We love Canada, so there’s no reason not to inject some of our classic recipes with a little extra patriotism. In this dessert, we (literally) inject light, fluffy, yeasted doughnuts with butter tart filling. If that doesn’t sound crazy-delicious, you may want to check your passport. This recipe celebrates our love of Canada, our love of doughnuts and our love of our classic Canadian dessert, the butter tart.
ingredients
Dough
Filling
Assembly
directions
In a small saucepan, heat milk over low until temperature is slightly warmer than room temperature (should feel comfortable to touch). Stir in sugar and pour into the bowl of a stand-mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment. Sprinkle over yeast over warm milk mixture and set aside until foamy bubbles appear on the surface, about 10 minutes.
After yeast is foamy, beat in butter, egg, vanilla and salt until smooth. Add in flour and beat on medium high speed until a smooth dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl cleanly and climbs the dough hook, about 5 minutes.
Form dough into a ball and place in a well-oiled bowl. Cover with a dish towel and place in a warm place until dough doubles in size, about 1 hour.
Prepare a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Roll out dough onto a lightly floured surface until 3/4-inch thick. Using a floured 3-inch round cutter, press into dough and twist to release dough from sticking to cutter. Place dough rounds on the prepared baking sheet. Reroll dough scraps one at a time and repeat. Cover dough rounds with kitchen towel and set aside in a warm place until dough doubles in size, about 1 hour.
Prepare a baking sheet lined with a few layers of paper towel. Pour enough oil into a large pot until 3- to 4-inches deep. Set pot with a clip-on thermometer and heat until temperature reaches 350ºF. Adjust heat to maintain 350ºF temperature.
Working in batches of 3 or 4, fry doughnuts until golden, about 1 minute per side, for a total of about 2 minutes. Using a spider or slotted spoon, carefully transfer fried doughnuts to prepared baking sheet. Cool.
Combine all filling ingredients in a double boiler. Heat over high while stirring until mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 5 minutes. Place mixture in the refrigerator until chilled, about 2 hours.
Transfer chilled filling into a piping bag. Poke a hole in the side of one doughnut using the back of a wooden spoon until you reach the centre of the doughnut. Pipe filling into doughnut. Repeat with remaining doughnuts.
Dust doughnuts with icing sugar before serving.