How to prepare super soft custard cream doughnuts without a stand mixer, mixing in a bowl with a spoon, and only at the end working a bit by hand. A perfect and super soft brioche dough, with a delicious taste, thanks to the vanilla extract, grated orange, and lemon zest that make them delightful. The brioche can also be baked, but if we want to make doughnuts or crullers, to eat plain or filled, it’s necessary to fry them, because frying gives that typical taste. Once the doughnuts are ready, which unlike crullers do not have a hole in the center, we also need to think about filling them, great with Nutella or jam, but with custard cream, they are even more delicious. So it’s good to prepare in advance, to have time to let it cool well, also a very good custard cream. Custard cream doughnuts are absolutely a must, the most delicious desserts of Carnival, and with this definitive recipe, they are so easy that we can make them all year round. So let’s see how to prepare everything.
- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Economical
- Rest time: 4 Hours
- Preparation time: 1 Hour
- Portions: 15
- Cooking methods: Frying
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons, Carnival
Ingredients for custard cream doughnuts
- 2 cups Manitoba flour
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup milk
- 3 tbsp butter
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp fresh yeast
- 1 pinch salt
- zest of 1 orange
- zest of 1 lemon
- to taste vanilla
- sunflower oil for frying
- to taste powdered sugar
- 4.25 cups milk
- 4 egg yolks
- 1 pod vanilla
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup wheat starch or cornstarch
Tools to prepare custard cream doughnuts
- 2 Bowls
- 1 Small saucepan
- 1 Pot
- 1 Cooking spatula
- 1 Piping bag
- 1 Whisk
- 1 Plastic wrap
- 2 Parchment paper
- 1 Rolling pin
- 1 Pastry cutter
- 2 Plastic wraps
Steps to prepare custard cream doughnuts
We begin to prepare the dough for the doughnuts. In a bowl, we put warm milk with yeast, dissolve it, add the aromas, orange zest, lemon zest, and vanilla, then the egg, melted butter, sugar, a pinch of salt, and then gradually the flour, starting to work first with a spoon and finally with the harder dough by hand working on a surface to incorporate all the flour. Work well and return to the bowl to let our beautiful dough rise. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place, I do it in the oven with a pot of hot water and the light on.
In the meantime, prepare the custard cream. Open a vanilla pod and extract the seeds, I added them to the sugar. The pod is placed in a small saucepan with milk and brought almost to a boil.
In a small saucepan, put 4 egg yolks, add sugar, then starch and a little milk to obtain a smooth mixture without lumps, then gradually add all the milk and bring to cooking, always stirring, until it boils. Use a thick-bottomed saucepan or a non-stick one to prevent the custard from sticking and burning.
As soon as we have prepared the cream, pour it while still hot into a bowl and cover immediately with plastic wrap to avoid that unpleasant film. Let it cool completely.
When the dough has risen well, after about 3 hours, we take it and do 2 series of folds. We spread the dough and make three folds. We take a break between one fold and another.
After finishing with the folds, let it rest for half an hour. Then roll out to form a rectangle about 0.4 inches thick, using a rolling pin. Let the rolled dough rest a bit, then cut out our doughnuts with a 3-inch pastry cutter, about 15 will come out, and use the scraps too.
I let the doughnuts obtained rise on a baking sheet, or on large trays, on squares of parchment paper, so that they can be easily lifted and detached later. Let rise again in the warm oven for about an hour.
When they have risen well, fry in a deep pan, gently removing them from the parchment paper, fry in plenty of hot oil at about 350°F. Let them brown on one side and the other, and then dry on absorbent paper. If you wish, you can pass them in granulated sugar one at a time or sprinkle them with powdered sugar once filled. Let them cool.
Take the cream again, work it with a whisk, electric or manual, and put it into a piping bag. Puncture the doughnuts from one side with a nozzle, and fill with the piping bag. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and enjoy these delicious goodies. Ideally, consume them during the day, if you want to keep them for the next day I recommend closing them well, warming them slightly, in the microwave oven for 30 seconds, or in the oven, and fill them only as needed, so they will be as freshly made. To have soft brioche, it’s necessary to work the dough well and let them rise well.
These after 36 hours – with cream stored in the fridge, and doughnuts under a glass dome.
