doughnuts Archives | butter loves company

Sometimes you start the day with a nourishing smoothie, and end it with a doughnut. It’s all about that balance.

Ever since I made these brioche doughnuts, my mind has been swirling with reasons (excuses) to make them again. After one glance over my shoulder at the bushel of almost dried out Thai bird chilies hanging in our kitchen, I knew my next move. Herein, we have the Thai Chili Coconut Cream Doughnuts. As an ode to some of our favorite Thai curries, which are deep with heat, yet balanced by creamy coconut milk, we are steeping the Thai bird chilies in a milky cream of coconut mixture to create the coconut pastry cream that is piped into your freshly fried doughnuts.

The combination of buttery brioche dough rolled in vanilla sugar and the slightly spicy, creamy coconut filling is the one of the best excuses I could ever think of. For your filling, you’ll use some cornstarch to help your custard thicken up like a pastry cream. No Thai chilies? You could definitely omit and stick to a coconut cream. Alternatively, you could experiment with a jalapeno or serrano pepper—just be sure to test along the way to make sure your filling doesn’t end up too fire-y hot.

These Thai Chili Coconut Cream Doughnuts are a great weekend project as the brioche dough is best prepped and shaped a day ahead, left to proof overnight in the refrigerator, and fried up on Sunday morning while you sip your coffee in your jammies.

Because the brioche doughnut dough takes a day to prepare (mostly inactive), it is great to prep the pastry cream the same day to mix the dough so it will be chilled and ready to use as soon as you you fry the doughnuts.

Here’s to a happy weekend!

Check. Check 1-2. Check 1-2-3-4.

Hello…

it’s me!

I am (honestly) in California dreaming about who we used to be. That is, food friends! Life has been quite busy lately and I’m going to blame my temporary break on the new doughnut in my life. No, I’m not talking about these sugared brioche doughnuts that I hope you’re grabbing for on the screen (they are that good, I promise). I’m referring to the newest member of the Butter Loves Company family, our precious calico kitten—say hello to Nori! She is my new kitchen assistant, contributing mostly by sleeping curled into an adorable doughnut shape. I couldn’t be happier to be her mama.

Cute cats aside, I am bursting with excitement to share this recipe with you. Imagine biting into a sweet, buttery cloud with egg-y richness and a kiss of vanilla. Sounds pretty amazing, right? That’s what you’ll get with this perfect sugared brioche doughnut recipe. As soon as I tried Thomas Keller’s recipe from Bouchon Bakery, it was game over.

If you’re thinking, “Homemade doughnuts? That seems difficult,” let’s take it step-by-step. You’ll prepare a simple dough, which is a mostly hands-off process, allowing your stand mixer to do the heavy lifting. You’ll let the dough proof for an hour and then again overnight in the fridge. You’ll roll out and cut the dough into your doughnut shapes. You’ll heat the oil and fry those pretties for just a couple minutes. Remove from the oil, let cool and toss them in vanilla sugar. Give one to everyone you see around you—well, maybe not the cats!