‘Bloody’ Cardamom Spiced Donuts with Vanilla Custard

In a stand mixer, or large size mixing bowl; combine 2 cups flour, yeast, sugar, salt, and cardamom. In a small pot, heat milk and butter until the temperature reaches 120ºF. Slowly add warm milk mixture into your dry ingredients; followed by egg yolks, until a sticky dough begins to form. Turn your speed up to medium-high and sprinkle in ¾ cup of remaining flour until almost completely incorporated and you have a shaggy dough. Use your remaining flour to lightly dust your work surface. Remove dough from bowl and begin to knead for 4-6 minutes. The dough should not have any visible spots of flour and will become elastic and smooth. Once you have reached this stage; place dough into a bowl, cover and let rest in a warm place for 10 minutes.

Heat a deep fryer, or a pot of oil to 350ºF.

Once your dough has rested, lightly dust your work surface again and begin to roll dough to 1/2 inch thick. Using a 3-inch circle cutter, cut out as many circles as you can. Set them aside and re-roll remaining dough to 1/2 inch thick once more. Repeat until you have 12 donuts.

Tip: Use the last bits of dough that are too small to re-roll as testers for your oil temperature.

Before you begin frying, mix together 1 cup of sugar and 2 tsp of cinnamon. Have this ready, next to your frying station. In batches of 2-3, fry each donut for 1.5 minutes on each side. Remove and immediately toss in cinnamon sugar then onto a cooling rack. Repeat frying until all donuts are complete.

While donuts cool to room temperature; begin to make your vanilla-cream filling. In a medium pot, without any heat; whisk together sugar and cornstarch. Slowly add 2 cups of milk until sugar and cornstarch have completely dissolved. Whisk in eggs yolks and vanilla paste until everything is well combined. Now turn on heat to medium high and bring to a boil, whisking constantly. As soon as mixture has thickened, remove from heat and begin to whisk in melted butter. Continue to whisk until mixture returns back to a smooth consistency. Transfer to a dish and place in refrigerator to cool completely.

In the meantime, add corn syrup to a small mixing bowl. Sprinkle in cornstarch and whisk well until starch is completely combined and syrup turns cloudy. Add jam and water. Continue to mix until drizzle has thickened slightly. Drop in food colouring until your desired ‘blood red’ is achieved.

Assembly: Using a skewer, poke a hole in each donut large enough for the tip of a piping bag to fit. Fill piping bag with cooled vanilla cream and pipe into donut. Drizzle with a spoon full of raspberry blood on top of each donut. With remaining raspberry topping fill a syringe and insert on top for a spooky Halloween effect.