Vanilla Cream-Filled Doughnuts
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I’m sure that I must have mentioned here at some point that I didn’t really grow up in a doughnut-loving household. I know for some people they were a tradition, maybe a Sunday-morning-after-church thing. They really weren’t ever a thing at my house; I’m not sure if it’s because my parents didn’t care for them or if they didn’t want us to get hooked on fried dough, but we hardly ever ate them. As a result, anytime they were offered to me, they never really knocked my socks off. I could take them or leave them and, usually, I left them. The lone exception was if I managed to find one that was filled with cream. Not icing, but cream. Bonus if it was Boston cream, but I would happily devour any cream-filled doughnut that crossed my path. It was only a matter of time before I made them appear in my kitchen!
I first began experimenting with doughnuts at home almost as a challenge to myself… I was practically willing myself to love doughnuts. As it turned out, like with many things, I found the doughnuts that I fried up at home to taste significantly better than the ones I was offered as a kid. I started off with easy buttermilk doughnuts (the sugar coated ones were my favorite!), then moved on to beignets and apple fritter doughnuts. The apple fritter ones were the first that I tackled in the “yeasted doughnut” category and I really loved the light and fluffy texture that the interior of the doughnuts had, so when I saw that these cream-filled doughnuts were yeast-based I was elated.
They turned out exactly as I had hoped – a thin, crisp exterior that gives way to an airy and tender center filled with a pastry cream that has been lightened up by whipped cream. The doughnuts are rolled in a coating of granulated sugar while they’re still warm, which causes it to just sort of melt onto the exterior of the doughnut. When you bite into them, they’re crisp, a little crunchy from the sugar and smooth and creamy inside. Basically, they are cream-filled doughnut perfection. They are a bit time-consuming (almost all of it is non-active prep time, though), so just be sure to plan ahead and accordingly. They are well worth it!
Next up… cake doughnuts!
One year ago: Texas Sheet Cake and Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes
Two years ago: Moon Pies
Three years ago: Asiago Bagels
Vanilla Cream-Filled Doughnuts
Yield: 9 doughnuts
Prep Time: 10 hours
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 12 hours
A recipe for sweet, yeasted doughnuts that are tossed in sugar and filled with a light vanilla cream.
Ingredients:
For the Dough:
2½ teaspoons active dry yeast
⅔ cup whole milk, at room temperature
3½ cups all-purpose flour
⅓ cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
3 eggs
7 tablespoons (3½ ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into 8 piecesFor the Pastry Cream:
1½ cups whole milk
½ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup cake flour
½ teaspoon kosher salt
4 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract6 tablespoons heavy cream
For Frying:
1 gallon canola oilFor the Coating:
1 cup granulated sugarDirections:
1. Make the Dough: In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, stir together yeast and milk; let stand until yeast is dissolved, about 1 minute. Add the flour, sugar, salt and eggs; mix on low speed until the dough comes together, about 3 minutes. Add the butter, two pieces at a time, mixing after each addition and until butter is fully incorporated and dough is soft, a total of 5 to 6 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl and wrap tightly with plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 6 hours and up to 15 hours.
2. Make the Pastry Cream: While the dough is chilling, make the pastry cream. In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks until well combined, about 30 seconds. Slowly whisk in the flour mixture until thick and pasty. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, warm the milk until bubbles just start to form around the edges (do not let the milk boil).
3. Remove the milk from the heat and slowly drizzle into the egg mixture, whisking constantly. Scrape the egg mixture back into the saucepan and place over medium heat, whisking constantly until the mixture thickens and comes to a boil, about 3 minutes. Boil, whisking, for 10 seconds (the cream will become thick and glossy and won't have any foam on top), then immediately remove from heat.
4. Pour the pastry cream through a fine mesh sieve set over a small bowl and whisk in the vanilla. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing the plastic wrap against the surface of the pastry cream to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until chilled, at least 4 hours and up to 3 days.
5. Prepare the Doughnuts: Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spray lightly with non-stick cooking spray; set aside. Place the refrigerated dough on a well-floured work surface and gently roll into a 12-inch square (it should be about ½-inch thick). Cut the dough into 9 doughnuts using a 3½-inch round cutter. Transfer the doughnuts to the prepared baking sheet, cover with a piece of plastic wrap that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray, and place in a warm spot until they've doubled in height and feel poufy and pillowy, 2 to 3 hours.
