Its been a while since I have made doughnuts. I have a fairly foolproof recipe that i have never found the need to upgrade and have also been steering away from frying stuff for a bit.
Whats special about these doughnuts ? Its a three way answer.
1. Light and fluffy doughnuts that just happen to be eggless .
2. A delicious peanut butter pastry cream which also … wait for it… happens to be eggless
3. A milk chocolate ganache on top that pulls it all together .
I say ” happens to be eggless ” but there is no happenstance here at all. I have actually been trying to nail eggless doughnuts and pastry cream for a while and these recipes are the result of some trial and testing.
Pastry cream generally has whole eggs or yolks and here some good amount of cornflour steps in for the eggs. It is pretty delicious and has good consistency. And isnt too sweet which is of key ,as no one wants to bite into a mouthful of sugary custard when they eat an doughnut. Nope. This one is silky smooth and just exactly sweet enough. And nutty enough courtesy the peanut butter.
Dark ganache is my usual poison which you will know if you are a regular on these pages . I switched to milk chocolate here as I felt that it would be a better fit with the peanut butter ?
Yes these are fried. Because doughnuts are to indulge ! I am yet to try a baked doughnut . Should put that on my doughnut to-do list .
And yes there are three different components to make here. But they are all easy and come together in minutes. In fact , you can skip the ganache and just roll the filled doughnuts in some sugar. Still so good !
Or you can skip the peanut butter pastry cream and use only the ganache on top. Less epic but still right up there.
Or you can just make all three and then thank me later !
Eggless peanut butter and chocolate doughnuts
Ingredients
For the eggless doughnuts
- 250 grams or 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/ 2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoon active dry or instant yeast
- 50 grams or 1/4 cup granulated or castor sugar
- 180 ml or 3/4 cup Water
- 28 grams or 2 tablespoons unsalted butter room temperature
For the peanut butter pastry cream
- 250 ml or 1 cup milk
- 2 tablespoons corn flour
- 2 tablespoons granulated or castor sugar
- 28 grams or 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2-3 tablespoons peanut butter
For the milk chocolate ganache
- 200 grams milk chocolate
- 100 grams or ml cream
- Some more peanut butter to decorate
Instructions
To make the pastry cream
- Take out about half cup milk and stir the cornflour into it. Keep aside
- In a thick bottomed saucepan , take the remaining milk.
- Add the butter ,sugar and salt.
- Heat while stirring occasionally until sugar and butter has melted.
- Once the mixture comes to a boil,lower the heat and add the cornflour- milk mixture.
- While stirring continuously , heat until mixture thickens. This may take 3 to 5 minutes.
- The mixture should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon (if you dip a spoon in it ,the custard should form a layer on the back. If you run your finger on this layer, it should leave a clean path ).
- Take off heat and stir in 2 tablespoons peanut butter .
- Add one more tablespoon after tasting but avoid if custard thins out too much after 2 itself.
- Strain the custard into another pan
- Place clingfilm over the top touching the custard
- Chill for atleast 2 to 3 hours or until needed.
To make the ganache
- Chop up the milk chocolate as small as possible and place in a bowl
- Heat the cream until it comes to a boil.
- Pour over the chopped chocolate
- Cover and rest for 5 minutes
- Stir until all chocolate as melted and the ganache is smooth
- Rest at room temperature for a couple of hours or until needed.
To make the doughnuts
- Heat the water until lukewarm ( around 110 F) .
- Take off heat . Add the sugar and then the yeast
- Let rest for 10 minutes or until frothy
- Mix the flour and salt well
- To this , add the butter and yeast mixture
- Mix until a sticky dough forms
- Knead for 5 to 7 minutes or until smooth.
- Place in a lightly greased bowl , cover and rest in a warm place until doubled or about an hour. This is first proofing
- After dough has doubled , punch out the air
- On a floured surface , roll the dough into a rectangle about an inch thick
- Using a round cutter , cut out circles of dough . Place them on a plate or sheet of parchment.
- Re roll scraps and cut out circles of the remaining dough
- Let the dough circles rest for half hour or until double in size.
- Heat oil ( about 3 inches deep) in a deep pan or wok.
- Gently place dough circles into the hot oil without overcrowding. Fry until golden brown , flip over and fry until the other side is golden brown. Remove from oil and place on tissue to drain.
- Once all the doughnuts are fried and cooled , its time to assemble !
To assemble
- Fill pastry cream into a bag fitted with a small icing tip.
- Using a toothpick , poke hole into the side of each doughnut. Put the tip of piping bag into this hole and fill the doughnut until it feels heavy
- Dip the top into the ganache , lift out and place on a tray / parchment to set slightly
- Assemble all doughnuts !
Notes
These doughnuts look almost as fancy as the overpriced ones you get in stores and taste even better !
If you liked the idea of these doughnuts , you may also like these peanut butter biscotti or nutella doughnuts.
