By: Chef Erin Henry
Makes 8 large doughnuts
3/4 to 1 cup lukewarm water
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon yeast
2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
1 large egg
3 ½ cups All-Purpose Flour
1 teaspoon salt
In a large bowl, add the water, yeast and sugar. Stir, then let stand for 5 minutes. Add the flour and remaining ingredients and mix to combine. Knead for 10 minutes to make a soft, smooth dough. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it rise for 1 hour, or until it's nearly doubled in bulk.
Gently punch down the dough, and divide it into 8 pieces. Shape each piece into a round ball; flatten to about 3" across. Place them on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet, cover, and let rise for about an hour, until puffed up.
Preheat a deep-fryer or pot of canola oil to 350F. Fry the doughnuts 2-3 at a time, until they are golden brown on both sides. Place on a paper towel-lined plate and let cool completely before filling and topping.
Push a butter knife into the side of each doughnut, then wiggle it around to create a pocket for the cream. Use a piping bag to squeeze the cream in, then top with chocolate glaze and sprinkles.
Vanilla Pastry Cream
2 cups milk
½ cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup corn starch
2 egg yolks
½ vanilla bean, seeds scraped
Heat up about 2/3 of the milk with the vanilla seed and its scraped pod on medium heat. Place egg yolks, corn starch and sugar in a bowl, add the remaining 1/3 of the milk and whisk until smooth.
When the milk is simmering, ladle a little by little of the
hot milk to the egg yolk mixture about 1/4 at a time, whisking
as you add the milk, when mixture is homogenized.
Pour everything back into the pot.
Keep whisking until it reaches a boil. Take off heat and strain it into a container. Cover with plastic wrap, the wrap should be touching the surface of the pastry cream. Let cool and chill until ready to use.