6. Fry the Doughnuts: Fill a large, heavy-bottomed pot with 3 inches of oil and place over medium-high heat until it reaches 350 degrees F on a deep-fry thermometer. While the oil heats, line a baking sheet with a double layer of paper towels for draining the doughnuts. Place the sugar in a small bowl and set aside.
7. Working with three doughnuts at a time, carefully lower the doughnuts into the hot oil and fry until golden brown on the underside, 2 to 3 minutes. Carefully turn the doughnuts over and fry for an additional 2 to 3 minutes, or until the other side is golden brown as well. Using a slotted spoon or a spider strainer, remove the doughnuts to the paper towel-lined baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining doughnuts.
8. As soon as the doughnuts are cool enough to handle, toss them in the sugar one at a time to evenly coat them. Return the doughnuts to the paper towel-lined pan and allow to cool completely, 30 to 40 minutes.
9. Fill the Doughnuts: While you're waiting for the doughnuts to cool, beat the 6 tablespoons of heavy cream on medium-high speed until still peaks form. Whisk the chilled pastry cream to loosen it up, then gently fold in one-third of the whipped cream. Fold in the remaining whipped cream until no white streaks remain.
10. Transfer the cream to a pastry bag fitting with a small round decorating tip (a Wilton #12 would work well for this). Poke a hole in the side of each doughnut and fill with pastry cream. The doughnuts should be served as soon as they are filled. They are best the same day they are made.
(Recipe adapted from Flour, as seen on Martha Stewart)
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Holy Hannah… how did you know this lady needed more donuts in her life. I owe you one!
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Anything that involves 1 gallon of oil is going to be good
And oh yes vanilla pastry cream doesn’t hurt! Seriously, they’re stunning, Michelle! I don’t fry at home (4 days later I can still smell it!) but if I did, these would be the donuts to try. I love that you have challenged yourself w/ donuts and have made yeast & filled versions. Pinned!
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I.LOVE.DONUTS! Especially the yeast based types. I think they are in another league to cake ones, although they clearly take more time! This cream sounds so good, I have never had a cream filled donut, so I guess I will have to make these!
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Woohoo! Funny, i also came from a non-donut acquiring family, but I wound up with the opposite relationship. Whenever they showed up at school bake sales or Channukah parties, I was ON THAT in a hot second. I still love taking my car to get serviced because there’s always a box of donuts in the waiting area.
But, for sure, homemade beats anything out of a box, and these look amazing!
Also, I just want to give you a shout out for how incredibly prolific you are. I am amazed at how often you manage to post new, fantastic content. As a reader, it totally makes my day. Hope you are feeling better – cheers, my dear!
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I never could say no to a doughnut as a kid, and still can’t.
They look delicious! 1 have to try them!
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These donuts are soooooooo perfect! I need to find my fryer so I can make these! The cream inside looks amazing!!!!!!
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They look amazing! thanks for posting. This is a recipe for when my youngest comes homes from college.
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We have donuts at my church and the very best (everyone thinks so) are the red velvet cake donuts! These look delicious as well!!
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Boston cream filled donuts are one of my favourites but your vanilla cream filling sounds delicious and your donuts look wonderful!
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Cream-filled doughnuts are the BEST, and yours look absolutely perfect!
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We were definitely a donut eating family, we would head to the grocery store for a dozen on special weekends. (aka, the weekends that mom had to work and dad had to feed us!) I’ve got to get over my aversion to frying, because these look amazing.
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Mmmm! LOVE good donuts – and I have some pastry cream in the fridge, too. This is gonna be gooood!
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I had my share of donuts when I was younger. I always loved chocolate old fashioned, blueberry cake donuts, and cream filled. Forget the jelly, it was cream! I almost never eat them now, but yours look so good I’m kind of thinking that’s going to change soon. They look gorgeous!
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Holy Moly, those doughnuts look INSANE. I’m always a bit intimidated by pastry cream but after your reading your recipe I think I can do it! I usually make a high-calorie treat every Saturday morning so I’ll add this to my list!
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These look amazing! But I’m pretty sure if I made them I would eat every single one in a matter of hours.
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Ok these look amazing! I have got to try and make donuts. These look even better because they are creamed filled! Yummo!
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Well, I’m an icing-filled doughnut lover and Boston cream typically makes me gag, so while these look delicious, I can’t figure out what to make of that cream-filled center. The inclusion of the whipped cream into the pastry cream makes me think it might be sweeter and lighter than I’m imagining. Is the cream thick and pudding like or sweet and with more of a whipped consistency?
