Dark Chocolate Donuts:

Place your oven rack in the middle position, and preheat your oven to 350 F (175 C). Butter the wells of donut pans for 12 donuts total.

In a microwavable bowl, add in 8 tbsp (1 stick) of unsalted butter, microwave it for 1 minute to melt the butter. Add in 1/2 cup of dark chocolate chips to the melted butter, then mix together to melt the chocolate chips. Set this melted chocolate-butter mixture aside.

Take a large mixing bowl and a sieve, add in 1/2 cup of Dutch-process cocoa powder, 1 1/3 cups of all-purpose flour, 1/2 tsp of baking powder, 1/2 tsp of baking soda, 1/2 tsp of espresso powder, sift them together, then whisk so that these dry ingredients are well combined.

In the bowl of your stand mixer, add in the melted chocolate-butter mixture from earlier, 3/4 packed cup of light brown sugar, 2 room temperature eggs, 1/3 cup of milk, 1 tsp vanilla extract, and 1 tsp of white vinegar. With the paddle attachment, mix on medium speed till the wet ingredients are well combined. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl and paddle attachment as needed.

With the mixer on low speed, slowly add in the dry ingredients. When all the dry ingredients are added, continue mixing just until combined. Avoid over-mixing the batter. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl and paddle attachment for any unmixed flour as needed.

Spoon the resulting batter into the prepared donut pans, filling each well about two-thirds of the way up. I like to just eye-ball each donut well to make sure each well has about the same amount of batter. Transfer batter from one well to another as needed.

Bake the doughnuts in your preheated oven at 350 F (175 C) for 10 to 12 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Avoid over-baking the donuts so they don't come out too dry.

Once the donut pans are out of the oven, let them cool slightly for about 2 minutes. Then quickly invert the donuts onto metal racks. Let these donuts cool completely to room temperature.

Butternut Streusel:

Preheat your oven to 350 F (175 C). Take a sheet pan, add in 2 cups of almond flour and 1/2 cup of shredded coconut. Mix them together to combine. Bake this almond flour and shredded coconut mixture in the oven for 10 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes, to dry it out. Take the sheet pan out of the oven, and let the mixture cool in the pan completely to room temperature.

When the almond flour / shredded coconut mixture has cooled completely to room temperature, transfer it into a medium-sized mixing bowl. Add in 1/3 cup of powdered sugar, 1/4 tsp of salt, 1/2 tsp of ground nutmeg, and whisk together these dry ingredients. Then add 2 tsp of orange gel food coloring.

Mix together with your hands, till everything is well mixed and you end up with a bright orange streusel mixture. Depending on the type of coloring you use, this may take 3 to 5 minutes of mixing and squeezing by hand, pressing the coloring into the crumble. Set this aside for now.

Sweet Vanilla Glaze:

In a large mixing bowl, add in 2 1/2 cups of powdered sugar, 1/3 cup of milk, and 1 tsp of vanilla extract. Whisk them together very well till the mixture is silky smooth, and there are no lumps.


Assembling the Donuts:

Prep a large sheet pan by lining it with parchment paper. If you'd like, at this point, you can use a sharp knife to make sure the donut holes are clear of any excess chocolate cake.

Take a dark chocolate donut and dunk it into the sweet vanilla glaze so that it is fully covered on all sides. Let the excess glaze drip back into the bowl so that there's only a thin layer of glaze coating the donut.

Then immediately transfer it into the bowl with the butternut streusel. Cover the glazed donut with streusel crumbs so that it is completely covered with the butternut streusel.

Let the finished choco butternut donut rest on the prepared sheet pan. Repeat these steps with all 12 donuts. Enjoy! These donuts are best eaten on the same day. Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature, and they'll keep for up to 2 days.