Crème Brûlée Doughnuts

These Creme Brulee Doughnuts are a showstopper and they are wonderful treat. Soft, pillowy doughnuts are stuffed with a homemade creamy vanilla pastry cream, then topped with a crunch caramel topping. If you want a treat to impress, this is the one to make!

The details

Make the pastry cream

The first step for making these creme brulee doughnuts is to make the pastry cream. The pastry cream needs time to set up and chill in the refrigerator, so it’s best to do this first. This can even be done in advance. You can make the pastry cream a day or two in advance, to save you time the day of making the doughnuts.

In a bowl, you’ll add sugar, cornstarch, salt and your egg yolks. Why egg yolks and not the whole egg? The yolks add richness and thickness to the custard. You want the cream filling to be rich and tender. Whisk together this mixture until the mixture is a pale yellow color. This takes roughly 1 minute.

Next, you’ll add milk and heavy cream to a saucepan over medium heat and heat just until the outside begins to bubble. If you don’t have heavy cream, you can use all whole milk. The heavy cream just adds a touch extra richness and creaminess to the finished product.

While whisking the egg mixture, pour roughly half the hot milk mixture into the egg mixture. This will temper the eggs and warm them up. This helps prevent the eggs from scrambling when you heat the egg yolk mixture in the saucepan. Add the warmed egg yolk mixture into the saucepan with the rest of the warm milk mixture and whisk to combine.

Place the mixture back over medium heat and cooking, whisking constantly until thickened. Remove from heat and whisk in butter and vanilla until melted and smooth. Transfer the mixture to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, making sure the plastic wrap touches the surface of the pastry cream and refrigerate for 2 hours or until chilled. You want the plastic wrap to touch the pastry cream so that a skin does not form on the pastry cream.

Making the doughnuts

Next up, you’ll make the creme brulee doughnuts. This dough is much like my other dough recipes. You’ll add the ingredients to the bowl of your stand mixer and mix on medium speed for 5 minutes. The dough is a softer dough. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl, spray the top of the dough with nonstick spray and cover with plastic wrap.

first rise

I like to use my handy dandy warm oven trick for a faster rise for these creme brulee doughnuts. Turn your oven on till it reaches 100F. Turn the oven off once it reaches this temperature. Place the covered dough in the warm oven for 45 minutes. Alternatively, if you have extra time, you can allow the creme brulee doughnuts to rise for 1 1/2 hours at room temperature.

rolling, shaping and second rise

While the dough does it’s first rise, I like to cut out roughly 10 pieces of parchment paper measuring 4×4 inches. You’ll place the doughnuts on here, which makes it easier to transfer to the frying pot. Spray the parchment paper squares with nonstick spray to ensure the dough doesn’t stick.

Roll the dough on a floured surface until it reaches 1/2 inch thickness. Cut the doughnuts out using a 3 inch circle cookie cutter or a heart shaped cookie cutter. Place onto prepared parchment paper squares, then cover.

Allow the dough to rise in a warm oven (as above) for 30 minutes, OR 1 hour at room temperature.

frying the doughnuts and filling

In a large pot or deep pan, heat 3 inches vegetable oil to 325 to 350F. Carefully place parchment paper square in oil, then using tongs, pull the parchment paper square out from underneath the doughnut. Fry doughnuts 3-4 at a time until golden brown, then flip and fry other side. Remove doughnuts with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel lined baking sheet, or a wire cooling rack with paper towels lined underneath.

Using the handle of a spoon, insert into one side of the doughnut, then move the handle back and forth to create a pocket for the cream. Using a pastry bag or zip-top bag with one corner snipped, pipe pastry cream into doughnuts.

The final touch – the creme brulee

You’re almost done! Now, it’s time to make the creme brulee. In a small saucepan, heat sugar and water over medium heat, swirling pan occasionally until mixture turns golden. Reduce heat to low and continue cooking until mixture color deepens to light golden brown. Remove from the heat.

VERY CAREFULLY, wearing a glove on the hand you are using to dip the doughnuts, dip doughnut into the caramelized sugar, then tilt doughnut away from you to allow excess to drip for a second or two. Set aside and repeat with remaining doughnuts.

If the caramel begins to get too hard, place back on heat, swirling occasionally until the mixture is not as hard.

Here are a few other recipes I think you may enjoy!

• Nutella Donuts
• 1-hour Soft Cinnamon Rolls
• Strawberry Upside Down Cake
• Thick Chocolate Chip Cookies (inspired by the famous Levain Bakery)

Let me know what you thought!

If you make these Crème Brûlée Doughnuts, let me know what you thought in the ratings and comments below. I absolutely love reading all of your comments! Also, make sure to snap a picture and tag me @simplebakingwithpep on instagram. It truly makes my day to see all of your wonderful creations.

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