I am so pleased to share this recipe with you my beautiful friends: the dreamiest doughnuts in town! Gloriously light and fluffy doughnuts filled with a delicate, floral cream made from foraged flowers.
These doughnuts are the definition of slow food. The recipe will take you over sunny fields to gather wildflowers and back to the kitchen to make your dough, watch it rise, fry up a storm and finally watch your doughnuts balloon as you pipe fresh floral cream into them! Enjoy!
Elderflower & honeysuckle doughnuts Recipe:
Yield: 10 DOUGHNUTS
FORAGING DIFFICULTY: EASY
Prep Time: 45 min + OVERNIGHT PROVING
Cook Time: 30 min
I have given instructions for making your doughnuts with a stand mixer and by hand. I really recommend you use a stand mixer, making doughnuts by hand is a very long and tiring process!
FORAGING YOUR FLOWERS:
All you'll need is half a cup of mixed elderflower and honeysuckle for this recipe! This equates to around 10 sprays of elderflower and 10 sprays of honeysuckle. You can use only elderflower, or honeysuckle (or any sweet edible flower!) if you'd prefer.
Make sure you are 100% certain you have the correct ID and remember that the stalks of the elderflower are toxic, so aim to have as little of them in your bowl as possible.
INGREDIENTS:
For the Doughnuts:
250g Strong White Flour
30g Caster Sugar
7.5g Fresh Yeast
2 eggs
1 tsp Lemon Zest
1 tsp Salt
60g Softened Butter
+
around 2 litres Sunflower or Flavourless Vegetable Oil For Frying
Icing Sugar Or Caster Sugar, To Coat.
For the Filling:
1/2 Cup Mixed Edible Flowers
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup Water
200ml Thick Cream
INSTRUCTIONS:
STEP ONE -
By mixer: In a mixer bowl, add 150g water plus all of the doughnut ingredients (excluding the butter!). Mix with a beater paddle for around 8 minutes on medium, or until the dough starts to form a ball and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
By hand: If you're not using an electric mixer, combine the ingredients and mix with your hand for around 20 minutes. Once the ingredients are combined, begin to knead the dough in the bowl by pulling and stretching the wet dough.
Let the dough rest for a minute.
STEP TWO -
Now it's time to incorporate the butter.
By mixer: On a low setting, add about a quarter the butter to the dough at a time, until it's incorporated. Once it's all mixed in, change to a high speed and beat for 5 minutes. The dough should be very elastic when pulled and have a smooth and glossy look to it.
By hand: Continue to use your kneading in the bowl action and add about a quarter the butter to the dough at a time, until it's incorporated. Keep working the dough until it's very elastic when pulled and have a smooth and glossy look to it. This could take some time!
STEP THREE -
Cover the bowl with cling film or a tea towel and leave it in a warm place until it's doubled in size. Knock back the dough slightly and leave in the fridge overnight.
STEP FOUR -
The following day divide the dough into around 10, 50g doughnuts. Roll the pieces out into rounds and place them on a floured baking tray. They will grow, so leave lots of space between them. Cover again and leave for around 4 hours in a warm place.
STEP FIVE -
Now it's time to fry our doughnuts! I find it easiest to fry one doughnut at a time. Heat your oil in a small saucepan and don't fill the pan more than halfway. Either use a thermometer and aim to keep the oil and 160C (if you don't have one, heat the oil until the doughnuts very gently bubble around the edges.)
Carefully slide the doughnuts onto a metal spatula sprinkled with some more flour and place one doughnut at a time into the oil. Flip the doughnuts after around 3 minutes or when the fried side is lightly golden and repeat for the other side.
Place your fried doughnuts onto some kitchen towel and leave them to cool. When they are cooled, roll them in either icing sugar or caster sugar.
STEP SIX -
Time to make the filling! Add your flowers, sugar and water to a pan and simmer gently for around 20 minutes until a syrupy consistency has been formed. Leave the mixture to cool and strain through a muslin cloth into a jar to separate out the flowers. Leave to cool.
Pour your whipping cream into a bowl and add around 4 tablespoons of your flower syrup (you may need less or more depending on the consistency of your syrup). Whip with a whisk until light and fluffy.
STEP SEVEN -
Filling the doughnuts! Cut a small hole into the side of your doughnut and, while keeping the hole as small as possible, run the knife around the inside (almost as if you're opening a pitta.). This will make a cavity for your cream.
Fill a piping bag with your floral cream and insert the nozzle into the hole. Squeeze your piping bag and watch the doughnut balloon! Make a nice swirl of cream over the hole and voila! You're done. Repeat for the remaining doughnuts and enjoy!
NOTES:
The Stickiest Dough Ever: Doughnut dough is not nice to work with! It is very wet and sticky and impossible to put on a surface to knead. Just go with it! With enough kneading, it will come together to form an elastic (yet wet!) dough.
Storage: These doughnuts are best fresh! But will keep up to 3 days if stored in an airtight container in a cool place.
Are you going to give these doughnuts a try? Let me know in the comments below! I'd love to see your results, share a picture on Instagram with #foragedbyfern
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