Our prep kitchen’s a little obsessed with donuts and their dessert-hack potential: Culinary producer Jeanette Donnarumma shows you an easy trick (using a waffle iron!) to transform plain cake donuts into cinnamon-sugar-crusted churros—and she throws in a chocolate dipping sauce spiked with cayenne and orange zest. Get more easy ideas for turning donuts into decadent desserts here.
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
- 1 pinch salt
- 4 plain cake donuts
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- Zest of 1/2 small orange
For the churros: Preheat a waffle iron to medium-high.
Combine sugar, cinnamon and salt on a small rimmed baking sheet. Using a serrated knife, slice the donuts horizontally into thirds. Arrange donut slices on the hot waffle iron and close to brown and warm through, about 1 minute. Using a spatula, carefully remove the donut slices and immediately transfer to the cinnamon-sugar mixture and toss gently to coat. Let cool on a wire rack.
For the chocolate sauce: Combine the chocolate chips and heavy cream in a small saucepan over medium heat. Whisk until chocolate melts, then remove from the heat and whisk in cayenne and orange zest.
Serve the churro donuts with the chocolate sauce for dipping.
