Baked Chocolate Peanut Butter Donuts
Who said donuts are reserved for breakfast only? These Baked Chocolate Peanut Butter Donuts make for a tasty dessert…or afternoon snack!
Me: “Hmm, I’ll take the one with the sprinkles.”
Guy behind the donut counter: “You mean the one with the jimmies?”
Me: “Huh?”
I grew up in the South, the land of sweet tea, buttermilk biscuits, fried chicken and sprinkles. Yes, sprinkles. However, sprinkles don’t exist in upstate New York (or the entire New England region, for that matter). Nope, up here “sprinkles” are “jimmies.” Say what? According to popular legend, the Just Born candy company in Pennsylvania had a guy named Jimmy running the sprinkle-making machine. Thus, they became jimmies.
To further complicate the issue, some folks say jimmies refer to the chocolate version while the multi-colored version are still called sprinkles. In reality, no one really knows where the terms comes from. It’s just one of those differences in regional dialect. However, no matter what you call them, sprinkles/jimmies make for a fun decoration…especially on these Baked Chocolate Peanut Butter Donuts.
These Baked Chocolate Peanut Butter Donuts came about thanks to my No Bake Peanut Butter Pie. Yup, that pie led to these donuts. How’s that, you ask? Well, Laura pointed out that the no-bake filling of that pie would make an excellent frosting for cinnamon rolls. At first, I thought she was a little nuts, but then I realized she might be onto something. I haven’t gotten around to those peanut butter cinnamon rolls (yet), but I did experiment with these Baked Chocolate Peanut Butter Donuts.
Sure enough, that filling works perfectly as a fluffy frosting recipe! In fact, I kinda wanted to eat spoonfuls of it while I was frosting these donuts. One spoonful for you, Mr. Donut. One spoonful for you, David’s mouth. But I refrained from eating the frosting directly from the bowl. (Mostly.) Instead, that frosting got spread on top of these donuts. Then some chopped peanut butter cups went on top as a garnish. And, of course, I finished off these bad boys with a shake or two of chocolate sprinkles. Or jimmies. Or whatever you call ’em. Enjoy!
Baked Chocolate Peanut Butter Donuts
Ingredients
For the Doughnuts
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 large eggs
- 8 Tbsp unsalted butter melted
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
For the Frosting
- 8 oz. cream cheese softened
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- ¾ cup creamy peanut butter
- 8 oz. frozen whipped topping thawed
- Small chocolate peanut butter cups chopped
- {optional garnish} chocolate sprinkles
Instructions
For the Doughnuts
- Preheat oven to 325°F.
- Lightly grease donut pan or spray with nonstick cooking spray.
- Using a medium bowl, add the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt and brown sugar; mix until well combined.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, egg, melted butter and vanilla extract.
- Pour the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture; stir until just combined. Fold the chocolate chips into the batter.
- Spoon or pipe batter into donut pan. (Tip: Fill each donut circle about ⅔ full of batter.)
- Bake at 325°F for 13-15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into a donut comes out clean. Let donuts rest in pan for 5 minutes and then invert pan and let donuts fully cool on wire rack.
For the Peanut Butter Frosting
- Using a handheld mixer, beat together cream cheese and powdered sugar.
- Add peanut butter; beat until well-combined.
- Add whipped topping; beat until well combined.
- Frost the tops of the cooled doughnuts and then sprinkle chopped peanut butter cups and chocolate sprinkles on top.
Notes
I’ve never heard of jimmies. These Donuts look fantastic!
Ok, good. I’m not the only one who found jimmies to be a strange term. Thanks for confirming, Jeff!
So interesting how things get named! I wonder if Jimmy liked having the sprinkles named after him? These donuts look over the top delicious!
Hah! I agree, Kathy. I wonder if Jimmy (Jimmie?) even realizes that he helped name an entire line of food? 🙂 No matter what you call ’em, these donuts are super delicious…chocolate and peanut butter is one of the best flavor combos ever!
I always thought jimmies were a type of sprinkle–jimmies are the long ones, nonpareils are the little round ones, quins are the flat ones. Shows what I know! But really, who cares what you call them when they make food more fun to eat? Not that I need something to make one of these donuts more fun. Chocolate and peanut butter is the best combo EVER! I’d devour about five of these in no time flat 🙂
Quins? Say what!? You’re adding another sprinkle type to the mix that I’ve never even heard of before. Kelsie! Stop confusing me! 🙂 I agree with you, though. Who cares what they’re actually called. I just know they go great on top of chocolate peanut butter donuts. Haha!
I’ll take the one with sprinkles! And I don’t care what you call them…I want a lot!
I’ll save you that one with sprinkles, Abbe! And I agree with you…who cares what they’re called. I just know they’re great on top of these donuts. 🙂 And thank you so much for stopping by and commenting, too. My apologies on the delayed response. We’ve been on vacation recently, and I’m just now getting caught back up on comments and emails.
