These brioche crème brûlée donuts are as amazing as they sound. I just used a regular brioche recipe, I have a few different ones on my website or you can use your favorite . As for the filling this isn’t a typical pastry cream. I wanted it to be a little bit thicker and “custardier” if that makes any sense lol and I didn’t want it to feel like a Boston cream donut. This recipe is all yolks, and it’s super easy, but you can use whatever custard you prefer!
Custard recipe:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons corn starch
4 egg yolks
2 cups milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 tablespoons butter
Mix the sugar, salts and cornstarch in a large bowl with a whisk until combine. Add the yolks and again mix until homogenous. Meanwhile, keep the milk up in a pot until just before boiling, like an aggressive simmer. Next, slowly pour about half a cup of the hot liquid into the egg mix whisking vigorously to keep things moving and just lowly cool down some milk. This is called tempering, and we do this as to not to scramble all of our eggs at once. Once the mix is tempered and the eggs are evenly distributed, pour the egg mix into the pot with the rest of the liquid again stirring constantly. Put it back on a medium, low flame and keep stirring until the mixture begins to thicken and slowly bubble. Once your custard is thickened, where you need it to be, take it off the heat and add the butter and vanilla, again, constantly stirring until homogenous. Allow to cool at room temp on a sheet pan lined with plastic wrap before, covering with plastic wrap directly to the custard and placing in the fridge for about two hours to fully cool. I’ve been placed in a piping bag fitted with a tip so I can easily fill my donuts. Again, I kind of wanted a chunkier custard here to mimic more of a crème brûlée, so rather than beating the pastry cream in a bowl or with a mixer to really smooth it out before piping. I just went straight for it.
Brioche!
¾ cup water lukewarm
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
¼ cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs room temperature
½ cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature
4 cups all-purpose flour + 2 tablespoons
½ teaspoon kosher salt
Add sugar and yeast to the lukewarm water in a large bowl. Allow it to sit for about 10 minutes or until the yeast starts to bubble.
In a small bowl, beat the eggs. Cut the butter into small cubes and set aside. After 10 minutes, add flour and eggs to the yeast mixture in a large bowl. Knead well using the attachment on your mixer or by hand. After about 5 minutes, add the salt. Slowly incorporate the butter cubes and continue kneading well with your hands or in a stand mixer. The dough has to be glossy and smooth. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave to proof at room temperature for about 2 hours, or until doubled in size. Punch down the dough, then re-cover the bowl. Put in the fridge to chill for 12 - 16 hours or overnight.