Friday, January 1, 2010

Spiced Rum Cream Filled Donuts



Making these was a mistake. An epic mistake.

While crafting this recipe and all its components, I did a lot of testing and tasting. I don't think I've ever eaten so much of something while developing a recipe. I'm usually pretty good about moderating my nibbling but these donuts... and that cursed rum cream--it just kept making its way into my mouth and I'm paying for it now with a serious sugar coma.

These donuts have been on my to-do list of recipes to develop for a while now. I've long wanted to make a batch of donuts that were filled with some kind of spin on spiced rum or hot buttered rum. So this is what I came up with: A bite sized donut rolled in cinnamon, nutmeg and clove spiced sugars, filled with a rum and spice flavored whip cream-lightened pastry cream.



The result, something as easy to eat en masse as a profiterole and twice as bad for you. I'm pretty sure I've already burned my calorie allowance for the next three days.

(Note: I've recently revised this recipe for a possible magazine piece. I've changed some of the measurements from weight to volume to make it simpler for the non-kitchen scale wielding baker and I've even improved on the rum cream filling)

Not so Humble Spiced Donuts:
yields over 100 mini donuts
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
4 1/2 tsp. (2 envelopes) active dry yeast
1/3 cup warm water (95 degrees F to 100 degrees F)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp. granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
4 ½ to 5 cups (638 grams) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
Vegetable oil, for frying 

Place the milk in a medium saucepan set over medium heat. Scald the milk by just barely bringing it to a simmer. Remove from heat and add the shortening; mix until completely melted, then set aside to cool.  

In a small bowl, mix the yeast with the warm water and let stand for 5 minutes. 

Once the shortening mixture has cooled to lukewarm temperature (under 100 degrees F), pour it into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the yeast mixture and mix on medium-low speed until blended. Add the eggs, sugar, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg; mix for two minutes until well blended. Reduce speed to low and gradually add 4 ½ cups of the flour. Mix until blended, then increase speed to medium and continue beating until mixture comes together into a dough. Switch out the paddle for the dough hook and beat at medium speed for 5-10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. The dough will still look sticky and won’t come away from the sides of the bowl, but it shouldn’t be spoonable like batter. If it is, add a little more flour until it looks more like a workable dough. 

Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature for 1 hour, or until doubled in size. Alternatively, you can refrigerate the dough overnight or up to 2 days. Just give it a little more time to rise. 

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough 1 centimeter thick (a little more than ¼ inch). Cover with a clean, lint-free towel or a sheet of plastic wrap sprayed with nonstick spray and let rise until doubled in height, about 1 hour. Using a 1½-inch biscuit cutter, cut circles from the dough and set aside for frying. 

Line 2 baking sheets with paper towels to hold the fried donuts. In a deep fryer or large pot, heat at least 3 inches of vegetable oil to 345 degrees F to 350 degrees F. Working in batches, add the doughnuts and fry for a few seconds. When they begin to color, turn them over and fry on the other side until golden brown, about 1 minute. Turn over again to finish cooking the first side, about 1 minute more. Remove from the oil with a wire skimmer and transfer to the prepared pans. Let donuts cool completely before glazing. 



Spiced Sugar
3/4 cup turbinado or natural sugar (available at most supermarkets)
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg 
In a small bowl, mix together the sugar, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Set aside until donuts are glazed. 

Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
4 to 5 teaspoons water 
In a small bowl, mix together the powdered sugar and water until smooth. The glaze should be runny, not stiff.   
Place several donuts in a large mixing bowl and drizzle with a little glaze; toss until fairly well coated. Roll the glazed donuts in the spiced sugar and set aside. Repeat until all the donuts are glazed and sugared. They are now ready to be filled. 



Not So Humble Rum Cream:
1 Tbsp plus 1 tsp. all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp plus 1 tsp. cornstarch
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 vanilla bean
1 1/2 cups whole milk
3 egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp Myers's dark rum
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tsp. rum extract 

In a small bowl, mix together the flour, cornstarch, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg; set aside. Split the vanilla bean lengthwise, scrape out the seeds and place them in a medium mixing bowl; set aside. Place the pod in a medium saucepan, add the milk and set over medium heat; bring to a simmer. 

While waiting for the milk to warm, whisk the egg yolks and sugar in the bowl with the vanilla bean seeds. Add the flour mixture and whisk until combined. Once the milk begins to simmer, remove from heat and whisk about 1 cup of it into the egg mixture. Pour this mixture back into the saucepan, whisking constantly, and set over medium-low heat. Cook, stirring, until thickened. 

Remove from heat and add the rum. Pass the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve set over a bowl. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pastry cream to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until cold, about 2 hours. 

Whip the heavy cream to stiff peaks. Add the chilled pastry cream and rum extract; beat until smooth and fluffy. 

To fill the donuts, fit a pastry bag with a round decorating tip, then fill the bag with the rum cream. Alternatively, fill a squeeze bottle. Insert a small knife into the side of each donut and twist to make a small opening. Pipe in the rum cream until it just starts to come out of the opening.   

Serve immediately, or keep refrigerated and serve the same day.

38 comments:

  1. WOW. All I can say is yum. That looks so good.

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  2. Thanks, Jeanette!

    They were really good. Dangerously good... bellyache good.

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  3. yum! what kind of oil was used for frying the donuts?

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  4. Ah, I should note that in the post. I deep fry these donuts in vegetable oil.

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  5. I am drooling as I type. These look delish!!!

