Making Crème Brûlée Doughnuts

Can you believe that there is only one recipe in the world wide web for creme brulee doughnuts? (Edit: Now there’s another!) I didn’t use the one I found, however, and sort of just wing it. The result is a crusty doughnut with a doughy inside and smooth vanilla custard filling, with a rather failed attempt at making a brulee top because I didn’t have a blowtorch and decided to just stick the sugar-covered doughnuts under the broiler. I also fried the doughnuts with the filling already inside instead of frying it first then filling it with a piping bag, because it can be quite tricky unless you have a long enough piping tip to get to the centre - there is nothing worse than an asymmetrically filled doughnut.

In other news, 3 weeks have passed in the internal medicine department and 9 more weeks is to come. Next week we’re going to switch hospital wings (we’ve been in the wing with the female & AIDS patients; we’ll be handling male patients for the next 3 weeks before moving to another hospital) and residents and I’m only hoping for the best for now. So yeah, I’m hoping this would make up for the lack of food posts as of late and then to also make up for the lack of food post in the near future.

Edit:

So check this out, I’ve just read a recipe for creme brulee doughnuts from I am a Food Blog, and they came up with this ingenious idea of making the sugar stick on top of the doughnuts while you brulee it - make a sugar glaze! So I’m going to incorporate their method into this recipe.

YEAST-RAISED DOUGHNUTS (yields 24 doughnuts, I made half the recipe):

[ 3/4 cup scalded milk + 1/3 cup granulated sugar + 1/4 teaspoon salt + 1 (.25 ounce) envelope active dry yeast + 1/4 cup warm water + 4 cups sifted all-purpose flour + 1/3 cup butter or margarine + 2 eggs, beaten ] OPTIONAL: 1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in warm water and leave to sit for 5 minutes.

In another bowl, pour the milk over the butter. The heat of the scalded milk should be hot enough to melt the butter.

Pour the yeast mixture into the large bowl of a stand mixer and add the milk-butter mixture, first making sure the milk-butter mixture has cooled to lukewarm. Add the eggs, sugar and salt, nutmeg (if using) and half of the flour.

Using the paddle attachment, combine the ingredients on low speed until flour is incorporated and then turn the speed up to medium and beat until well combined.

Add the remaining flour, combining on low speed at first, and then increase the speed to medium and beat well.

Change to the dough hook attachment of the mixer and beat on medium speed until the dough pulls away from the bowl and becomes smooth, approximately 3 to 4 minutes.

Transfer to a well-oiled bowl, cover, and let rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

While you wait, make the custard filling:

VANILLA CUSTARD FILLING:

[ 2 1/2 cups of milk + 3 eggs + 6 tablespoon of sugar + 4 tablespoon of cornflour + 6 drops of vanilla extract + 1/2 teaspoon salt ]

Put 2 cups of milk in a saucepan and heat until just boiling.

Beat the eggs and sugar in a mixing bowl and add the salt and vanilla essence.

Dissolve the cornflour in the 1/2 cup of milk and mix this into the egg mixture. Whisk until combined.

Slowly add the hot milk into the egg-milk-cornflour mixture while whisking.

Return to the saucepan and cook over low heat until the mixture turns thick. Make sure to keep whisking so that the custard wont turn lumpy.

Put in a bowl and cover the surface with cling film and chill in the fridge until it is firm.

ASSEMBLY:

Knock the dough back then split into 10-12 equal sized balls.

Flatten out each ball until it is a disk approximately 9cm in diameter.

Place 1 teaspoon of custard in the centre then fold over the edges of the dough to encase the custard. Use a small amount of water to help seal the dough.

Place well spaced on a lined baking tray. Cover and allow to rise again for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oil in a dutch oven to 365 degrees F. Gently place the doughnuts into the oil, 3 to 4 at a time. Cook for 1 minute per side. Transfer to a cooling rack placed in baking pan.

For the topping, make a simple sugar glaze:

SUGAR GLAZE:

[ 1/2 to 3/4 cups icing sugar + 1 tablespoons water + splash of vanilla extract ]

Mix all ingredients together until smooth.

Dip the tops of the doughnuts into the glaze and set down on a baking sheet, glaze side up.

Place a half teaspoon of sugar over the top of each doughnut. Using a kitchen torch, torch the top of the doughnut and melt the sugar until caramelized (about three minutes). Enjoy doughnuts immediately.

YEAST-RAISED DOUGHNUTS (yields 24 doughnuts, I made half the recipe):

In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in warm water and leave to sit for 5 minutes.

In another bowl, pour the milk over the butter. The heat of the scalded milk should be hot enough to melt the butter.

Pour the yeast mixture into the large bowl of a stand mixer and add the milk-butter mixture, first making sure the milk-butter mixture has cooled to lukewarm. Add the eggs, sugar and salt, nutmeg (if using) and half of the flour.

Using the paddle attachment, combine the ingredients on low speed until flour is incorporated and then turn the speed up to medium and beat until well combined.

Add the remaining flour, combining on low speed at first, and then increase the speed to medium and beat well.

Change to the dough hook attachment of the mixer and beat on medium speed until the dough pulls away from the bowl and becomes smooth, approximately 3 to 4 minutes.

Transfer to a well-oiled bowl, cover, and let rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

While you wait, make the custard filling:

VANILLA CUSTARD FILLING:

[ 2 1/2 cups of milk + 3 eggs + 6 tablespoon of sugar + 4 tablespoon of cornflour + 6 drops of vanilla extract + 1/2 teaspoon salt ]

Put 2 cups of milk in a saucepan and heat until just boiling.

Beat the eggs and sugar in a mixing bowl and add the salt and vanilla essence.

Dissolve the cornflour in the 1/2 cup of milk and mix this into the egg mixture. Whisk until combined.

Slowly add the hot milk into the egg-milk-cornflour mixture while whisking.

Return to the saucepan and cook over low heat until the mixture turns thick. Make sure to keep whisking so that the custard wont turn lumpy.

Put in a bowl and cover the surface with cling film and chill in the fridge until it is firm.

ASSEMBLY:

Knock the dough back then split into 10-12 equal sized balls.

Flatten out each ball until it is a disk approximately 9cm in diameter.

Place 1 teaspoon of custard in the centre then fold over the edges of the dough to encase the custard. Use a small amount of water to help seal the dough.

Place well spaced on a lined baking tray. Cover and allow to rise again for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oil in a dutch oven to 365 degrees F. Gently place the doughnuts into the oil, 3 to 4 at a time. Cook for 1 minute per side. Transfer to a cooling rack placed in baking pan. .

For the topping, make a simple sugar glaze:

SUGAR GLAZE:

[ 1/2 to 3/4 cups icing sugar + 1 tablespoons water + splash of vanilla extract ]

Mix all ingredients together until smooth.

Dip the tops of the doughnuts into the glaze and set down on a baking sheet, glaze side up.

Place a half teaspoon of sugar over the top of each doughnut. Using a kitchen torch, torch the top of the doughnut until caramelized and brown (about 3 minutes). Enjoy doughnuts immediately.