Name: Halloween Bat Doughnuts
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 40 min
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted; 1 egg, at room temperature; 3/4 cup milk; 1/3 cup granulated sugar; 4 tbsp baking cocoa; 1 tsp baking powder; 1/4 tsp baking soda; 1 cup all purpose flour; 15 oz black candy melts; 1/4 cup almond slivers; Royal icing eyes; 2 tbsp vanilla frosting; 3 oz black sanding sugar

Here's how to make this recipe

First, make the doughnuts.

Preheat your oven to 350F and grease your doughnut pans. I find it easiest to use vegetable shortening on a paper towel. This recipe makes about 12 mini doughnuts and 8 large doughnuts.

In a bowl, whisk together your dry ingredients. In another bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and whisk until the batter is free of lumps.

Spoon or pipe the batter into the greased doughnut pans and bake for 9-10 minutes (6-7 minutes for the mini doughnuts), or until a toothpick inserted into the doughnuts comes out clean.

Once the pan is cool enough to handle (about 5 minutes), turn the doughnuts out onto a wire cooling rack. If you wait for the doughnuts to completely cool in the pan, they can become very difficult to get out.

coated and uncoated chocolate doughnuts next to a bowl of black sanding sugar.

Second, make the wings.

Print out a copy or two of the mini wing template and/or regular wing template sizes.

Melt your black candy melts in a bowl using 10 second increments in the microwave or using the double boiler method (a bowl over a pot of boiling water.

Cover the wing templates with parchment paper and begin piping your wings, drizzling each wing with black sanding sugar as its completely. Pipe out enough wings of each size for each doughnut to have two.

Third, dip the doughnuts.

Pour the candy melts leftover from the wings into a bowl and reheat if necessary using 5-10 second increments in the microwave.

Dip the cooled doughnuts into the candy melts, shaking gently to allow any excess to drip off. Sprinkle immediately with black sanding sugar.

Dip the almonds slivers into the black candy melts, coating them about half of the way down.

chocolate doughnut next to two chocolate wings coated in black sanding sugar, two royal icing eyes, and two chocolate dipped almond slivers.

Finally, assemble all the pieces.

Once the tops of the doughnuts have hardened, reheat the black candy melts if necessary.

Dip the uncoated ends of the almond slivers into the candy melts and insert into the doughnut where you'd like the ears to be.

Cut two slits into the sides of the doughnuts using a small pairing knife, dip the ends of the wings into the candy melts and push them into the slits.

Spoon the vanilla frosting into a piping bag, clip a small hole in the tip and use to attach the royal icing eyes and add fangs.

Allow to set completely before packaging.

bat doughnuts on a gray background with a bowl of black sanding sugar.

Expert tips

Use a piping bag to pipe your doughnut batter into your doughnut pan. This is a lot easier and less messy than trying to pour from the bowl.

Doughnuts are easiest to remove from the pan while they’re still warm. Whenever the pan is cool enough to handle, simply turn it over and gently shake until the doughnuts come out.

Keep your kitchen equipment/utensils free of water when melting the chocolate. Getting water in the melting/melted chocolate will cause it to seize.

If the candy melts are too thick: You can thin it by adding a little bit of vegetable shortening. Stir a little bit in, stirring until it’s completely melted and test to see if it’s the consistency you want. A little bit goes a long way.

Leftovers: Baked doughnuts don’t keep well and tend to dry out faster than the fried variety. If you end up with leftovers, the best way to store them is in a paper bag. Whatever you do, don’t refrigerate them or put them in plastic.

bat doughnut resting against a glass of milk with skeleton hand holding a white bowl and a plate of bat doughnuts in the background.

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Update Notes: This post was originally published in October of 2017 but was republished with updated photos and tips in September of 2022.

Halloween Bat Doughnuts

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