A high altitude recipe for baked chocolate peppermint donuts, dipped in vanilla peppermint glaze, and topped with festive Christmas sprinkles. These baked chocolate donuts with peppermint icing are quick and easy to make, for a deliciously sweet holiday breakfast.
You might also love these chocolate peppermint cupcakes, frosted peppermint blondies, and pink peppermint candy cane ice cream.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Chocolate + Peppermint. Chocolate and peppermint is a delicious combination, and these chocolate peppermint donuts are both rich and refreshing with the dark chocolate cake and cool, minty glaze.
Quick and Easy. Baked donuts are so easy to make, with a simple cake batter that comes together fast. Then just dunk them in icing and add sprinkles for a festive holiday treat.
High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
Donuts
- All-Purpose Flour. Gives the doughnuts structure.
- Granulated Sugar. Adds sweetness and moisture.
- Cocoa Powder. Use a good-quality Dutch processed cocoa powder for the best, richest chocolate flavor.
- Salt. Balances the sweetness and enhances the chocolate.
- Baking Soda. Leavens the doughnuts so they rise.
- Eggs. Adds strength and richness to the batter.
- Sour Cream. The moisture and acidity in the sour cream makes a very soft, tender chocolate cake doughnut.
- Oil. Moisture.
- Vanilla + Peppermint Extracts. Flavor.
Icing
- Powdered Sugar. Sweetens and thickens the icing.
- Salt. Balances the sweetness and enhances the chocolate.
- Vanilla + Peppermint Extracts. Flavor.
- Milk. Thins the icing to a drizzly consistency.
- Sprinkles.
Instructions
Donuts
- Preheat the oven to 375 F, and position a rack in the center of your oven. Spray your doughnut pans thoroughly with non-stick baking spray. Standard-sized donut pans will yield 1 dozen donuts, and mini donut pans will yield 2 dozen donuts.
- In a bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, salt and baking soda, then whisk until evenly distributed.
- Separately, whisk together the eggs, sour cream, oil, vanilla and peppermint extracts. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and stir together with a spatula just until moistened.
- Scrape the batter into a piping bag, and snip off the tip. Pipe the batter into the doughnut pans, filling the molds no more than half full.
- Bake the doughnuts for about 8 minutes for mini donuts and 11-12 minutes for standard sized donuts, until risen and the tops spring back when gently touched.
- Cool the doughnuts in the pans for 2 minutes, then turn the pans over onto a cooling rack, letting the doughnuts fall out onto the cooling rack.
- If you still have batter left, re-fill the pans with the rest of your batter, and bake a second batch of doughnuts.
Icing
- In a bowl, stir together the icing ingredients until smooth.
- Dip the donuts in the icing (or just spoon it on top of them). Before the icing sets, finish with sprinkles.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!
Frequently Asked Questions
How should I store leftover donuts?
Store leftover donuts in an airtight container for up to 3 days. The icing will get a little sticky by the second day.
Where did you get your Christmas sprinkles?
I’ve bought various sprinkle mixes over the last several Christmases, and then I tend to pick and choose from them the sprinkles I want to use for a specific project. I’ve found some of them at my local King Soopers and World Market, but I’ve also seen similar ones on Amazon. As a general rule, I don’t care for the look of jimmies, and I almost always pick them out of my sprinkle mixes.
So for today’s sprinkle donuts, I used a variety of nonpareils and confetti sprinkles (quins) in red, green and white, as well as the cutest mix of gingerbread people, Christmas trees, stockings, holly leaves and candy canes.
Here are a few sources on Amazon for similar sprinkles:
- Christmas Holly Sprinkles
- Candy Cane Sprinkle Mix
- Christmas Trees Sprinkle Mix
- Christmas Quins
- Gingerbread Christmas Sprinkles
- Red White and Green Nonpareils
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High Altitude Baked Chocolate Peppermint Donuts
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Doughnut Pans
- Disposable Piping Bag
Ingredients
Donuts
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 6 tbsp unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa powder
- ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 2 large eggs
- ¾ cup full fat sour cream
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp peppermint (not mint) extract
Icing
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ½ tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- ½ tsp peppermint (not mint) extract
- ¼ cup whole milk
- sprinkles
Instructions
Donuts
- Preheat the oven to 375 F, and position a rack in the center of your oven. Spray your doughnut pans thoroughly with non-stick baking spray.Baker's Note: Standard-sized donut pans will yield 1 dozen donuts, and mini donut pans will yield 2 dozen donuts.
- In a bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, salt and baking soda, then whisk until evenly distributed.
- Separately, whisk together the eggs, sour cream, oil, vanilla and peppermint extracts. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and stir together with a spatula just until moistened.
- Scrape the batter into a piping bag, and snip off the tip. Pipe the batter into the doughnut pans, filling the molds no more than half full.
- Bake the doughnuts for about 8 minutes for mini donuts and 11-12 minutes for standard sized donuts, until risen and the tops spring back when gently touched.
- Cool the doughnuts in the pans for 2 minutes, then turn the pans over onto a cooling rack, letting the doughnuts fall out onto the cooling rack.
- If you still have batter left, re-fill the pans with the rest of your batter, and bake a second batch of doughnuts.
Icing
- In a bowl, stir together the icing ingredients until smooth.
- Dip the donuts in the icing (or just spoon it on top of them). Before the icing sets, finish with sprinkles.
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