Description
Soft and fluffy donut holes are filled with sweet and tart lemon curd and covered with a sugar glaze. These fresh, from-scratch donut holes are a lemony delight you’ll want to make again and again!
Ingredients
Scale
Donut Holes
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 1/4 cup water (lukewarm)
- 2 tablespoons milk (lukewarm)
- 3 egg yolks
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter (melted)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- oil for frying
Lemon Curd
- 4 eggs
- juice of 4 lemons
- zest of 1 lemon
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
Glaze
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 2–3 tablespoons milk
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Combine the warm water, milk, 1 tablespoon sugar, and yeast in a bowl. Whisk to dissolve the yeast. Leave for 5-10 minutes until foamy.
- Add the remaining sugar, egg yolks, and vanilla.
- Add in the flour and salt. Knead until smooth using the attachment on your mixer or by hand. Incorporate the butter and knead well until the dough comes together and forms a ball.
- Transfer the dough to a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
- Meanwhile, make lemon curd. Place the eggs, zest, sugar, and lemon juice in a medium bowl and whisk to combine. Leave for 10-15 minutes so that the zest will infuse the mixture. Pour the mixture through a sieve into a medium saucepan.
- Cook over medium-low heat. Constantly whisk until the mixture becomes thick, about 5-7 minutes. Remove pan from heat. Whisk butter into the curd. Pour curd into a bowl and place a piece of plastic wrap directly on top. Let cool and put in the fridge.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll the dough out to a ½-inch thickness. Cut out donuts as close together as possible. Reroll the dough and cut out more donut holes. Transfer the circles to the prepared baking sheet and cover lightly with plastic wrap. Let rise for 15-20 minutes.
- Heat 2 inches of oil in a heavy pot (cast iron) to 330°F. To fry donut holes, drop 5-6 at a time and allow to become golden about 1-2 minutes. Remove donut holes from the oil with the spider tool and place on a tray lined with paper towels. Let cool slightly.
- Add the lemon curd to a pastry bag fitted with a small nozzle. Fill each donut hole with the curd.
- For the glaze, mix all the ingredients until smooth. Dip each donut hole into the glaze.