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Michelle on March 6th, 2013 at 7:56 pm
Hi Melinda, This cream sort of falls in the middle. It’s definitely not as thick as a true pastry cream, but it’s not as light and pillowy as plain whipped cream.
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Melinda M on March 6th, 2013 at 9:03 pm
Thanks, Michelle! I think it’s worth trying, especially seeing as how it’s surrounded by fried dough
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Mindy on April 7th, 2013 at 10:35 am
Also it’s worth noting that the whipped cream you make to fold into the pastry cream is only heavy whipping cream, with no sugar added. If you’ve ever made whipped cream from scratch the whipping cream itself isn’t actually sweet (which is why most whipped cream recipes call for adding confectioners sugar to it), so I would imagine this would tone down the sweetness of the pastry cream a little, as well as lightening it. I’m very excited to try this recipe!
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I love, love, love donuts! I never turned one down when growing up (in fact, they were my after-school snack of choice), although even stranger – I didn’t like the taste of butter or avocado growing up! Imagine that!
This month’s issue of Saveur is dedicated to donuts, so this post is especially timely. I can add this recipe to the many I’m going to try in the coming weeks. Thank you for sharing!
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Saeriu on March 7th, 2013 at 2:12 pm
I, too, have been trying to decide which of the recipes in this month’s Saveur to try. As far as the donuts are concerned. Too many choices! My family loves donuts and I like to make them once in a while since there are no donuts near where we live.
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I need to try making donuts at home. These look incredible!
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These look mouth-watering! Pinned! We always grew up with homemade fried donuts. So with me, the ones in the local grocery bakery does not even come close to the ones you make from home! (Especially when I asked the “baker” in the store one morning if she had sugared donuts out yet. With some inconvenience of getting one from the back, she had given me a frozen donut and thought that she’d do me the favor and NUKE it for me into rubber-ness!)
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Wow! That woke me up! My favorite donut popped up on screen before the coffee kicked in!
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LOVE!!!
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ooooooohhhhhhhhh…….
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Is it possible to just bake the doughnuts and not fry them? I would love to make doughnuts, but cringe when I have to fry them.
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Michelle on March 6th, 2013 at 8:04 pm
Hi Trang, There are a lot of doughnut recipes out there created specifically for baking, but these should be fried for optimum flavor. You could always try baking these, but I have no idea how they would turn out.
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Sarah on May 17th, 2013 at 4:48 pm
You know, you can use palm shortening for frying and there are actually some good health benefits with it!
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These look like a Portuguese donut called “malasada”. I grew up eating those as a kid in Hawaii.
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My husband loves cream filled donuts, he would love it if I made these for him!
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One of the things that keeps me from frying is that I never know what to do with all that oil when I’m done. Do you keep it for future frying or do you dispose of it somehow?
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Michelle on March 6th, 2013 at 8:16 pm
Hi Rebecca, I’ve done both, depending on how soon I know I’ll be frying something again (if I can use it within a couple of weeks).
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I am with you, I only eat doughnuts with cream in them. Bavarian cream is my favorite. I would love to make these, however I do not deep fry things. Do you happen to know of a way to make these by baking in the oven?
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Michelle on March 6th, 2013 at 8:19 pm
Hi Laura, I don’t. I do know that there are tons of doughnut recipes out there created specifically for baking (not frying), though!
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Swoon…..
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I made these as a birthday treat for myself a few years ago and absolutely loved them even though I had a few minor issues. Mine didn’t look anywhere near as good as yours, they’re total perfection!
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I woke up to this recipe in my inbox this morning. Now if only I had woken up to a plate of them in my kitchen. Saturday can’t get here soon enough! Thanks for another great one!!
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Michelle! These caught my eye right away on Facebook.
They are gorgeous! I love cream filled doughnuts – but not as much as my fiance. He will just die when I show him these. And then beg me to make them. 
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I have been wanting to make these ever since I got the Flour book! I think I will be making these soon!
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Michelle – these look AMAZING!! Seriously…probably the prettiest donut I’ve ever seen.
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Whoa! Ten hours! I’ll just enjoy the pics and go to Krispy Kreme. These look scrumptious though!
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Michelle on March 7th, 2013 at 9:41 am
Dana, That’s the total time, almost all which includes letting the dough rest, i.e. no work is required from you. There’s probably a total of 15-20 minutes of actual active time before you fry them!
