Spring is in full swing right now guys. It is soooooo warm out. Actually, now that I think about it, spring is kind of over. There’s not many flowers budding anymore, just a lot of green. A whole lotta green. Luckily, I don’t have allergies so I’m not too affected but all of my friends are huffing and puffing all the time.
I feel like it’s all kind of caught me off guard. I mean, how is it May? HOW? I gotta say, May is one of my least favorite months. It just feels like everything is happening all at once. At school, we have a test pretty much every week, plus finals are creeping ever closer. And on top of that, there’s all sorts of end-of-year projects, events, and celebrations. Some of it is fun, but it’s just a lot to do.
This post was originally supposed to be for Mothers Day, but it turned out that these needed a little more testing before they were ready to be posted. I’m not going to trade quality for meeting a dead line, so better late then never! And hey, I’m sure any mother is going to appreciate homemade donuts any day of the year. I mean, who wouldn’t?
Just a little preface, some of my upcoming recipes might arrive just a tad late. My goal for this year was to post at least 3 recipes a month. And so far, I have been able to do so. But for the next month ish, I’m really really busy. So I might not have time to get all of my posts out in time. But fear not! The recipes will come at some point, and I promise they will be delicious!
Speaking of delicious, let’s talk donuts. I’m actually not a huge fan of donuts. I mean if you give me a donut, I’ll eat it, but there are other desserts I would go for first. I just feel like donuts are always really heavy, sweet, and sometimes a little greasy. But if you give me one of these donuts, I will inhale it in 0.2 seconds.
Describe these Donuts to Me
Taste: These donuts have a simple flavor profile. The donut itself is slightly sweetened, and just a touch citrusy from the lemon in the dough. The pastry cream on the inside is creamy and gooey, and delicately flavored with elderflower liquer to give you a springy floral taste. And finally, they’re rolled in a simple lemon sugar, which is where most of the sweetness comes from in these. It adds another little punch of lemon flavor, perfectly complimenting that tasty custard on the inside.
Texture: These are a texture dream. The outside is a touch crispy, while the inside is doughy and soft. And to add a nice creamy factor, the elderflower custard sits nestled on the inside of these yummy donuts. It’s a nice little surprise when you bite into one of these.
Ease: These are a little more advanced then some other desserts. They are fried donuts, so we have to make a dough and let it rise. And frying them can be a little scary, I won’t lie. A big pot of sizzling hot oil is a little daunting. But if you just go for it, and get started on making these, you will be thrilled you did. The end result is beyond worth it, and in my opinion these are kind of fun to make. In addition to making the donuts, we are making pastry cream. Again, this can be a little tough, but I promise it’s worth it.
The Donuts
These are fried donuts, which are a little more difficult then a baked donut. We are making a yeasted dough, which uses milk, butter, eggs, lots of flour, some lemon zest and juice for added flavor, vanilla, oh and of course; yeast. Yeast is technically a fungi, and is used in most breads, making them tall, bubbly, and fluffy. In order to activate it, the dough must rise in a slightly warm and humid environment for an hour and a half. Then you can roll them into balls, and fry them up!
The Lemon Sugar
Right after the donuts come out of the oil, I roll them in some lemon sugar. Lemon sugar is litterally just sugar and lemon zest. We rub the two together to release the oil in the zest, giving us a nice lemony flavor. You want to roll the donuts in the sugar pretty soon after they come out of the oil so that the sugar will stick.
What Even is Pastry Cream?
Pastry cream is pretty much just a really thick custard. It’s used as a filling in lots of desserts, like Boston cream pie. It’s pretty similar to making any old custard, heat up some cream, temper your eggs with it, and cook it until smooth and thick. The only difference is that it uses flour and half and half. Most custards don’t have flour, but this one does to make it nice and thick. And we use half and half instead of heavy cream or milk to make this extra creamy and smooth. To give this custard its springy elderflower flavor, I use elderflower liquer (St. Germain). This gives it a touch of acidity to cut through the sweet butteriness, its subtle but man is it good.
Frying Donuts
Ok, we all knew it would come: standing over a big pot of piping hot oil, a tray of shaped dough on your left, and a cup of lemon sugar on your right. It can be daunting to fry donuts, but it isn’t actually that hard. All you have to do is heat up your oil in a big ‘ol pot (I use a dutch oven), drop your donuts in, cook ’em, flip ’em, and take them out. I recommend wearing long sleeves or oven mitts to protect yourself from the splashing oil, it can be scary!
Tips for Success
Have everything ready: Whether your making the dough, cream, or frying, have all of your ingredients prepped and at the ready. Read through the recipe, and make sure you know the next step. Lots of parts in this recipe move quickly so you need to be ready for what’s next.
