Vanilla Cream-Filled Doughnuts
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!
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Watch How to Make These Cream-Filled Dougnuts:
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
Ingredients
For the Dough:
- 2½ teaspoons (2.5 teaspoons) active dry yeast
- ⅔ cup (162.67 ml) whole milk, at room temperature
- 3½ cups (437.5 g) all-purpose flour
- ⅓ cup (66.67 g) granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 3 eggs
- 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into 8 pieces, (3½ ounces)
For the Pastry Cream:
- 1½ cups (366 ml) whole milk
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- ¼ cup (31.25 g) cake flour
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) kosher salt
- 4 egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 6 tablespoons heavy cream
For Frying:
- 1 gallon (3.79 l) canola oil
For the Coating:
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
Instructions
- 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.
- 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).
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Notes
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I absolutely love this recipe, so much so I included it in my Ultimate Homemade Donut Recipes Roundup! Great post, have a great day xo
http://dreamingofleaving.com/2017/01/01/the-ultimate-homemade-donut-recipe-roundup/
Hello! I have actually never made doughnuts and thought I’d make your recipe. I do have a question about the dough.. are we making a soft dough like we do for cinnamon rolls? This is my assumption, but I wanted to make sure as you didn’t mention the feel of the dough. (I always do dough by feel, sorry)
Hi Christine, Yes, it’s a soft dough. Enjoy!
I can’t believe I spent so many years of my life not liking cream filled donuts/doughnuts – I’m sure if they were all homemade and looked this delicious I would totally have liked them a lot more. Absolutely mouthwatering!!
Best doughnuts I ever tasted! Worth every second of prep/proofing/frying/cooling time!
Hi, im intrested in making these donuts- i was just wondering- the dough needs to rise twice? the first time after making it and the second time after cutting to donuts shapes? if so- at the first time ,you wrote to wrap the dough tightly with plastic wrap- if wrapped tightly, will the dough be able to rise?
secondly, is it possible to make the dough and the filling a day before frying it? im really busy at work right now and dont have the time to make it in one day.
Thank you so much in advance, I would be very glad if you couls please answer as soon as possible because im planning on making these donuts for my boyfriend’s birthday. (which is in four days from now)
Danielle
Hi Danielle, Refrigerating the dough isn’t meant for it to be a big rise, but rather a slow development of the gluten. Wrapping in plastic wrap is perfectly fine. And yes, you can make the dough and filling the day before! Happy birthday to your boyfriend (he has the same birthday as my son!) :)
I’m an old geezer (71) and have had a love affair with custard-filled donuts since I was about 5 yrs old. Growing up in Pittsburgh there was a wonderful Jewish bakery called The Waldorf. We’d get a dozen every Sunday. Now as a golden oldie i live near a bakery that makes them too. I’ve seen them called custard-filled ,cream-filled and the disgusting mis-spelling CREME-filled. They have an official name however. They are called BISMARKS.
In Hawaii we have these. They are called cream filled malasadas.
To be honest I’ve never been a fan of doughnuts probably because I never had a good one. But your pictures look so good, I definitely want to try some homemade ones.
Thank you for the recipe although I did have some issues. I’d never made donuts or yeast products before and it was not as easy as your recipe sounded! About 2 hours active prep for me. Filling was easy and delicious but there was so much leftover and i had 15 donuts, smaller recipe would be good. Also, brand new yeast but they never seemed to rise – left for almost 4 hours and they only grew a little. A picture of what these should look like as pillowy would really have helped. Fried OK but some were flat bottomed with a white circle in the middle when I flipped them, not sure why. Taste pretty good just a bit yeasty for me. Happy for an experiment but not sure if I’d try again
Don’t know if you’d see this comment as I just came across your recipe two years after it was published, but what do you do with the oil after using? I usually don’t fry anything because it seems like a waste to buy one gallon of oil for 12 donuts, or whatever the recipe calls for. Do you re-use the oil or just pitch it?
