There are times when the neighborhood doughnut shop is a great place. It provides instant happiness by handing me a sugary colorful confection that I can dip in my coffee. Other times, I want a little more than what is offered by the local donut shop. I want layers and textures in my sugary morning confection. When that day happens to fall on a Sunday, I have time to make the doughnut of my dreams. In this case, it was inspired by all the beautiful apples at the store, pink, green, red. They were all calling my name to make something out of them. Originally I had a crostata in mind, but this ended up being so much better.
They do take some time, but if you plan ahead and make the dough the night before you plan to make doughtnuts ... you can allow it to cold proof in the fridge overnight and the dough will be ready to go in the morning, saving you some time.
Happy baking frying.
AuthorZairaCategoryApple Pie, Apple Pie doughnuts, Apples, Baked Goods, baking, Breakfast, Dessert, DoughnutsDifficultyIntermediate
Heat the milk until warm, but not hot. If your milk is too warm, it will kill the yeast. Aim for 90 degrees.
In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the milk and yeast. Stir slightly, and let sit until the mixture is foamy.
In the bowl of your stand mixer; beat the eggs, butter, sugar and salt into the yeast mixture. Add half of the flour (2 cups plus 2 tablespoons), and mix until combined. Mix in the rest of the flour until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
Add more flour, about 2 tablespoons at a time, if the dough is too wet. Continue to knead in your stand mixer until dough is smooth, about 8 minutes. Grease a large bowl with a little oil. Transfer the dough to the bowl, and cover. Let rise at room temperature until it doubles in size, about 1 hour.
Remove the dough from the bowl, and place on a floured surface, and roll it to 1/2-inch thickness. Cut out the doughnuts with a doughnut / biscuit cutter. Knead any scraps together and repeating the process. Yo should yield about 12 donuts.
Put the doughnuts on baking sheets covered in parchment paper. Cover with a kitchen towel, and let rise in a warm place, about 45 minutes.
When the doughnuts are done rising, put the oil in a heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat, and heat it to 375.
Carefully add the doughnuts to the oil, a few at a time. It’s O.K. if they deflate a bit; they’ll puff back up as they fry. When the bottoms are deep golden, flip and cook the underside.
Transfer the doughnuts to a cooling rack, and sprinkle with a cinnamon and sugar topping.
In a large bowl, toss the diced apples with the lemon juice, sugar, corn starch, cinnamon, and salt.
Transfer the apples to a skillet and cook over medium high heat until all the water is reduced, and the apples are tender.
Remove from heat and set aside.
Mix brown sugar, half and half, butter and salt in a sauce pan over medium low heat. Cook while gently whisking until the sauce gets thicker.
Add the vanilla and cook another minute to thicken. Take the sauce off the heat and set aside.
I thought about stuffing the doughnuts with he pie filling, but In the end they looked more dramatic with the apple filling and caramel sauce on top of the doughnut.
Spoon 1 to 1-1/2 tablespoons of the pie filling onto the sugar dusted doughnuts, then add 1/2 tablespoon of the caramel sauce.
Allow to cool, and enjoy.
Ingredients
Directions
Heat the milk until warm, but not hot. If your milk is too warm, it will kill the yeast. Aim for 90 degrees.
In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the milk and yeast. Stir slightly, and let sit until the mixture is foamy.
In the bowl of your stand mixer; beat the eggs, butter, sugar and salt into the yeast mixture. Add half of the flour (2 cups plus 2 tablespoons), and mix until combined. Mix in the rest of the flour until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
Add more flour, about 2 tablespoons at a time, if the dough is too wet. Continue to knead in your stand mixer until dough is smooth, about 8 minutes. Grease a large bowl with a little oil. Transfer the dough to the bowl, and cover. Let rise at room temperature until it doubles in size, about 1 hour.
Remove the dough from the bowl, and place on a floured surface, and roll it to 1/2-inch thickness. Cut out the doughnuts with a doughnut / biscuit cutter. Knead any scraps together and repeating the process. Yo should yield about 12 donuts.
Put the doughnuts on baking sheets covered in parchment paper. Cover with a kitchen towel, and let rise in a warm place, about 45 minutes.
When the doughnuts are done rising, put the oil in a heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat, and heat it to 375.
Carefully add the doughnuts to the oil, a few at a time. It’s O.K. if they deflate a bit; they’ll puff back up as they fry. When the bottoms are deep golden, flip and cook the underside.
Transfer the doughnuts to a cooling rack, and sprinkle with a cinnamon and sugar topping.
In a large bowl, toss the diced apples with the lemon juice, sugar, corn starch, cinnamon, and salt.
Transfer the apples to a skillet and cook over medium high heat until all the water is reduced, and the apples are tender.
Remove from heat and set aside.
Mix brown sugar, half and half, butter and salt in a sauce pan over medium low heat. Cook while gently whisking until the sauce gets thicker.
Add the vanilla and cook another minute to thicken. Take the sauce off the heat and set aside.
I thought about stuffing the doughnuts with he pie filling, but In the end they looked more dramatic with the apple filling and caramel sauce on top of the doughnut.
Spoon 1 to 1-1/2 tablespoons of the pie filling onto the sugar dusted doughnuts, then add 1/2 tablespoon of the caramel sauce.
Allow to cool, and enjoy.