Have Fun With Breakfast. Turn Your Donut Into A Delicious Coffee Cup

We've all heard it at least once — don't play with your food. Sure, it's messy and impolite, but it's also downright fun, especially when you're adult enough to make playing with your food practical rather than pointless. Enter donut coffee cups, the edible kitchenware that's as creative and kooky as it is caffeinating and curb-craving.

Coffee and donuts are a timeless pairing that blends the bitter bite of joe with the sweet cakey goodness of donuts, and seeing that it's not unusual to dunk a donut into coffee, it's not a total shock to the system to serve coffee inside of the donut. The idea comes from Your Coffee Hub — a cafe in London that serves lattes inside of a hollowed out donut. When coffee is poured into a donut, it initiates a dynamic exchange of flavors, as each item extracts the best characteristics of the other, giving a bitter latte a sugary trim and a cloying donut a toasty facelift. Even when the coffee is consumed, it leaves behind a decadent moisture and a rich, dark aroma that improves the mouthfeel and taste of the donut in equal parts. Plus, fewer dishes to wash!

Donut coffee cups don't take themselves too seriously, and neither should you when making one. However, it's helpful to keep a few handy tips in mind to get the most out of this crafty breakfast pairing.

Donuts with a hole in the center, at the risk of stating the obvious, won't work well as coffee cups. Instead, buy or use a whole donut that can be scooped out to create a cup with a bottom. Generally speaking, large servings of coffee won't fit into a donut, so consider serving espresso, small lattes, and other bite-sized coffee drinks in the donut to keep the sipping experience manageable. To keep the coffee from completely saturating the pastry, create a seal by smearing the bottom of the "cup" with creamy spreads that match the flavor of your coffee drink. For example, use Nutella for hazelnut lattes, pistachio butter for pistachio syrup-infused coffees, or buttery chocolate ganache for mochas. To maintain its freshness, sippability, and structural integrity, it's best to serve and enjoy a coffee-filled donut right away.

You don't have to limit this sweet treat to morning meals either. Embrace your inner Italian by drinking espresso after dinner: Just ditch the cup, and, well, you know the drill now, serve it in a donut. Turns out breakfast isn't actually the most important meal of the day — it's the most fun!