Dude, I don’t think I could have refrained from ingesting spoonful after spoonful of THAT frosting! Dang – you have some incredible self control around chocolate! BTW – just before I opened this email, I had an email cross my inbow about Krispy Kremes blueberry glazed donuts! Dude – I used to think I wasn’t a donut person but right now my idea of balance is one of these chocolate peanut butter frosted donuts in one hand and one of KK blueberry glazed donuts in another – and a bowl of just that chocolate frosting with “jimmies” and mini PB cups in front of me! 🙂
Yeah, the temptation to just sit there and eat all of this peanut butter frosting with a spoon was real. But if I had done that, then I wouldn’t have any frosting left for the donuts…and that’s just not fair for the donuts. Haha! Also, I’m totally on board with your idea of balance, Shashi! I wonder if we could put 2 donuts in each hand and still get them to balance? 🙂
I (normally) don’t like sweet things for breakfast (although these bad guys would be nice with my morning cup of coffee), so when it comes to donuts, I have no limits when to handle it (The scales should be this limitation, though, but I don’t always listen to them). These donuts are fantastic. Love the combo of cream cheese and peanut butter. The sprinkles are optional to me:) And I know this situation when one recipe leads to another idea. That has happened to me many times. Sometimes I get inspired while making a dish, and that idea may sound much better than whatever I’m making. Anyway, please ship me a couple of these donuts, but you can leave the sprinkles for yourself – I’m not too greedy 🙂
So are you more of a savory breakfast kinda guy then, Ben? I do like savory breakfasts (especially whenever we travel to Europe…yum!), but I tend to go towards sweet breakfasts when I want something special. But chocolate for breakfast? Still not my kinda thing. I prefer to save chocolate for dessert later in the day. Unfortunately, all of these donuts are gone or I would’ve shipped your a couple. Oops! 🙂 Thanks so much, my friend!
Jimmies – what a cute name for sprinkles 🙂 Laura has the best ideas, these doughnuts look delicious, I don’t think I would be able not to eat the frosting by the spoonful. One for the doughnut two for me … Have a wonderful weekend ahead, my friend!
Laura really does have great ideas for recipes! She typically just drops these ideas randomly out of the blue, but I always make a mental note. (To be fair, I usually make a real note as my mental notes tend to get “lost.” Hah!) Thanks so much, Miriam! And my apologies foe the delayed response here. Laura and I have been on vacation, and I’m getting caught back up now on comments and emails. Hope you’ve been doing well, my friend!
It’s so funny how different areas of the country have word quirks! I’ll have to go with sprinkles on this one… 😉 Love that thick frosting and double toppings – sign me up!
I’m gonna side with you on the sprinkles here, Marissa! But no matter what you call ’em, they go great on these chocolate peanut butter donuts! (Well, they go great if you can resist eating all of the frosting before it makes it’s way onto the donuts, that is. Haha!)
Well I know them as “sprinkles” too. Never heard of the word “jimmies” to refer to what are quite obviously and most definitely “sprinkles”! But whatever eh? Just give me one of these amazing donuts! 😀
Good! I’m glad I wasn’t the only one who hadn’t heard of jimmies. They’re sprinkles in my book! And they go quite well on top of chocolate peanut butter donuts. 🙂 Thanks, Neil!
I can never say no to donuts, I just love donuts and here, the story is like whenever I visit Mall, The first thing I do is that I buy donuts and have it first.
So much dedication you see!!! hahaha 🙂
Great recipe David. 🙂
I hear ya, Puja! I can’t say no to a good donut either, and the chocolate + peanut butter combination in these is excellent for dessert! (I’m not a chocolate in the morning kinda guy, so I saved these for dessert.) Thanks so much, my friend! (And my apologies on the delayed response here. Laura and I have been away on vacation, and I’m getting caught up on emails/comments now.)
I haven’t had donuts in years, but these baked chocolate peanut butter donuts are the perfect excuse to have one. Jimmies? I had no idea sprinkles were called jimmies, I learn something new everyday.
Yeah, the jimmies thing was new to me, too, Mary! And I was thoroughly confused. They’re all sprinkles in my book…and they all go well on top of these chocolate peanut butter donuts! 🙂
Oh those are definitely sprinkles! I have no idea what they mean with this jimmie business! There are chocolate sprinkles and regular sprinkles. That’s all i’ll ever know!
Btw these donuts look delicioussss! Never had a donuts with peanut butter but adding it to cream cheese frosting is the way to do it! Thanks for sharing!!
Yes! Preach on, Matt! I agree that these are definitely, 100% sprinkles. Get rid of that jimmie business for sure! So this cream cheese peanut butter frosting is pretty magical. It goes great on chocolate donuts…if you can manage to avoid eating it all with a spoon first. Hah! Thanks so much, my friend!
Must say never heard of jimmies but sprinkles ring the bell. Thank you Neil and thank you David !Enjoy the day !
I agree with you…sprinkles is the way to go here! And they go great on top of chocolate peanut butter donuts, too! 🙂
I definitely only say sprinkles! They add a little something fun to baked goods, don’t they? I just started making baked donuts a couple months ago and I’ve become a fast fan. You can never go wrong with a chocolate + PB combo! 🙂
Sprinkles are totally the way to go here, Nicole! It’s little tricks like sprinkles that really make baked goods just jump off the counter…right into my mouth. Haha! And I agree with you on the chocolate + pb combo. It’s such a classic, and it’s so tasty! Thanks so much, my friend!