The word stracciatella is used to refer to not one, not two, but three different foods! And they are all Italian. One is a soup, one is a cheese, and the last one is a type of ice cream. For most of my life I only knew about the stracciatella ice cream. And although I liked it, I also thought it was too simple. But the older I get, the more I like it. And today it serves as my inspiration for these lovely stracciatella donuts with orange cinnamon glaze.
Stracciatella ice cream is a creamy, milk-based ice cream with small chocolate chunks folded into it. And since it can seem a little simple, I decided to create a tangy, slightly spicy glaze for these donuts.
The donut batter is a classic vanilla with chocolate chunks. Since the glaze requires quite a bit of sugar, I opted to use dark chocolate into the donut batter to balance out the sweetness. However, if you are baking for children, or anyone who likes sweets to be very sweet, you can also use milk chocolate, or a mix of both.
The glaze requires icing sugar, orange zest, and cinnamon. And to dissolve the sugar, I used a little orange juice. Although it seems simple, it really packs a punch in terms of spice and flavor. Thus if you’re making this recipe for young children who may not like spices, you can omit the cinnamon.
These donuts are great in the autumn, or around the holiday season. The chocolate, orange, and cinnamon combination is like a comforting hug! While they are rich in flavour, these donuts are also light and airy. You really have to stop yourself from eating too many!
See more donut recipes here.
Lastly, this is the recipe for the aromatic stracciatella donuts with orange cinnamon glaze:
Stracciatella Donuts with Orange Cinnamon Glaze
Ingredients
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
- ½ stick (60 g/ 2 oz.) unsalted butter at room temperature
- ½ cup (120 ml/ 4 ¼ oz.) cream (35% fat content)
- 50 g (1 ¾ oz.) bitter-sweet chocolate, finely chopped
- 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
- zest from half a medium orange
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 3-4 tbsp. freshly squeezed orange juice
Instructions
For the batter:
- Pre-heat oven to 180 °C (350 °F).
- In a bowl sift the flour, then add the baking powder. Mix them with a whisk and set aside.
- Gently melt the butter over low temperature. Make sure the butter does not bubble. Once melted, set it aside and allow it to cool a little.
- Crack the eggs into another bowl, then add the sugar and whisk at high speed with an electric mixer until sugar is completely dissolved and the mixture looks creamy (almost triple in volume). Add the vanilla extract, salt, cream and mix.
- Using a spatula, add the flour mix to the egg mix in 2-3 steps, mixing gently after each addition. Make sure the flour is well incorporated, but do not over mix. Once the flour has been incorporated, fold in the melted cooled butter. Then add the finely chopped chocolate and gently mix. Allow the batter to sit for 5 minutes.
- Grease the donut pan with room temperature butter. Pipe the batter filling ¾ of each cavity. Bake for 10 minutes, or until donuts spring back when gently pressed.
- Once baked, take the pan out of the oven and allow the donuts to cool in the donut pan for 2-3 minutes at room temperature. Transfer them to a rack and let them sit until completely cooled.
For the glaze:
- In a bowl, mix the icing sugar, cinnamon, orange zest and juice until the sugar dissolves and the icing is smooth. Pour or drizzle over donuts.
