Salted vanilla cream sufganyot
Simple but decadent
This recipe was updated on Dec. 30 to include sugar in the pastry cream.
Every year in the weeks leading up to Hanukkah, my social media is full of photos of beautiful, gourmet sufganyot sold at bakeries. I drool over these photos but I’m not about to drive several hours to find a kosher bakery that offers them.
I was craving something simple but decadent so I settled on preparing a traditional vanilla creme patissiere for the filling, which I topped with a simple chocolate ganache. To make it extra special I sprinkled Maldon sea salt flakes over the ganache to add bursts of flavor and a bit of crunch.
This is everything that I want in a donut. The filling is authentic and creamy without any chemical or oily aftertaste. The dough is perfect and a pleasure to work with; it’s not sticky nor oily and you can easily roll it into balls when shaping the donuts. It’s a soft, pillowy dough with a nice chewy bite and it’s strong enough to hold lots of filling without falling apart. This is the easiest dough I’ve ever worked with and, unlike my other recipes that call for milk, this can be made pareve by substituting margarine for the butter without losing out on flavor.
If you’re a traditionalist and love plain jelly donuts, you can just make the dough portion of this recipe and be thrilled with it. Homemade donuts are always going to be a bit of a patshke but this can be a very fun family/party activity. You can make a donut assembly line with different jellies, fillings, glazes, sprinkles for the ganache and let everyone make their own special version.
There are three parts to this recipe: the dough, the filling and the chocolate ganache topping. which takes two minutes to mix together. If you desire gourmet flavor without spending $50-plus on a dozen donuts, then this is the recipe for you.
This recipe makes 20-24 donuts.
Donut dough:
2 packets instant yeast
5 cups of all-purpose flour
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 large egg
1/16 teaspoon kosher salt
1 stick room temperature butter or margarine, sliced into 8 tablespoons
1 tablespoon real vanilla extract
1 ¾ cup warm water
6-8 cups neutral oil for frying (can be reused)
To make the dough it is easiest to use an electric mixer with a dough hook attachment, but you can hand mix this dough or use a hand mixer with dough hooks.
Put the instant yeast, flour, egg, sugar and salt into the mixing bowl and mix on low speed to combine.
Add the butter and mix for a couple of minutes until it is combined well with the dough. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl before turning the power back on to medium-low. If there are still some chunks of butter or margarine that’s OK — it will melt in when you add the warm water.
Add the warm water a tablespoon or two at a time. It will take a minute or two to incorporate the water.
Add the vanilla, then mix for 10-12 minutes, turning the speed of the mixer up to medium if necessary.
Form the dough into a ball and transfer it to a large clean bowl. Cover it first with plastic wrap, then cover the entire bowl with a clean towel.
Allow to rise in a warm place for about an hour and 20 minutes or until it has doubled in size.
While the dough is rising, cut 24 4-inch square pieces of parchment paper to use later for the second rising.
Once the dough has doubled, remove the plastic wrap and gently punch it down.
If you have a kitchen scale weigh the entire piece of dough, then divide it by 20 or 24 so you can weigh out each piece to keep the donuts the same size, with each measuring 50 or 60 grams. The 50-gram balls are a bit rounder when cooked than the 60-gram balls. If you don’t have a scale, make each ball a little larger than a golf ball.
Work each piece of dough into a ball.
Spread the parchment squares over two large baking sheets and place each dough ball onto a square, seam-side down.
Cover each sheet of donut balls with a kitchen towel and allow them to rise in a warm place for 20 minutes; if the dough is gently covered it won’t get crusty or hard.
Using a heavy-bottomed pan with sides that are at least 5 inches tall, heat the oil (an oil with a high smoke point). It helps to have a digital thermometer to measure the oil because it must be between 360 F and 370 F for frying. It usually takes about 6 cups, but you can use 8 cups of oil if using a very wide pan. The oil should be about 3-4 inches deep in the pot. You can reuse this oil several times — just store it in a clean and well-sealed container after it has cooled.
Pick up each parchment square with a dough ball and drop it gently into the oil. Using the parchment paper to transfer the dough to the oil will help keep the dough in a nice shape without indentation from your hands. I usually get 5-6 pieces into the pot at a time. Leave room in the pot for the donuts to move around a bit.
