Homemade Boston Cream Doughnuts
Boston Cream Doughnuts are delicious fried donuts that are incredibly soft, filled with pastry cream, and topped with chocolate ganache.
Servings: 12 doughnuts
Ingredients
Doughnuts:
- 2 ½ cups all purpose flour
- 3 tbsp granulated sugar
- ⅔ cups warm milk 90°F-110°F
- 2 ¼ tsps active dry yeast
- 4 tbsp melted butter
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 egg
- 2 quarts neutral oil for frying
Boston Cream Filling:
- 6 egg yolks
- ½ cup + 2 tbsp granulated sugar
- ¼ cups corn starch
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp butter
Chocolate Ganache:
- 4 oz semisweet chocolate chips
- ⅓ cup heavy cream
Instructions
Boston Cream Filling:
- Pour the milk into a medium saucepan. Heat over medium heat until it begins to boil. Once milk begins to boil, turn off the heat and set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar until light and thickened. Then, sift in the cornstarch and whisk vigorously until no lumps remain. Whisk in ½ of hot milk until incorporated, then whisk in the remaining hot milk mixture until smooth.
- Pour the mixture through a strainer back into the pot. Over medium-high heat whisking constantly, cook the cream until thickened. After it thickens, cook for an additional minute or two while whisking constantly.
- Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract and butter. Let cool slightly then cover with plastic wrap, lightly pressing the plastic against the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Chill in the refrigerator until the doughnuts are ready.
Doughnuts:
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together 2 ¼ cup flour, 3 tablespoons sugar, and 1/4 tsp salt. Set aside.
- In a small saucepan, heat the milk until it is warm but not hot. It should be at least about 90°F but no more than 110°F. In a large bowl, add warm milk and sprinkle in yeast. Stir lightly, and let sit until the mixture is foamy, about 5 minutes.
- Once the yeast is active (has a foamy top layer) add in melted butter and egg. Whisk until mixed then add dry ingredients. Mix with a spoon until ingredients are combined. At this point, the dough should be sticky. Transfer dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead dough until soft but not sticky. Sprinkle flour onto the surface as needed.
- Grease a large bowl with a little oil. Transfer the dough to the bowl and cover with a clean kitchen towel. Let dough rise at room temperature until it doubles in size, about 45 mins to 1 hour.
- When the dough has doubled in size, turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface, and roll it to 1/2-inch thickness. Cut circles using a 2 1/2 inch round cookie cutter. Re-roll any scraps together, being careful not to overwork. You should be able to get about 12 donuts total. Place donuts on prepared baking sheet, cover with a kitchen towel and let rise until they are slightly puffed and delicate touch, about 45 minutes.
- About 10-15 minutes before the doughnuts are done rising, put the oil in a heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. *Heat the oil to 375°F.
- Carefully add the doughnuts to the oil about 3-4 at a time. When the bottoms are deep golden, after 45 seconds to a minute, flip and continue to fry them until they are a deep golden color all over. Transfer the doughnuts to a rack lined with paper towel underneath.
- Using a knife, make a whole in the ends of each doughnut. Using a piping bag fitted with a round tip, pipe pastry cream in each doughnut. While the doughnuts cool down, make the chocolate ganache.
Chocolate Ganache:
- To make the chocolate ganache, warm heavy cream until hot but not boiling. Pour hot heavy cream over chocolate and let it sit for about 1-2 minutes to allow chocolate to melt. Mix the chocolate smooth. Brush the chocolate ganache over the top of each doughnut.
Notes
* As doughnuts fry, the temperature of the oil will change. Try to keep the oil temperature to 375F, adjusting the heat as needed.