Nutella Doughnuts

Yesterday was my brother’s name day; St. John. It just so happens that there are 5 million Johns in my family, and I’m not so sure that, that figure is even a hyperbole. My uncle’s name is John, my cousin’s name is John, my grandfather was called John … and so the list continues.

We were invited to my beautiful uncle’s house for a BBQ and I wanted to make something that both he and my brother adored – doughnuts!

I had never tried making doughnuts before as I’ve always had this hidden fear of deep-frying. I always thought that it was a waste of oil and that it would create a mess. But boy was I surprised. There is no art to deep-frying. It is simple and magnificent! The doughnuts cooked in record speed and I was left marvelling at the end result.

I chose to fill these with nutella, but I also filled a few with raspberry jam and they were equally if not more scrumptious. It’s just a matter of personal taste. I also must add, before I share this recipe, that I got the recipe from a fabulous blog called Sips and Spoonfuls: http://sipsandspoonfuls.com/2011/02/nutella-doughnuts.html.

Ingredients:

3 – 3 ¼  cups all purpose flour

2 ¼ teaspoon instant yeast

6 tablespoons sugar

½ teaspoon salt

2/3 cup milk, room temperature

2 eggs, lightly beaten

120 grams butter, room temperature

oil for deep-frying (I used canola oil)

Approximately ¾ cup nutella (for filling)

1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon (for coating)

½ cup caster sugar (for coating)

Add all the dry ingredients in a bowl (start with three cups of flour). Add the butter and mix with your fingers until it resembles bread crumbs. Make a well in the centre and add the milk and eggs. Start kneading the dough, if you feel it is sticky or wet then add a little but more flour. Knead for 10 minutes or so. Cover the bowl with cling wrap and place in a warm area to rise for an hour and a half, or until double in size.

Lightly flour a surface and roll the dough to a thickness of a ½ inch. Cut the dough into 3 inch rounds. Repeat until all the dough scraps have been used. Make a ball out of the 3 inch circles. Place balls on a lightly floured tray and cover loosely with cling film. Let the balls rise for 45 minutes.

Heat oil on medium heat. Test the temperature of the oil by placing a little bit of bread in. If the bread sizzles and browns then the oil is hot enough. Place the balls into the oil 4 – 5 at a time. Fry until golden brown on medium heat. When done remove from the oil and transfer to a paper towel. Using a piping bag add the nutella. Coat in and cinnamon mix whilst still warm. Enjoy!

Note: This recipe made more than 20 doughnuts and they were the perfect size. They are still amazing the second day, so I would not recommend halving the recipe because there is no need to! I just heated up the doughnuts in the oven for a couple of minutes and they were still delightful.