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  6. These sound amazing! I think I might make this as a dessert for Sunday's dinner: Jerked Pork Shoulder w/Festival...I really miss Jamaica LOL

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  7. I love your recipes! How do you find time to do much other than cook?! We had the PB Pie tonight- it was yummy, thank you!!

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  8. SibeFamily,

    I'm glad you enjoyed the pie! I do hope everyone survived.

    I've found out that if you make your husband do the laundry it frees up almost 8 hours a day for baking.

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  9. "The result, something as easy to eat en masse as a profiterole and twice as bad for you"

    "yields over 100 mini donuts"


    yeaaaaahh.... ah, thanks for assisting my ascent into heart disease

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  10. I gained weight just reading and looking.
    Looks yummy!

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  11. Your doughnuts look wonderful, so perfectly round! The testing and trying shows... on the doughnuts, I mean ;-)

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  12. I imagine these little morsels would be quite addicting. They look amazing! The donut is so thin and perfect surrounding that giant dollop of cream. That picture is great!

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  13. Will there be a Not So Humble Pie Cookbook?

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  14. Healthy? No. A great way to celebrate the New Year? Yes! :)

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  15. these look awesome. is it a cake donut or a raised sort of donut?

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  16. there goes that New Year's resolution. Oh, well. I'd rather eat yummy donuts.

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  17. These look so pretty! I'm no big fan of doughnuts, but I'd love to try one of yours!

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  18. Ok, can I just say that yours is one of the coolest food blogs I've seen in a long time? I can't believe I haven't found it sooner, honestly.

    I'll be watching! (that sounds creepier than I meant it to :P)

    - Mathea

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  19. Kayla,

    These are raised donuts, hence the yeast. Though they do look a little like cake donut holes.

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  20. The only thing saving me from these is my unholy fear of frying.

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  21. You are the gift that keeps on giving... great idea to put rum in the filling!

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  22. I can see why the sugar coma :) This is the very reason why I haven't tried to copy my favorite dessert from a bakery here called Kneaders...it's a raspberry bread pudding with some kind of pourable spiced cream icing. It's just one of those things I *don't* need to know how to make! ;) I'm going to drool over your beautiful pictures, but I don't dare make these, either! ;)

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  23. Never before have i looked at a picture of food and re-read the title as my jaw literally dropped open! They sound wonderful! Guess I'm gonna have to print this recipe and add it to the stack.

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  24. these look like lil'treasures! i think i'll have to bury some in my tummy. =)

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  25. Ever watched the Simpsons? Seen Homer drool...y'know, "Beer! Blaaaggghhh."

    Yeah, that's me right now.

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  26. I currently have a batch of these rising in the kitchen! I had huge battles getting the dough to form--I had to add a considerable amount of flour to get something other than a spiced bowl of pudding. :) I am skipping on the rum cream and just using a vanilla cream instead.

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  27. The dough requires up to 10 minutes of mixing in a stand mixer with a dough hook. It is quite sticky at first and it doesn't become soft and smooth until after the first complete rise. If you were kneeding this dough by hand it would indeed be very difficult.

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  28. I was using a stand mixer, but was a little short on patience! I gave it about 6-7 minutes and started throwing flour at it, I think maybe another half cup worth. It did come together but was very sticky, like you said. It did smooth out after the first rise, I was pleasantly surprised. It's sitting for the second rise now and seems to be doing quite well.

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  29. Yea with this dough you just let the hook pummel it for a while until it gets smooth and elastic. After the first full rise it becomes that perfect soft dough texture. Just need a little faith :)

    I know sticky dough can be a little worrying (like something is wrong) but it results in a lighter fluffier donut. An additional half cup of flour is roughly within the working limits of this recipe, but the donut will be a little heavier.

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  30. I think they came out good! I was having some trouble getting the hang of filling them--I blew the back out on several of them. Either way, they taste amazing. Thanks for the recipe!!

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  31. Holy heck those are amazing! Will you send me some??? ;-) I wish I had enough skill to make these!

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  32. i dont have vegetable shorthening what lse can i use in place of this

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  33. I really like the cream and combine it with another kind of ingredients. It drives me crazy, and i love to spend time with my friends and i like to prepare some cakes with too much cream.

    buy viagra

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  34. Hi, it is such a great dessert recipe you posted here. I made it today, it turned out to be great except for 1 thing. My rum cream is a bit runny, made it hard to squeeze it into those donuts. I beat the heavy cream to stiff and add the pastry cream and beat again (like you said, I think) But the more I beat it, the more runny it became. Could you troubleshooting for this matter, please? Many thanks in advance.

    It is great work you are doing now with this beautiful blog. Keep it up! :)

    Rose,

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  35. Rose,

    Couple of ideas: The pastry cream might not have chilled long enough or perhaps it is an issue of over mixing. Either by taking the whipping cream too the point where the proteins denatured, or the pastry cream, since the more you beat it the more you disturb the starch molecules (amylose) that make it a firm mass.

    The mixture should be beaten to combine and fluff, but going beyond that it will get softer and softer... chemistry had it out for you.

    The filling should be soft, like that in a custard filled donut. However it isn't supposed to be runny. It should stay put.

    Another (easier) option would be to consider using a mascarpone/whipping cream mixture for the filling rather than pastry cream. This will be a bit lighter in terms of richness but it is still very, very good and less time consuming to make. Check out my recipe on the mascarpone lemon cream cake. The frosting can be modified, omitting the lemon curd and substitute the spices and rum. Taste check the mascarpone to ensure you're using enough to get the desired flavor and then add the whipping cream. That mixture should be very fluffy, silky, delicious, provided everything is nice and cold.

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