Well, happy National Donut Day everyone! Anyone who knows me well can tell you I love a good donut, or even a mediocre one, to be fair, and any reason to eat them is a good one for me! I will almost never turn down a donut. So, needless to say, I definitely celebrate Donut Day.
Did you know Donut Day was started in 1938 when The Salvation Army in Chicago wanted to honor its members who served donuts to the military in WWI? I didn’t! I don’t know about you, but that makes today a little more special don’t you think? (And I bet you thought this holiday couldn’t get any better!)
Normally in the summer, or any time, I try to avoid fried foods. They’re too heavy and too warm. To make these a little more summer-y I decided to hybrid donuts with an American summertime classic; S’mores! Hopefully this version will keep you a little cleaner than S’mores, a little happier and a little more in the mood for summer. If you try making these for Donut Day, or any day let me know by using #sebbakes , Enjoy!
S’mores Stuffed Donuts
Yield: 12
Prep time: 1 1/ 2 hours
Cook time: about 20 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 packet yeast (2 1/ 2 tsp)
- 1/ 2 cup milk
- 1/ 4 cup cream
- 1/ 4 cup sugar
- 2 cups flour
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 1/ 2 tsp cold unsalted butter, cubed
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1/ 2 tsp salt
- Chocolate chips
- 2 large marshmallows
- 1/ 3 cup Icing sugar
- 1/ 2 tsp milk, half and half, cream etc.
- Oil for frying
Method:
1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine yeast, milk, cream, sugar and one cup flour. Let sit for about five minutes.
2. Add in the rest of your flour as well as the eggs, butter, vanilla and salt. Using a dough hook attachment, mix the dough on a low/ medium-low speed until combined then kneed, still on low, for an additional five minutes. The dough will be quite sticky.
3. Scrape dough off sides of your bowl and let rise, covered, for 45 – 60 minutes.
4. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and roll to about the thickness of a standard jar lid. Cut dough into about 12 circles by using a cup, jar lid or cookie cutter.*
5. Fill donuts with a teaspoon-sized piece of marshmallow and roughly six chocolate chips** by placing them in the middle of your dough round. Meet the edges together in the middle to form a ball enclosing the marshmallow and chocolate as shown below.
6. Let the dough balls rest on a floured half sheet pan for 30 - 60 minutes.
7. While the dough is rising, prepare an area to place your donuts when fried. I used a cooling rack placed on top of an old dish towel for my donuts but use whatever works for you. At this time, you can also create the glaze for your donuts by mixing the icing sugar and half and half (or whatever you chose.) ***
8. In a heavy-bottomed pot heat oil on medium heat. You will know the oil is ready when you take a tiny piece of dough, put it in the oil and it comes to the surface bubbling rapidly.
9. Fry donuts, cooking each side until it is a darker golden color.
10. Let cool until just warm and pour glaze over the donuts. Enjoy!
NOTES:
*The smaller the better. I used a standard jar lid ring and it made it a bit harder to determine when the donuts were cooked. A small cup or rolling the dough out a bit thinner may be useful to take out most of the guessing game.
**I used dark chocolate chips and liked it, but Chris said he would have preferred milk chocolate chips, so use whatever chocolate you like!
*** If the glaze is too thick add a LITTLE more liquid. Honestly, the less the better. If it seems too thick it will probably still work because the warm donuts will melt it, if it’s too thin the glaze will run off the donuts.