{Doughnuts} with Creme Patissiere and Homemade Apple Jam

It’s Doughnut week! Apparently. I read somewhere I am sure…well if not let’s celebrate it anyway. I made these last week end which was lovely and relaxing, until that is I got sick. Meh. I couldn’t face posting this until now, food not really being in my mind! But it all worked out. I am starting to feel better, which feels like a win all by itself, but mostly it’s Friday and this means week end and this means we can celebrate a little.

I had never made doughnuts before. I’ve always wanted to but I was a bit scared. Dough and yeast is not really my thing. It’s more Christoph’s thing (he makes some awesome bread: Beer Battered Rye Bread, Caraway, Rye and Ale Bread, Soda Bread). I mean it’s not that I don’t enjoy it. I just haven’t use it much so I am not as confident. But hey the whole idea of this year was to try new things for me so this ticks that box. AND it ticks the this-tastes-bloody-amazing box. The best box there is.

Once I decided I was going to have a go at them, Christoph and I sat down for a very serious and important talk: what type of doughnut? Did we want hole ones or whole ones? Now that one was an easy decision for me as my favourite is always the whole ones as it can be filled with more goodness! I know I know, I’m so greedy.

This however let to the most important question: what do fill them with? Now this one was kind of tough because the options were endless. As the recipe made 10 doughnuts we thought we might as well have 2 different types of fillings. Makes sense right? Well all I can say is that it was the best decision I’ve made in a while.

Christoph’s favourite filling is Jam. The previous week I had made some homemade Apple Jam (I used a similar recipe than the one I did here, however this time I did not use any pectin and added extra lemon juice instead. Worked a treat!) so that was a no brainer. Filling numero 1 sorted.

Personally I favour a creamy filling. And so, in another effort to try something that I had never done before, I decided to make some vanilla creme patissiere. Best. Idea. Ever. It reminded me so much of a Brazilian treat called Sonho (meaning “dream” in  Portuguese, and they really are dreamily delicious). Don’t get me wrong they weren’t Sonhos but it vividly reminded me of them. Which now means I am going to have to try and make them too! Christoph is highly upset about this obviously 😛

Once all of those very important decisions were made it was time to have a go. I chose to try a Paul Hollywood recipe as I had one in one of the Great British Bake Off books. But also because you just know they are going to be good if it’s one of his recipes. If only I could work a dough the way he does. It’s mesmerizing and so beautiful right? Yeah..not the same when I do it.

I think that for a first timer they looked quite good? I didn’t get that pretty light ring around them for some reason though. I was a bit sad about that. Does anyone know why that would be the case? I couldn’t work it out. Let me know! I would love to find out why for next time.

But one thing that was spot on was the fillings. They were delicious. Apple jam doughnuts are sooo good. And creme pat. Well for me that’s a winner right there. As you can see from the pictures I filled them up to the absolute max. So worth it, you don’t want your doughnuts to have hardly any filling right? You want it ooze out and go everywhere on your face and hands!

Doughnuts with Apple Jam and Creme Patissiere

For the Apple Jam:

See my recipe here. This time I used just plain sugar without pectin and added a couple more tbsps of lemon.

For the Vanilla Creme Patissiere (recipe from The Little Paris Kitchen by Rachel Khoo)

6 medium egg yolks

100g caster sugar

40g cornstarch

1 vanilla pod or 1tbsp of  vanilla paste

500ml of whole milk

Whisk the eggs with the caster sugar until light and fluffy then add the cornstarch.

In a pan add the milk and the vanilla. Bring it to the boil and remove from the heat. If using a pod remove it before slowly pouring the milk over your egg and sugar mix. Whisk the whole time.

Return it all to the pan over a medium heat and keep mixing. When the cream starts to thicken and you see a bubble remove from the heat (Advice: Don’t leave it to get too thick. Mine did get really thick, but it all worked out in the end after I filled the doughnuts with it. And it still tasted really good. But I think I got lucky)

Pour it in a tray lined with cling film and cover it with another bit of cling film. Put it in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

Doughnuts – Makes 10 (Recipe by Paul Hollywood from the Great British Bake Off  How to turn everyday bakes into showstoppers)

500g of Strong white flour

50g of caster sugar

40g softened unsalted butter

2 x 7g fast action yeast sachets

10g salt

2 large eggs at room temperature

150ml lukewarm milk

130ml lukewarm water

Oil for deep-frying

Beat your eggs. Add flour, sugar, butter, yeast, salt (on opposite side of yeast), the beaten eggs, milk and 3/4 of the water in a mixing bowl and with your hands mix into  a firm dough. After this point I used my electric standing mixer using a dough hook but if you prefer doing it by hand go for it.

Add the remaining water slowly and let the mixer do it’s thing for 4 minutes until the dough is soft (My dough was quite sticky so I wonder if I might not have need the extra water. Keep an eye out for this).

Flour your worktop. Drop your dough and start kneading it for 10 min so that it is very smooth and elastic. (I did this bit by hand. It’s a nice workout!). Make it into a nice ball and put it in a bowl oiled lightly to rise at room temperature for an hour. Cover with a damp cloth.

Flour your worktop again and punch your dough to remove excess air. Divide the dough in 10 portions and shape them into balls. Flour a tray and place them slightly apart and leave to rise again for an hour.

Heat your oil to 180C/350F and carefully drop your doughnuts in small batches. and fry until golden brown (Paul says to do this until golden brown or for 5 min. If I had done mine for 5 min they would have been black. And I checked my oil temp so I am not sure why that would have been the case. So I will leave this up to you to decide. But make sure it’s cooked through). Remove with a slotted spoon and roll it in caster sugar. Leave it cool.

Once cooled you can fill them with up. Using a knife make an incision. Push your pipping bag into the whole and pipe in lots of filling (careful not to add so much that it explodes on the underside! We had one like this as I went a little overboard, but it was eaten straight away and it was awesome 🙂 )

These are totally delicious, decadent, satisfying and feel rather naughty. As all doughnuts should! I can’t wait to try making them again, ironing out little bits that were not perfect, and to try out other fillings. The possibilities are endless! I am taking this to this week’s #Fiesta Friday, which is this week hosted by Justine @ Eclectic odds n sods and Jhuls @ The Not So Creative Cook. I hope you all enjoy it!