Melktert-filled doughnuts: The perfect dessert with family

Course: Dessert
Cuisine: South African
Difficulty: Easy
Servings: 8 servings
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Resting Time: 190 minutes
Total time: 4 hours 10 minutes

Ingredients:

Doughnuts:

• 1½ cups white bread flour or all purpose cake flour
• 2 tsp instant dry yeast
• pinch of salt
• 2 tbsp castor sugar
• 50 g unsalted butter or margarine (melted)
• 1 large egg
• 100 ml warm water
• sunflower oil or canola oil (for frying)
• Milk tart custard filling
• vanilla extract or essence
• 2 cups full fat milk
• 6 egg yolks
• ¾ cup castor sugar
• ½ cup all-purpose cake flour
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter

Cinnamon sugar coating:

• 1 cup castor sugar
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon

Method:

Doughnuts:

1. Combine the flour, yeast, salt and sugar together in a large bowl.
2. Mix the egg, butter and water in a separate bowl.
3. Add the egg mixture to the flour mix and combine using a spoon or your hands until you have a wet but elastic dough.
4. Cover the bowl with cling wrap or a tea towel and allow it to rest in a warm place for 20 minutes.
5. After 20 minutes, the dough should be less sticky and more workable after resting.
6. Work the dough using simple folding motions for 3 minutes.
7. Cover the dough and allow to rest for another 20 minutes.
8. Repeat steps 4 & 5 until the dough has a soft smooth surface.
   You will know the dough is ready when it springs back when poked.
9. Shape the dough into a ball, place it back into the bowl and cover.
10. Allow final resting for 1½ hours.
11. Flip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and shape it into a ball (do not work the dough).
12. Using a sharp knife, cut the dough and measure out each doughnut to a weight of 70 grams with a kitchen scale.
13. Roll the doughnuts into individual balls with your hands and push lightly between your palms so that they have a disc shape.
14. Place the doughnuts on a tray, spacing them not too close to one another.
15. Cover the doughnuts and allow them to rise for 20 minutes or until double in size.
16. Heat the oil in a medium-sized saucepan or fryer on medium-low heat.
17. Fry the doughnuts until golden brown, roughly 2 – 3 minutes on each side.
18. Allow the doughnuts to cool completely on a paper towel.

Cinnamon sugar coating:

1. In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the castor sugar and cinnamon.
2. Generously coat the doughnuts with cinnamon sugar.

Milk tart custard filling:

1. In a saucepan, add the milk and vanilla and slowly bring to a boil.
2. In a bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugar together until just combined.
3. Add the flour and mix it well.
4. Take the just-boiled milk and pour it in small amounts into the egg mixture, making sure to keep stirring while adding the milk so that the eggs do not curdle.
5. Once the milk and eggs are combined, pour the mixture back into the saucepan and return to medium-low heat.
6. Keep stirring the custard until it becomes thick.
   Be careful not to let the bottom of the custard burn.
7. Take the saucepan off the heat and mix in the butter.
8. Pour the thickened custard into a bowl and cover the surface of the custard with cling wrap to prevent skin from forming.
9. Leave in the fridge to cool.
10. Once cooled, fill a piping bag with the milk tart custard filling and pipe it into the doughnuts, either from the side or bottom of the doughnut.