Kinder Bueno Doughnuts

Delicious doughnuts made from light and fluffy yeast dough, filled with a cream inspired by the much-loved Kinder Bueno bar. The filling, made with just two ingredients – sweet hazelnut cream and mascarpone – is quick and easy to prepare. Once filled, the doughnuts are dipped in hazelnut cream, decorated with milk chocolate and pieces of the chocolate bar. Kinder Bueno doughnuts are absolutely irresistible and guaranteed to win over every sweet tooth ;).

Makes 15 doughnuts.

Ingredients for the Kinder Bueno doughnuts:

• 550 g plain flour
• 1 large egg
• 4 large egg yolks
• 100 g butter, melted
• 80 g caster sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp dark rum
• 250 ml milk, lukewarm
• 20 g fresh yeast or 10 g dry yeast

All ingredients should be at room temperature.

Sift the plain flour and mix it with the dry yeast (if using fresh yeast, prepare a yeast starter first). Add the remaining ingredients and knead the dough, adding the melted butter towards the end. Knead for several minutes until the dough is smooth and soft (try not to add extra flour, even though the dough will be slightly sticky; I recommend using a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook or a bread machine). Transfer the dough to a lightly floured bowl, cover, and leave in a warm place until doubled in size (about 1½ hours).

After this time, transfer the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead briefly. Shape the dough by hand: tear off pieces, weigh about 78 g for each doughnut, and form into balls. Place them on a floured cloth, cover, and leave in a warm place until doubled in size (about 25–40 minutes, depending on the room temperature; the doughnuts should be well risen but not overproofed).

Once risen, fry the doughnuts in oil heated to 175°C, for about 3 minutes on each side. The oil should not be too hot, as the doughnuts will brown too quickly on the outside while remaining raw inside; if the oil is too cool, they will absorb excess fat. After frying, transfer the doughnuts to paper towels to drain. Allow to cool completely.

Ingredients for the Kinder Bueno filling:

• 300 g hazelnut cream
• 300 g mascarpone

All ingredients should be at room temperature. Place the hazelnut cream in a bowl and microwave for several seconds. Remove and stir – it should be fluid but not warm. Transfer the hazelnut spread to the bowl of a mixer, add the mascarpone and beat briefly until smooth and creamy. Refrigerate until ready to fill the doughnuts.

Place the prepared cream into a piping bag fitted with a filling nozzle and use it to fill the doughnuts.

To finish:

• 200 g hazelnut cream
• 40 g milk chocolate, melted over a bain-marie
• Kinder Bueno bars, broken into pieces

Place the hazelnut spread in a bowl and microwave for several seconds. Remove and stir – it should be smooth and pourable. Dip the filled doughnuts halfway into the hazelnut spread, then place them on a serving plate. Pipe zigzags of melted milk chocolate over the top using a piping bag, and decorate each doughnut with a piece of Kinder Bueno.

Method for bread machine users:
Place all the yeast dough ingredients into the bread machine in the following order: liquid ingredients first, then dry ingredients, and finally the yeast. Select the ‘dough’ programme (kneading and first rise). Once the programme has finished, remove the dough, knead it lightly, and continue according to the main recipe above.

Enjoy!