Caramel Filled Donuts

Fluffy caramel filled donuts are a classic dessert in many countries. In Italy, they are called BOMBOLONI (or bombolone), in Germany – BERLINER (berliner or berliner pfannkuchen), in the Balkans – KROFNE (or krafne), in Israel – SUFGANIA (or sufganiyah).

The composition and method of preparation of all these donuts is very similar: yeast dough with milk, eggs and butter is formed into circles, and then they are fried in hot oil. In many countries the traditional filling of yeast donuts is jam, but there are many other options: lemon curd, condensed milk, custard, caramel, chocolate.

I would like to warn you that once you make your own donuts, you will no longer be able to eat store-bought ones. Homemade donuts with are very different in taste, aroma, crispy crust and tender crumb that melts in your mouth.

At the same time, the recipe for caramel filled donuts is not complicated, especially if you have already worked with yeast dough.

If you don’t feel confident with yeast dough, I recommend you firstly read my article Why Yeast Dough Not Rising.

Of all the recipes I’ve tried, I liked Gordon Ramsay’s donuts the best. He makes them both in the form of rings (the same American donuts) and round ones, now known to us also as bomboloni.

The amount of products given above makes about 15–18 donuts.

The recipe calls for a small amount of caramel, only for donuts, but I strongly recommend you to make more to have some left over for coffee, ice cream or pancakes. For a very detailed recipe of homemade salted caramel, please follow this link here.

Ingredients:

Donut dough

milk
dry yeast
sugar
butter
egg yolks
all-purpose flour
salt
sugar and cocoa for dusting
frying oil

Caramel for the filling

water
sugar
heavy cream
butter
salt

1. Let’s start with the dough. Combine 100 g of warm (up to 35º C) milk with 1 tsp of sugar, crumble in the yeast, mix, and set aside for 15 minutes.
2. At this time, heat the remaining milk (50 g) with the butter (50 g) until the latter is melted. Add the sugar and cool to 30-35°C (this is important because the yeast will die at a higher temperature).
3. Mix the remaining ingredients + the two previous mixtures, and knead the dough. If it’s too wet and sticks to your hands, add a little flour, but don’t be fanatical, the dough should remain very soft and tender.
4. Grease a bowl with vegetable oil, place the dough in it, cover with plastic wrap or a lid, and let it rise for 1 hour in a quiet place.
5. At this time, you can make caramel. Combine the water and sugar in a saucepan and cook over medium heat (do not stir) until amber in color and caramel in smell. Add the hot cream, then butter and salt. Set aside to cool.
6. Roll out the dough on a floured surface to a thickness of 1 cm. Cut out circles 6-7 cm in diameter, cover with plastic wrap and leave to prove for another 30 minutes.
7. Heat the oil well in a saucepan (up to 175-180°C). Fry the donuts on both sides (fry very quickly, about 1-2 minutes), put them on a paper towel and dry to get rid of excess fat.
8. Roll the hot donuts in a mixture of sugar and cocoa and fill them with caramel.

Enjoy your meal!

What do you think about this recipe? Did you like it? I am happy to share my experience with you and waiting for your feedback!