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Ugh, YES!!! Those look like MALASADAS, a dessert we eat in Hawai’i. Can’t wait to try out this recipe! Thanks for posting it!
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Oh my gosh your photos! Of that cream filling in those donuts! They look amazing, I want to reach right into my screen and grab one! Yum!
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These look amazing! It’s probably a good thing I don’t own a fryer!!
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A M A Z I N G !!!
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Filled doughnuts are one of my favorite things in the world. These look absolutely perfect!!
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I am addicted to cream filled donuts!!!
I am going to try and make these tonight. If I can get them to look like this I wll love you forever!
Thank You
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Most beautiful donut I have ever seen. If it tastes half as good as it looks it’s a keeper.
Thanks!
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The look like a lot of work, but they also look TOTALLY worth it. Maybe next time I have a few days i’ll surprise my family with some homemade doughnuts. YUM!! Pinned…
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The cream filled doughnuts were always my favorite!! These look better than any doughnut I’ve ever eaten!
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Holy moly. I know you’re just getting started, but you could stop here and the world would have its perfect homemade doughnut.
These look amazing.
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Holy moly these look Fantastic!! Great job Michelle:)
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I am in doughnut heaven right now! Omgggggggggggg
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We think alike, I have this cookbook and have been meaning to make this recipe. This cookbook is sooo good.
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I love doughnuts but it’s so hard to find super yummy ones. I keep wanting to make some at home and these might have to be the first recipe I try!
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Oh wow yum, your doughnuts look incredible!
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Yippee! So happy you posted this recipe as I have been looking for a custard donut recipe for a while now and have found one that I like the look of!! I have a great recipe for jam doughnuts, but can’t wait to try this one. Will let you know how I get on.
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This looks great – question, do you think I could fill them with jam/jelly? Thanks!
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Any tips for someone who does not have a mixer? I m new to “dough” and would love to make these!
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Michelle on March 21st, 2013 at 2:05 pm
Hi Keshia, Not using a mixer would be difficult when incorporating the butter. You could definitely mix by hand with a wooden spoon and/or knead by hand, but be sure the butter gets fully incorporated.
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my fiance would love if I knew how to make doughnuts!
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I have never had good tasting Boston Cream filling and I’m over 65 years of age. I also prefer cake type doughnuts as yeast doughnuts are not my specialty either. Can you come up with a recipe for a cake type doughnut that can be creme filled?
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These look amazing!! I’d love to make them but fear they would cause an addiction for me
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This is the second recipe of yours that I’ve clicked on from Pinterest in the last few minutes so now I’m following you on FB, Twitter and Pinterest! These doughnuts look irresistible!
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Hi Michelle
I made these a few days ago, they were so great! Thank you so much. I especially fell in love with the cream, I never expected it to turn out as good as it did. I did have 3 issues; when I tried to put the cream through the sieve it was a nightmare, is it supposed to be easy to do or is it difficult because of its thickness? Also, the doughnuts didn’t rise even after 3 hours of resting time, I covered them with a towel (maybe it was too heavy and didn’t allow them to rise?) and put them in the oven (switched off of course). Lastly, the dough was very very sticky, I had to add a significant amount of flour to even handle it, could that be the reason I had a lot more than 9 doughnuts at the end?
I would love to get feedback, because I can’t wait to make them again, thanks a lot
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Michelle on April 15th, 2013 at 11:10 pm
When pressing the cream through a sieve, it will be a little thick, but using the back of a large spoon to press it into the bottom of the sieve should do the trick. The dough should definitely rise – make sure you are using fresh yeast that has not expired or been sitting in a cabinet for a long time. It’s possible that the towel could have been too heavy; try using plastic wrap that’s just gently laid overtop, not secured down. The number of doughnuts would have more to do with the size. Unless you added a drastically large amount of flour, that wouldn’t have caused the quantity to change.
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WOW!!! I made these puppies over the weekend and they were amazing. Thank you so much for this recipe. Mine were gluten free. If you want to see them, here is the link…http://www.goingcavewoman.com/gluten-free-vanilla-cream-doughuts.
You recipes are so reliable and your photography a delight. Thanks Brown Eyed Baker.
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I have the Flour cookbook and have been meaning to make these since I bought it; they look divine. I recommend the book Top Pot Hand-Forged Doughnuts, which I bought almost solely for the photo of their Pershing doughnut. I made them last month and they were *unbelievable*, better than any I’d had from a bakery.
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Oh my Hannah these are delicious.
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