Remove the parchment with tongs and fry the bottom side for 2 minutes or until golden brown, then flip it carefully and fry the other side until golden brown. These brown quickly — usually 2 minutes for the first side, and 1-2 minutes for the second side.
Use a spatula or slotted spoon to remove each donut to cool.
Place paper towels on a baking sheet and cover with a wire cooling rack so that the oil falls down into the paper towel and won’t make a mess on your countertop or stovetop.
Check the oil temperature between each session because sometimes it needs a couple of minutes to warm up to over 360 F again.
Allow the donuts to cool completely before filling, which should take about an hour. When you’re ready to fill these, insert a sharp paring knife into the side of the donut being careful not to pierce through the other side. You can insert your index finger into the pocket to expand the area for the filling.
I couldn’t find my pastry bag equipment this year so I went basic and put the pastry cream (or jelly) into a gallon-sized plastic bag, cut a small hole in one corner and used that to pipe in the filling.
Vanilla pastry creme:
1 large egg, plus 2 egg yolks
2 cups whole milk
1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste or real vanilla extract
¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon cornstarch
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar
If you’ve ever made pudding then you can easily make this pastry cream; once you’ve tasted it, you will never want to eat a chain store donut again.
Measure 2 cups of whole milk into a saucepan and add the vanilla.
Warm over medium heat until it is just bubbling around the edges, being careful not to scald the milk. Whisk occasionally while warming.
While the milk is warming, add the egg and yolks, cornstarch, salt and sugar to a mixer and mix with a whisk attachment on medium-low for 6-8 minutes. It’s easier to add the milk to the mixing bowl from a liquid measuring cup as opposed to the hot pan, so just pour the hot milk back into the measuring cup that you already used, take that over to your mixer and add 1 tablespoon of milk at a time until it’s all incorporated. It’s important to add the hot milk slowly so the eggs don’t curdle.
Once it’s combined, pour the mixture back into the saucepan and heat it over medium-low heat, whisking constantly for 3-4 minutes until the pastry cream thickens. Use a spatula along with a whisk to get the cream to cook evenly, scraping the bottom and the sides of the pan so the mixture doesn’t get lumps.
Remove the pan from heat and allow it to cool for 5 minutes before adding 4 tablespoons of cold butter to the pan.
Whisk again until the butter is melted and well combined.
Use a rubber spatula to transfer the cream into a clean bowl.
Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and use a toothpick to make 3 small holes in the plastic wrap. This keeps a “skin” from forming on the top of the cream. Allow this bowl to cool on the counter before refrigerating for a minimum of 3 hours.
After 3 hours, use this to fill the donuts. This pastry cream stays fresh if covered well, for about 5 days, so you can make it in advance.
A note about the pastry cream: if you do get lumps when you heat it, put the mixture into a large mesh sieve and strain it into another bowl, using a rubber spatula to push it through the sieve. Discard any lumps that won’t go through the sieve. This tip can be a lifesaver when cooking doesn’t go as planned. I love this pastry cream; it’s the same recipe that I use to make Napoleons.
Chocolate ganache:
2 teaspoons water
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
½ cup chocolate chips
2 teaspoons corn syrup
Maldon sea salt flakes, for garnishing
Add the butter, chocolate chips and corn syrup into a bowl and microwave for 25 seconds until just melted, or use the double-boiler method to heat the ingredients on the stovetop.
Once the ingredients are about half melted, mix them together. Add the water last and whisk well.
Once you have filled the donuts, insert one-half into the bowl of chocolate, flip and place on a wire rack to set. Put paper or a pan under the rack to catch any messes.
Garnish the ganache with salt or sprinkles immediately so that the ganache firms up and holds the garnish in place.
This ganache stays pretty solid around 72 F but it can get a little melty if the room is hot. The ganache can take an hour to set at room temperature, but if you’re in a rush you can pop the donuts into the fridge for 15 minutes. Use wax paper between layers to store in the refrigerator or in a large metal tin.
Whether you’re making only the donut dough or going for the entire recipe, I hope these instructions give you the confidence to make special sufganyot for the holiday.
I’m praying that we all see revealed miracles this Hanukkah season. Enjoy and bless your hands! PJC
Jessica Grann is a home chef living in Pittsburgh.
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