We are over halfway through October! This is crazy. October always feels so short. I feel like I haven’t gotten to do all of the fun October things that I usually do this year. I’ve just been really busy, and I never really got to do a whole lot of decorating or fun stuff. And that is pretty disappointing, and it does make me sad but maybe next year will be better!
I feel like my Octobers/falls are perfect every other year. Last years fall was so nice and I just remember enjoying it a lot. But the one before that was kind of disappointing. So by that math, this one is an off year, but the next once will be amazing. Did that make any sense?
I may be sad about how stressful and packed this month has been, BUT. These donuts are pretty cool. Yes, they are a lot of work. I’m just gonna come out and say it. But it’s so worth it to see how cute they are, and to take a bite of the fluffy dough with gooey pumpkin custard filling.
Describe These Donuts to me
Taste: These have that classic sweet and buttery flavor that you would expect from a donut. But the dough is infused with spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger to add a little extra cozy feeling. These are filled with a sweet pumpkin spice custard to add some refreshing levity, and topped with a subtle royal icing.
Texture: The dough is tender and soft, with just a little bit of chew. The filling is smooth and creamy, blending perfectly with the dough. And the icing adds a final blast of sweet softness to take these over the edge.
Ease: Ok I’m going to be completely honest, these are a whole day dedication. They take patience, some skill, and lots of time. BUT. They are a great opportunity to practice skills like shaping, working with yeast, frying, making a custard, and decorating. If you’re looking to advance your baking skills this spooky season, then I highly recommend you give this one a whirl.
The Dough
This is a pretty straightforward dough. It uses your classic eggs, butter, milk, yeast, flour, salt, the usual. I add some spices to take these to the next level, because why not. The dough may be basic, but it yields a tender and soft end result. It’s also still strong enough to keep structure after being fried, filled, and iced.
The Custard
This is a simple pastry cream, with a little pumpkin spice because I am addicted. Pastry cream is just like any old custard, but with the edition of flour to make it nice and thick. Why does it need to be so thick? I’m so glad you asked. Because we are piping this into our donuts, and if it’s too thin it will squish or flood out of the donuts. I used these elderflower donuts as a base recipe for this, but replaced the elderflower with some pumpkin puree and seasonal spices for ultimate fall feels.
The Icing
Oh boy. When I tell you this icing was a piece of work, I MEAN IT. I must’ve tried 5 different kinds of icing, but they all ended up slipping off the donuts because of their round shape. And if it did stay on, then it was too heavy and dense, which was kind of yucky on top of such delicate donuts. So here we are with a royal icing. I know it sounds fancy, but it’s actually really simple. It’s different from other vanilla icings because it’s whipped and uses meringue powder. Whipping it allows it to be thick enough to pipe, and meringue powder makes it set and harden. To give you an idea, this is the kind of icing that most people use to decorate sugar cookies.
Pumpkin Spice Custard Donuts
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, pumpkin pie spice, 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, pumpkin pie spice, and pumpkin puree over medium heat until simmering.
- While that 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 vigourously for 2-3 minutes until very thick. Remove from the heat and add the butter and vanilla extract. Whisk vigorously to combine and avoid splitting
- Run 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.
- Heat the oil in a large heavy duty pot ( I use a dutch oven) over medium heat to 330℉. This much oil takes a long time to heat up, so get started while you are shaping the donuts.
- Punch down the risen dough to release the air and transfer to a lightly floured surface. Roll it out into a ¼ inch thick circle. The shape doesn't really matter, so don't be alarmed if it isn't circular. Using a large ghost shaped cookie cutter (see notes for a link to the one I used), cut the dough into ghost shapes. Re-roll and shape the scraps until you have used all of the dough
- Place one ghost into the hot oil. The temperature will go up and down a lot while cooking, so make sure to adjust accordingly. Try not to let it go above 350℉. Cook the donut for 2-3 minutes on one side, and then carefully flip it with a medal slotted spoon and cook for another 2-3 minutes on the other side. Don't be alarmed if the donuts get dark, we want to make sure the inside is getting cooked. Remove the donut from the oil with the spoon and place on a wire cooling wrack.
- Repeat with the remaining ghosts. Once you get more confident with frying, you can cook up to 4 donuts at a time. Let donuts cool completely on the wrack before decorating.
- 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.
- Pour the confectioners sugar, meringue powder, and water in a large mixing bowl. Using a hand or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment beat on high speed for about 2 minutes. You can tell you have the best consistency when you lift the whisk out of the bowl, the icing should drizzle down and smooth out within about 10 seconds. If its too thick, add another tablespoon of water. If it's too thin, beat it a little more. Use icing immediately or it will begin to harden.
- Pour the icing into a piping bag fitted with a very small round tip. Pipe an outline of the ghost on top of one of the donuts. Let that sit for a few minutes and harden a little, then fill in the outline. Place three mini chocolate chips on top as the face.
- Allow the icing to set at room temperature (this takes about 1 hour) Donuts stay fresh for up to 3 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
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