Adele bought me a deep fryer for Christmas! What does that mean? Doughnuts! Specifically, a delicious Italian pastry called bombolone. I’ve made these before , but this is the first time I had access to vanilla beans and the proper “doppio zero” flour. (Costco sells vanilla beans for $1.20 each. A far cry from the $4.00 each at WalMart.) The original recipe can be found here. It’s the orange zest that really sets these doughnuts apart. You get that sweetness and richness but with that hint of freshness. I didn’t find the vanilla flavour to really stand out, so I’m not sure if in the future I’ll use the vanilla bean. This time around I didn’t use Grace’s pastry cream recipe. I wanted to see how Gisslen’s recipe worked out. It worked out really well. It’s a stiff cream, but delicious, especially with the vanilla bean.
- Milk: 1 L (100%)
- Sugar: 125 g (12.5%)
- Vanilla bean: 1, split and seeded
- Egg yolks: 300 g (30%) [Yes, that’s approximately 15 eggs.]
- Cornstarch: 75 g (8%)
- Sugar: 125 g (12.5%)
- Butter: 60 g (6%)
Combine the milk, first portion of sugar, and vanilla beans and pod in a saucepan. Bring just to a boil, remove from heat, then cover and let sit for as long as an hour to let the vanilla really infuse the milk. In a separate bowl, beat together the yolks, cornstarch, and second portion of sugar until perfectly smooth. Temper the egg mixture, return everything to the pan, and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. (It has to boil to fully cook the starch.) Once thickened, remove from heat and stir in the butter. Pour the cream into a 9×13 or other shallow pan. Cover with plastic wrap, placing the wrap in direct contact with the surface of the cream to prevent a skin from forming. Chill until ready to use.