Let the cream get thick: My first problem with these donuts was that I didn’t let the cream get thick enough. When you’re cooking it, make sure you are letting it get thick. It will do so quickly, but we need it to be REALLY THICK, much more then you think. If it’s too thin, when we go to fill the donuts, it will be a mess. You want it to be a scoopable consistancy. BUT. Make sure you don’t overcook the custard, or it may split.
Stir the cream CONSTANTLY: Like with all custards, we are just barely cooking the eggs, so we need to make sure it is constantly moving to avoid scrambling or splitting. This is especially important with this custard, because it will thicken very quickly.
Start small when frying: When you go to fry your donuts, start with only one at a time. You want to get the temperature just right, and the cook times to. Once you’ve cooked your first one, cut into it to see if it’s cooked through, and adjust your cook times and temperatures accordingly. Once you’ve got it all figured out and you’re becoming a donut frying pro, you can do up to four at a time, No more then that though, or they’ll get too crowded resulting in uneven cooking.
Keep and eye on the temperature: While you’re frying these, keep an eye on the temperature of the oil. You want it to stay at around 330-340 degrees Farenhieight. You may have to routinely turn your burners up or down to keep the temperature the same. A thermometer is VERY important in geting perfectly cooked donuts.
Filling: I think this is my favorite part of making these, filling the donuts up with that tasty pastry cream. You’re going to need a piping bag with a small round tip for this, which you can insert into the side of the donuts and fill them up. You will be able to feel the donut is getting full, and should be able to know when to stop filling.
Lemon Sugar Donuts with Elderflower Pastry Cream
Ingredients
Method
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, or a large bowl, whisk together the warm milk, yeast, and 2 Tablespoons of the sugar. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let sit for five minutes. The mixture should develop a frothy layer on top. If not, then your yeast is dead and you should start over with new yeast.
- Add the remaining 3 Tablespoons sugar, butter, eggs, salt, lemon zest and juice, vanilla extract, and 2 cups of all purpose flour. Mix with a paddle attachment, or by hand with a wooden spoon (which will be difficult!) on low speed until just combined. Add 2 more cups of flour, and beat on medium low speed until a dough forms and is beginning to pull away from the sides of the bowl. If the dough seems too sticky, add up to ¼ cup of extra flour, one Tablespoon at a time. Transfer the dough to a floured surface and knead it with your hands for two minutes until the dough is soft and smooth. Shape the dough into a ball and transfer it to a large greased bowl. Cover with cling wrap or a clean kitchen towel and allow to rise in a warm environment for 1 ½ – 2 hours or until at least doubled in size.
- In a large saucepan, heat the half and half over medium heat until simmering. While it heats up, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk in the flour, the mixture will be thick. Stirring constantly, slowly pour ½ cup of the simmering half and half into the egg yolk mixture. Then, whisking constantly, slowly pour that back into the remaining simmering cream and lower the temperature to medium low. Cook, stirring constantly for 7 minutes until very thick. It will begin thickening very quickly, but let it keep cooking. Turn the heat back up to medium and cook, stirring vigorously for 2-3 minutes until very thick. Remove from the heat and add the butter, St. Germain, and vanilla extract. Whisk vigorously to combine and avoid splitting. Put the mixture through a sieve to remove any lumps of cooked egg (this might be a little difficult because it is so thick). Cover the mixture with cling wrap, making sure it is touching the surface of the cream to prevent a skin from forming, and chill in the fridge for 2 hours. It will thicken even more as it chills.
- Punch down the risen dough to release the air and transfer to a lightly floured surface. Cut the dough into chunks, about 2 ounces in size, and roll into balls. Set on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and cover with a clean kitchen towel to allow it to rise while we heat up the oil.
- Heat the oil in a large heavy duty pot ( I use a dutch oven) over medium heat to 330℉. While you cook the donuts, check the temperature frequently. It shouldn't get any lower then 330℉ or any higher then 350℉.
- In a medium bowl, rub the lemon zest and sugar together with your hands for 30 seconds. Set aside.
- Carefully drop a donut in, or use a metal spoon to lower it in. Cook for 3 minutes, flip, then cook for another 3 minutes on the other side. Use a slotted metal spoon to remove the donut from the oil, and transfer to a wire rack to cool for about two minutes before rolling in the lemon sugar. Once you get more confident with frying, you can cook up to 4 donuts at a time.
- Allow the sugar coated donuts to cool completely before filling.
- Fill a large bag fitted with a small round tip (I use Wilton #10) with the chilled pastry cream. Using a toothpick or the end of a thermometer, poke a hole in the sides of the donuts. Insert the end of the piping tip into the donut and squeeze the bag. You will be able to feel the donut filling with the custard, and should be able to tell when to stop. Repeat this process until all of the donuts have been filled.
- Donuts stay fresh for up to 3 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
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