Ria's Collection: Boston Creme Doughnuts

T
here was a time when I could live only on doughnuts.Our college canteen sold the best ever doughnuts in the city plus it was sugar coated. Not that I needed a sugar high in college, but it was fun eating it as the sugar used to stick all over our mouth and our college ~~stray~~ dog(s) used to wait under our open mouths hoping they would get some piece of it and if they didn't, they would jump up, scare us and make sure we drop it for them. That's how 'Jumpy' got ~~it's~~ his name. Then there were eagles swooping down from the roof to snatch it from our hands! It was an adventure!

Here in US, after every Sunday Mass all of us would gather in the Church basement for 'Coffee & Rolls'. They would keep a variety of doughnuts,cinnamon roll, coffee etc and we can have a share of it. I wait for it everyweek because I get to pick my favourite Boston Creme Doughnuts.

A few days ago, I had a bad craving for the same but I didn't get a chance to buy and eat it. So while I was planning for the DB challenge, I knew what variety I had to make. And trust me,it came out exactly the same way! I have made Sugar Doughnuts and Perfect Chocolate Doughnuts before, but nothing's like this one.This recipe is a keeper .

The October 2010 Daring Bakers Challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up. Lori chose to challenge DBers to make doughnuts.She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Neumann and Epicurious.

BOSTON CREME DOUGHNUTS
Recipe source for the doughnuts: Alton Brown

Ingredients:
For the doughnuts:
Milk- 1 1/2 c
Unsalted butter-1/3 c
Yeast-4.5 tsp
Warm water- 1/3c
Eggs-2 large, lightly beaten
Sugar-1/4c
Salt-1 1/2 tsp
Flour- 4 2/3 c
Oil for deep frying. You need about 3 inches of oil in the pan.

For the chocolate glaze:
Recipe by Lara Ferroni . I got this recipe from Kamran's blog

Powdered sugar- 11/2 c
Cocoa powder- 4 tbsp
Milk/Water- 6-7 tbsp (or as needed)
Vanilla Extract-2 tsp

1 portion Creme Patissierie

Method:
For the doughnuts:

Place the butter in a large mixing bowl.Heat the milk just to warm it through. Pour over the butter and mix together so that the butter melts with the heat from the milk.
In the meantime, add the yeast to the warm water and set aside for 5-10 mins or till foamy.
Add the yeast mixture, eggs, sugar, salt and half the flour to the butter-milk mixture and mix using the paddle attachement of your stand mixer or with a wooden spoon.
Once it's all mixed together, add in half the amount of flour and mix till incorporated.
Add in the remaining flour and knead/use the dough hook and mix for 3-4 mins of till the dough leaves the side of the bowl.
Place the dough in an oiled bowl and allow it to rise for 1 hour or till doubled in size.
Once it has doubled in size, dump it onto a well floured surface, roll and cut it into the shape you want.For Boston Creme Doughnuts, make plain rounds.
Arrange all the cut dough on a lightly floured cake tin/plate/chopping board, cover with a tea towel and allow it to rest for 30 mins.
Heat the oil to 360F/180C. Deep fry the doughnuts giving 1/2 a minute on each side.
Drain and reserve.

For filling:

Transfer the cooled creme pattisierie into a piping bag/ketchup bottle.
Poke a hole into the side of the doughnut and squeeze out some custard into it. You will feel the doughnut becoming heavy. Stop it there.
Dip it in chocolate glaze and allow it to set.

For the chocolate glaze:

Sift together the powdered sugar and cocoa powder to avoid any lumps.
Add in the milk/water and vanilla extract and mix to form a glaze . The consistency is upto you.
This glaze will thicken if you leave it unattended.You just need to add a few drops of milk/water to loosen it.
Dip the doughnuts in the glaze and allow it to set for 10 mins.

Verdict:
Soft as cotton would be the best way to describe these doughnuts. I couldn't resist so I had a bite of just-out-of-the-oil doughnuts. When I told Jobin that I am going to make doughnuts for DB today and asked for his preference, he said he wanted it plain. But the sometimes-creative-person in me went crazy with chocolate frosting and Boston Creme Doughnuts.

The recipe said it would make 24 doughnuts and 24 doughnut holes. But I got 48 of them!!! I immediately called him and asked him whether I could pack some for his office and he obliged. When I asked him how it was recieved in the office, he said,' It got over in less that 5 mins,next time make some more :-)' Though he wanted only the plain ones, he ended up eating every variety :-) So did I.

Now,what are you waiting for? Try these immensely easy,delicious, hassle free doughnuts today!