Here I come with the most requested recipe of all times; the Boston Cream Donuts. How do you get them that soft-fluffy and airy? How do you then fill that rich finger licking goodness in those soft light donuts? All these and a lot more queries have long been wanted to be addressed.

Donuts! Are these innocuous little dainties really to be feared of? Certainly no, donuts in all their simplicity and beauty are the safest bet. You don’t need to be a chef extraordinaire to give it a shot. Trust me these are not as daunting as have always been perceived to be.

All that disappoints you is the lack of understanding about the essential differences between the commercial donuts and homemade ones.

 

boston-donuts-3

 

 

Before you get started with the recipe it is important to understand a few significant points.

Donuts, the ones we eat at our favourite shops are manufactured on a large scale with not just a basic recipe that comes down to flour, egg milk, butter and yeast. Instead, they are prepared in accordance with a meticulous commercial formula recipe which includes yeast treated flours, specified dough enhancers and softeners. Most of these chemical ingredients are not good to be administered in home kitchens, thus, our basic homemade donuts recipes revolve around the essential ingredients and their perfect ratios. However, as promised I will share a recipe which is going to be as close to your favourite donuts as possible. The use of bread dough improver thereby comes in handy. You can use any good quality bread dough improver.

For the Boston cream it is always advisable to use seeds from a vanilla pod, or then vanilla bean paste, but if you do not have either, you can certainly go with your good old vanilla bean extract.

I have added a frosting variation for your donuts in the following recipe. I have done the icing sugar chocolate glaze in my video tutorial. But if you want to do away with the icing sugar you can make some chocolate ganache to dunk your donuts in. (Recipe for ganache added below).

So what is the wait for? Gather the ingredients and get cracking…..!

 

Boston Cream Donuts
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Prep Time
3 hr
Prep Time
3 hr
FOR DONUTS
  1. 2-1/2 cups flour
  2. 1/2 tablespoon instant yeast
  3. 4 tablespoons sugar
  4. 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  5. 1 egg
  6. 50 grams butter melted
  7. 1/2 teaspoon salt
  8. 1/2 teaspoon bread dough improver
  9. 3/4 cup warm milk, approx 100°C
  10. Canola oil or peanut oil for frying
FOR BOSTON CREAM FILLING
  1. 3/4 cup milk
  2. 1 egg yolk
  3. 1-1/2 tablespoons sugar
  4. 1/4 teaspoon salt
  5. 1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean extract or vanilla bean paste or seeds from 1 vanilla pod.
  6. 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
  7. 1-1/2 tablespoons flour
  8. 25 grams butter
CHOCOLATE GLAZE
  1. 100 grams butter
  2. 150 grams dark chocolate, roughly chopped
  3. 1 tablespoon light corn syrup (optional)
  4. 2 tablespoons cream
  5. 1 cup icing sugar, more of required
  6. 2 tablespoons milk
VARIATION
CHOCOLATE GANACHE
  1. 100 grams dark chocolate chopped
  2. 1/3 cup cream
  3. 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
  4. Pinch salt
Instructions
  1. Start by preparing the dough. Mix together yeast, 1 tablespoon of sugar and warm milk. Keep in a warm place for approximately 10 minutes till froth appears on the surface.
  2. In the bowl of a stand mixer add egg, melted butter, vanilla extract and the fermented milk and yeast mixture. Whisk for a minute.
  3. Now add in flour, salt, sugar and bread dough improver to the egg mixture and use a dough hook to mix all at low speed till flour is incorporated. Increase the speed to medium and mix for 2 minutes till the dough comes together. Remove the dough on a wooden surface. If you need extra flour you may use it to further knead the dough with stretches and folds using your greased hands.
  4. Place the dough in a greased bowl. Cover it with plastic wrap and let rest in a warm place for 2 hours or till the dough is double in size.
  5. While the dough proofs get done with the Boston cream filling. In a saucepan whisk together milk, egg yolk, salt, sugar, light corn syrup, vanilla bean extract and flour. Cook on medium low heat continuing to whisk as it cooks. Once it's thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, remove from heat and add a tablespoon of butter. Whisk till smooth and glossy. Now pass the custard through a sieve so that no flour and yolk lumps remain.
  6. Cover the custard with cling wrap. Make sure the plastic is in contact with the surface of custard. This prevents the formation of skin on top of custard as it cools.
  7. Fill the custard in a disposable piping bag fitted with a small round tip.
  8. Once the dough has risen well, remove it on a floured surface and knead for a minute. Now roll it out into half an inch thickness. Use a round cutter to cut out donuts of your desired size. Place the donuts on a floured surface and let rest for another 15 minutes.
  9. Heat some Canola or peanut oil to about 120°C now deep fry the donuts. Remove on parchment paper.
  10. Let the fried donuts come to almost room temperature before you work on filling them.
  11. Using a skewer or cake pop stick, make a small hole in the side of each donut and wiggle the stick to enlarge the opening. Gently insert the tip of pipping bag in the hole and squeeze in the Boston cream.
  12. For the glaze, heat together chopped dark chocolate, butter, light corn syrup and cream in microwave for 40-50 seconds. Stir till smooth. Now add in icing sugar and milk. If the glaze is too thin add in more icing sugar but only half a cup at a time along with a tablespoon of milk to smooth any inconsistencies in the glaze.
  13. Dunk the filled donuts in the prepared glaze and let cool on wire rack.
VARIATION
  1. Chocolate ganache to dunk the donuts: Heat together chocolate, cream, light corn syrup and salt in microwave for 40 seconds l. Stir till smooth.
My Secret Bakes-Nazeeha Khan http://mysecretbakes.com/