Boston Cream Pie Donuts Recipe

By The Cooking World, Editorial Staff

August 30, 2024

Matt Adlard's Boston Cream Pie Donuts

For this week's recipe, we're thrilled to be back with our series We Cook Books. Today, we introduce a recipe from Matt Adlard's Bake it Better.

These Boston Cream Pie Donuts capture the classic flavors of the beloved dessert in every bite. Picture light, fluffy donuts filled with a luscious vanilla custard and topped with a rich, glossy chocolate glaze.

Each bite delivers a perfect harmony of creamy, chocolaty goodness with just the right amount of sweetness. Perfect for a weekend treat or a special celebration, this recipe will surely become a cherished addition to your dessert repertoire.

PREP TIME

COOK TIME

serves

14 donuts

Ingredients

For the Donut Dough

500 g all-purpose flour, plus more for flouring
50 g granulated/caster sugar
10 g sea salt
7 g instant dry yeast
50 g unsalted butter, room temperature
275 g whole milk, room temperature
2 g lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
120 g eggs, room temperature
Neutral/vegetable oil, for coating

For the Brown Sugar Crème Patissierè

2 fresh vanilla pods
720 g whole milk
215 g egg yolks
110 g light brown sugar
Pinch sea salt
65 g cornstarch/corn flour
70 g unsalted butter, cold and cubed

For the Dark Chocolate Glaze

300 g dark chocolate, 70% cocoa solids
30 g water
35 g honey
90 g unsalted butter

Special Equipment

Instructions

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the flour, sugar, salt, yeast, and butter. Start mixing on low speed.
In a tall measuring cup/jug, whisk together the milk, lemon, vanilla, and eggs.
With the mixer on medium-low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients. Keep mixing just until there are no more dry ingredients and everything has been fully incorporated. You may need to pause to scrape down the bowl a few times to ensure all the dry bits on the bottom get fully incorporated.
Remove the bowl from the mixer and cover with a damp kitchen towel.Allow the dough to rest for 30 minutes.
Return the bowl to the mixer and knead on medium for 12-15 minutes. Very lightly flour your fingertips and grab a small piece of dough. Stretch this out gently, and if the dough forms a "windowpane," this means the dough is ready and enough gluten has been developed. The dough should appear smooth and elastic.
Use a bench scraper to transfer the dough to a very lightly floured work surface. Lightly flour your hands and shape the dough into a ball. Carefully transfer the dough to a lightly oiled large bowl.
Spray the top of the dough with nonstick cooking spray and then cover the bowl with plastic wrap/cling film. Refrigerate the dough for a minimum of 6 hours or overnight. Because the dough is enriched, it will be much easier to work with after refrigeration.
While the dough is chilling, start the Brown Sugar Crème Pâtissierè.
Take the vanilla beans and cut them lengthwise. Scrape the seeds out of the center with a knife, and add these to a medium saucepan along with the milk. Place it over medium heat, until it is steaming, but not boiling.
While that heats up, add the egg yolks, sugar, salt, and cornstarch to a medium bowl. Whisk this for one minute until thick.
Once the milk is hot, slowly pour this over the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly. Pour it all back into the pan, keep it over medium heat, and whisk continuously until it begins to thicken. Once the mixture starts to bubble, cook for a further minute, then remove it from the heat and immediately pass it through a fine-mesh sieve on top of a clean bowl.
Press the mixture through with a spatula, then add in the butter and whisk until there are no more lumps.
Place plastic wrap/cling film directly on the surface and refrigerate overnight (or a minimum of 4 hours).
Once the donut dough is ready, spray two large baking trays with nonstick cooking spray. Cut 14 pieces of parchment paper into squares measuring (3 x 3 inches). Place these on the trays and spray them with nonstick cooking spray.
Place the dough on your work surface. Use a bench scraper to cut the dough into 65 g pieces, then shape these into tight balls. To do this, very lightly flour your hands, but don't add much-if any at all-to the work surface. Shape your hand into a "C" and form a cup around the dough ball. Quickly rotate the dough underneath your hand to form a tight ball.1-3, to avoid the temperature of the oil dropping.
Place the balls on the parchment squares and spray the tops of the balls with nonstick cooking spray. Gently press the balls down to flatten them into a disk shape.
Cover the balls with plastic wrap/cling film and allow them to proof at room temperature. The proofing time is crucial because this is the key to getting that perfect white ring around the middle of the donuts. You're looking for the balls to almost triple in size (about 8 cm (3 inches) wide by the time they're proofed). Depending on the room's temperature, this can take anywhere from 1 to 3 hours-or longer if it's cold-so keep an eye on them.
Heat the oil to 170 ºC (340 °F) in a deep fryer (or in a large pot). Carefully place a dough ball in the fryer and gently peel off the parchment paper. Fry the donut for 90 seconds, flip, fry for 90 seconds, flip, fry for 30 seconds, flip, and fry for 30 seconds, for a total of 4 minutes.
Continue frying the remaining dough balls. Depending on the size of your fryer, it is best to do these in batches of 1 - 3, to avoid the temperature of the oil dropping.
When the donuts have cooled slightly, remove the crème pâtissierè from the fridge and whisk to loosen it, so that it is nice and smooth. Add this into a piping bag, fitted with a round tip nozzle.
Pierce the side of a donut with a chopstick, and then place the piping nozzle inside. Squeeze the piping bag, filling the donut with the crème pâtissierè until it feels heavy. Repeat this with the remaining donuts.
For the chocolate glaze, add all of the ingredients into a medium bowl.
Place it over a pan of gently simmering water, and stir together until completely melted.
Once melted, let it cool for a minute, until it is roughly 30 ºC (86°F) and then take the donuts and dunk the top into the chocolate glaze.
Let any excess drip off, then quickly flip them over and place them onto a wire rack to set, before serving.

Boston Cream Pie Donuts Recipe

Matt Adlard's Boston Cream Pie Donuts

Ingredients

For the Donut Dough

For the Brown Sugar Crème Patissierè

For the Dark Chocolate Glaze

Special Equipment

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KitchenAid Stand Mixer

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Instructions

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