern biscuit style)

1/8 Cup of Cinnamon Sugar

3 Tbsp. Nutella or Chocolate Hazelnut Spread

1 Tbsp. Heavy Whipping Cream

2 Cups of Peanut Oil

Method

Step 1 – Open the dough can and form the dough into rings. You have two options, you can use a doughnut mold (which I used) to make the doughnut shapes. Or you can make a 5 inch long thin dough piece and then connect the ends. Once you’ve formed your doughnuts, line them on a sheet or plate and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Step 2- Mix the Nutella and cream together until it becomes smooth. At first it will look sort of chunk, just keep stirring until smooth.

Step 3 – Heat the peanut oil in a medium sized pot so that the oil depth is about an inch or two.

Step 4 – Once the oil is hot enough, test it by laying a scrap piece of dough in the oil to test, if it sizzles immediately you’re good to go.

Step 5 – Now gently start laying the doughnuts one or two at a time in the hot oil. Cook each side for about 30 seconds to a minute, flip and cook till golden brown. Shouldn’t take very long, you have to eye ball it.

Step 6- Once all the doughnuts are cooked, lay them onto a plate and cover them with cinnamon sugar.

Step 7 – Serve with your nutella sauce and enjoy!