These were a whim, not even on my radar or schedule for today. Usually if I’m going to make something with yeast, I’ll plan it out because of the resting and rising times.
I went with it and ended up with 28 little cream stuffed puffy balls.
They’re like little donut holes but made from balls, if that makes sense. The inspiration came from these other pumpkin donuts on the blog. Rolled in cinnamon sugar when still warm and then pumped full of a cream made from Nutella, mascarpone cheese, yogurt and pumpkin.
Jaw dropping.
Let’s talk about how easy this dough is to make. Just throw all of the ingredients in a stand mixer and you’re set.
Let it rise while you make the cream, drink some coffee, throw in some laundry or rush to the store to pick up some oil for frying if you discover you’re all out. Nope, I don’t know anyone who would make that rookie mistake…nobody, not me.
Divide the dough into individual pieces each weighing about one ounce, give or take a smidge. It doesn’t have to be exact.
Now you’ll need to roll these pieces into balls and the best way I can describe for you to do this is to pretend you’re a lion, hang with me here. A lion who’s ready to pounce so make your hand like a claw. Lay it on top of a piece of dough and give it your best Mr Miyagi wax on-wax off moves.
The dough should get caught up in the palm of your hand and turn into a perfect ball!
Lay those balls side by side like soldiers. Cover and let them recover from your lion silliness.
The fun part is of course, eating them, but frying is fun too. A quick minute on each side, then drain the donuts on some absorbent kitchen towel.
This is where I get all professional and fatherly-like but If you cook with hot oil, a thermometer should always be used. Keep the temperature at around 375 degrees, and adjust the heat to keep the oil hot.
Don’t overfill the pan, bubbling waves of oil and naked flames are not best friends. My safety talk is now over.
Find something long and thin to poke each donut with a hole. You can use a pastry bag to fill them up with the cream or a ziplock bag with a corner snipped off.
Nobody said these had to be beautiful but don’t skimp on the cream, after the first bite you might end up with some on your chin.
That’s perfectly okay.
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