Creme Brulee Donuts
I’ve got creme brulee. I’ve got a donut. HURRGH. Creme Brulee Donuts!
I love recipes that combine two well-loved things into one ingenious, inventive, cohesive dish. Not everything works. Think pizza and borscht, or sushi and ice cream. But there are some combination-dish that are clever in their combination, elegant in their amalgamation. I call this the 1+1>2 rule, where for the dish to shine, it has to bring more to the table and taste more than just the sum of its parts. And creme brulee donuts are a clear 1+1=3!
In a creme brulee donut, you get all the joys of a rich, custardy, guilt-inducing donut, with the infinitely satisfying crunch of a creme brulee caramel shell. Divine! And the way they come together isn’t much more effortful than making a regular filled donut or bombolone.
You just start off with a regular yeasted donut dough, made with flour, milk, sugar, salt, plus eggs and butter to enrich it. It then goes through a process of proofing, punching down, shaping into donut circles, and proofing again, before they’re deep-fried to golden perfection.
Then, right before the donuts are filled with cream, just cook up a quick, pure sugar caramel, dip one side of the donut in it, and let it harden, creating a thin, crisp caramel shell.
Fill the donuts up with your favourite filling. (In the recipe below, I have you on for a classic vanilla pastry cream.) Then with each bite, you’ll get a delightful crackle, a bittersweet serenade, a sweet addition to your donut experience.
Creme Brulee Donuts
Makes a dozen donuts
Total cook time: 3 hours
Ingredients
Donut dough:
120ml (½ cup) warm milk
7g (⅔ tbsp) instant yeast
360g (3 cups) all-purpose flour
60g (¼ cup) caster sugar
5g (1 tsp) salt
2 eggs
80g (⅓ cup) butter, softened
Vanilla pastry cream:
240ml (1 cup) heavy cream
480ml (2 cups) milk
4 egg yolks
100g (½ cup) caster sugar
2g (½ tsp) salt
20g (2 tbsp) cornstarch
15g (2 tbsp) all-purpose flour
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp rum (optional)
Caramel:
250g granulated sugar
Method
Donut dough: To make the donut dough, start by activating yeast in warm milk for about 5 minutes, until bubbly. Then, transfer this into the bowl of a stand mixer, together with flour, caster sugar, salt, and eggs. Mix on medium speed with the paddle attachment for 8-10 minutes. Then, add in the softened butter, and mix for a further 5 minutes. If the dough is too wet or flour-y at this point, adjust with more flour or water.
First proof: Transfer the dough into a large clean bowl, cover with a cloth or kitchen towel, and let it proof for 45-60 minutes, until it doubles in size.
Pastry cream: While the dough is proofing, make the vanilla pastry cream by heating up the heavy cream and milk in a pot or saucepan until just steaming. Then, in a bowl, whisk together egg yolks, caster sugar, and salt for 2-3 minutes until creamed and pale, then whisk in the cornstarch and all-purpose flour. Pour half of the hot cream and milk into the bowl, whisk to combine, then pour everything back into the pot. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat, whisking continuously. Let it simmer for 2 minutes, still whisking it, then remove from the heat. Whisk in the vanilla extract and rum, then transfer into a tray or container. Cover with plastic wrap (the plastic wrap should touch the surface of the pastry cream), and keep it in the fridge to chill until cold.
Shaping and second proof: When the dough is proofed, punch it down. Then, using a rolling pin, roll it out into a large rectangle less than 2cm thick. (It should get to about 25cm x 50cm.) Using a 10cm ring cutter, cut out discs of dough, and transfer the dough discs onto parchment squares. Combine all the remaining dough, then roll it out and punch out a few more dough discs. (You should get about a dozen donuts in total this way.) Cover all the dough discs with a cloth, and let them proof for 30-40 minutes, until they double in height.
Heat up oil: Pour oil in a pot until at least 7cm (2.8 inches) deep. Heat it up to 180°C (356°F).
Deep-fry donuts: When the donuts are proofed, deep-fry them in the oil for 2 minutes, then flip it and fry for another 2 minutes, until golden brown on both sides. Do this in batches so as not to overcrowd the pot. When done, take the donuts out of the oil and cool down on a tray.
Caramel: Add a third of the sugar into a saucepan, and place over medium heat. Let the sugar melt, and gradually pour the rest of the sugar at the places that have melted. Heat it some more until the sugar turns amber and then into a nice browned caramel. You can swirl the saucepan around to control the melting and browning, but try not to stir it with a spoon or spatula if you can help it.
Making the crust: Working with one donut at a time, carefully dip one side of the donut into the hot caramel, and gently lift it up, letting the excess caramel drip back into the saucepan. Let the donuts cool on a wire rack, caramel-side up.
Fill donuts: Once the donuts are cooled to room temperature, poke a small hole on one side of the donut (you can use a skewer or chopstick). Transfer the pastry cream into a piping bag, and pipe the cream into the donuts. You’ll know when they’re maximally filled when the cream starts oozing back out of the hole.
Eat: Eat!! The donuts are best had immediately. But if you can’t stomach 12 at the same time, you can keep them in the fridge where they’ll last for up to 2 days.
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