These caramelized white chocolate and lavender donuts are a bite of summer! They are sweet and creamy with a refreshing glaze; the perfect small treat to make for the upcoming lavender season. And aside from caramelizing the white chocolate, they are also incredibly quick to whip together.
Before making this recipe you need to make the caramelized white chocolate. And since it requires a bit of time to prepare, you may choose to make it in advance. Store it at room temperature until you are ready to use it.
And if you wonder how to make the caramelized white chocolate, it’s simple. Just pop white chocolate in the oven at low temperature, take it out every 10 minutes to stir. It is important you stir it frequently to avoid burning the fats. Repeat 6-10 times and you’re done. It is time-consuming, but it’s a simple and straight forward process.
For the glaze you need culinary lavender, and make sure it is culinary grade. You can find it online in dried form and it is quite affordable.
However, if you don’t like lavender, there are a couple substitutions you could make. Firstly you could add 1-2 tbsp. of rose or jasmine water to the icing sugar. Mix well and then add 1 tbsp. hot water at a time if the glaze is too thick. Secondly you could use freeze dried blackberry powder, or black berry purée. This is the substitution I would recommend the most. I think blackberries complement the caramelized white chocolate flavors most similarly to lavender.
For baking the donuts I used a metal 6-cavity donut pan. This resulted in 12 donuts. If you wish to make mini donuts keep in mind the baking time will be shorter. Keep an eye on them and use a toothpick to check if the donuts are done.
See more donut recipes here.
And finally here’s how to make them:
Caramelized White Chocolate and Lavender Donuts
Ingredients
For the caramelized white chocolate:
- 100 g (3 ½ oz.) white chocolate, coarsely chopped
For the batter:
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 1 cup (150 g/ 5 ¼ oz.) all-purpose flour
- ½ cup (100 g/ 3 ½ oz.) granulated sugar
- 1 stick (115 g/ 4 oz.) unsalted butter at room temperature
- 50 g (1 ¾ oz.) caramelized white chocolate, prepared previously
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp. unsalted butter at room temperature for greasing the pan
For the glaze:
- 1 ¾ cups (200 g/ 7 oz.) icing sugar
- 2 tbsp. culinary lavender, crushed
- 2-3 tbsp. hot water
Instructions
For the caramelized white chocolate:
- Pre-heat the oven to 125 °C (250 °F).
- On a flat baking pan evenly spread the white chocolate and place it in the oven for 10 minutes. Take it out, stir it with a spatula, and place it back in the oven. Repeat the process every 10 minutes for 30-60 minutes, or until the chocolate reaches the desired color (golden-cream). Once ready, pour it into a glass container and store at room temperature.
For the batter:
- Pre-heat oven to 180 °C (350°F).
- In a small pot over low heat, gently melt the caramelized white chocolate together with the butter. Continuously stir with a spatula, and take off heat when the butter is melted. Set aside and allow to cool a little.
- Sift the flour into a bowl, add baking powder and mix with a whisk.
- Crack the eggs into another bowl, add the sugar and beat at high speed with an electric mixer. The mixture is ready when almost triple in volume and light in color. Add the vanilla extract, salt, and whisk until incorporated. With a spatula, incorporate the flour in two-three steps, mixing after each addition. Add the melted, cooled butter and caramelized white chocolate and mix.
- Allow the batter to sit for ten minutes in the fridge. Grease the donut pan, then pipe the batter filling ¾ of each cavity.
- Bake for 10 minutes, or until donuts spring back when gently pressed. Remove the pan from the oven and allow the donuts to sit in the pan for 2-3 minutes before taking them out. Transfer to a rack and let them sit until completely cooled.
For the glaze:
- Add the icing sugar and crushed lavender to a bowl. Add the hot water and mix well until the glaze is creamy and the sugar has dissolved completely. Dip or drizzle the glaze over the donuts.