Hi Susan, It depends on what I’m making and how much oil was used. We save the oil from our Thanksgiving turkey, but if it’s a smaller amount, then I’ll just discard it if I don’t have anything else planned to fry. You could definitely save and re-use it, though.
Can you use the same dough/cooking times to make both filled donuts, and ones with holes? So I can have a mixed batch with the same recipe
made these yesterday for hanukah, and they were soooo good!!
thanks for the recipe!
Hi. Thank yo SOOOO much for this recipe! As I’m waiting for my doughnuts to cool so I can add the cream, I thought I’d ask for tops on making the dough rise. Mine are a bit flatter than what’s pictured in this post so I’m pretty sure I dropped the ball somewhere with the process, although I did follow the recipe closely.
Thanks again!!!
Oh I just have to try these…they look so yummy…
i tried this recipe today its perfect!
Is it okay if I refrigerate them for 4 hours?
Could this be dough be refrigerated for less than 6hours?
Hi Shaniqua, Unfortunately not, it needs that time to rest and chill.
I Googled “pastry cream” and among the list was BEB’s recipe. Of course, I clicked on yours, because I love and trust your recipes. When this post popped up…… OMG!!! 1) I could have licked the screen! 2) I thought, “where was I, that I missed this post?” Ahhh — in the hospital — Well, not now! I have printed the recipe and will make these little round bundles of luscious vanilla cream, coated with damp sugar crystals. Heaven on the tongue!! Thank you, lovely lady!!
Is it possible to fry the donuts and make the cream one day prior and then fill the donuts the day of or do you need to fill the donuts the same day they are fried???
Hi Dayna, I recommend eating these (and, thus, filling them) the same day that you fry them. However, you can make the cream a day or two in advance.
Hey, omg, i made these perfect, soft, creamy donuts two days ago and even today they still taste fresh and spongy. This is one of those must try foods for everybody! It takes a while, but it’s worth it.
hi! this recipe is amazing!!!! i have some leftover vanilla filling…can i freeze it?? thanks!!!
Hi Melissa, I’m so glad you enjoyed the doughnuts! I would not recommend freezing the pastry cream, but you can refrigerate it for up to 5 to 7 days.
These look lovely! I was just wondering what size eggs I should use – medium or large? Also, are there any alternatives to canola oil and kosher salt? Just a bit tricky to get hold of them. Thank you!
Hi Hayley, Use large eggs (always large unless stated otherwise). You can substitute vegetable oil for canola oil, and any coarse sea salt should work in place of kosher salt. Enjoy!
I made these for our Christmas Eve party !! They were surprisingly easy ! They were beautiful and insanely delicious ! Thank you for the amazing recipe !
I just made these and omg! They are gorgeous!
Do you think baking these at 350°F would be an acceptable alternative to frying them? Or would some component of the doughnuts be majorly compromised via baking?
Thanks,
Diana
Hi Diana, I have never baked doughnuts, so I’m not sure how they would come out. If you try it, please stop back and share the results!
These look fabulous and I can see using it as a base for some creative doughnuts by either replacing the vanilla extract with another extract such as peanut butter or maple or by infusing the milk with either herbs or tea (chai or earl grey come to mind but I have a chocolate mint tea by Harney and Son’s that would probably be fantastic) before adding it to the cream filling ingredients…. anyway I can’t wait t see the next recipe ;-)
Wow,,, way to much work!!!! Sounds very tasty !!!!! Cheaper to buy!! Thank- you for the recipe!!! Have a great day.
oh yum! they look great!
this is the same recipe I found in marthastewart.com… you could have just given the link… instead of copying it..
Deborah, The recipe is actually from Flour’s cookbook (it’s a bakery in Boston), which is the recipe I used. You’ll see that Martha Stewart uses the same recipe and credits Flour in her headnote. I wouldn’t have directly linked to Martha Stewart, because that’s not the original source of the recipe.
I love cooking, especially baking. I got this gene directly from my mommy :) I love Doughnuts. But this Creme filled doughnuts I have never cooked before. It looks yum and I’ve pinned it in my cookbook for the next try :) Thanks Michelle
Oh my Hannah these are delicious.