Advocaat doughnuts

If advocaat-filled doughnuts are always your first choice at the bakery and you’ve dreamed of making them at home, you’re going to love this recipe! These doughnuts are generously filled with silky advocaat custard, finished with an advocaat icing and decorated with raspberries. Plenty of liqueur, plenty of flavour — and absolutely delicious. For decoration and an extra burst of flavour, I used freeze-dried raspberries (often available in breakfast cereal aisles or speciality baking shops), but fresh raspberries work beautifully too. The custard is best prepared in advance. These doughnuts are intended for adults, as the advocaat flavour is quite pronounced.

Note: The advocaat custard can be made up to 3 days in advance and stored in the fridge.

Makes 15–16 doughnuts.

Ingredients for the yeast dough:

• 550 g strong white bread flour
• 14 g dried yeast or 30 g fresh yeast
• 250 ml lukewarm milk
• 2 large eggs
• 2 egg yolks, from large eggs
• 70 g caster sugar
• a large pinch of salt
• 80 g butter, melted and cooled
• 1 tbsp vodka or vanilla extract

Ingredients for frying:

• 1.5 litres vegetable oil, coconut oil or lard

Sift the flour and mix with the dried yeast (if using fresh yeast, prepare a starter first). Add the remaining dough ingredients and knead thoroughly, adding the melted butter towards the end. Knead for several minutes until the dough becomes smooth and soft. Try not to add extra flour, even if the dough feels slightly sticky. A stand mixer fitted with a dough hook or a bread machine works particularly well. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured bowl, cover and leave in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1½ hours.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead briefly. Divide into portions weighing approximately 65–70 g each and shape into smooth balls. Arrange them on a lightly floured cloth or work surface, cover and leave to rise again until doubled in size, about 40 minutes, depending on room temperature. The doughnuts should look light and puffy but not overproved.

Heat the frying oil to 175°C. Fry the doughnuts for approximately 2–3 minutes on each side until golden brown. Do not allow the oil temperature to become too high, otherwise the doughnuts will brown too quickly on the outside while remaining undercooked in the centre. Transfer immediately to kitchen paper and leave to cool completely.

Fill the cooled doughnuts with the advocaat custard using a piping bag fitted with a filling nozzle.

Glaze the doughnuts with the advocaat icing, sprinkle with raspberries and finish with decorative lines of thicker icing piped over the top.

Ingredients for the advocaat custard:

• 350 ml milk
• 250 ml advocaat
• 6 egg yolks, from large eggs
• 80 g caster sugar
• 35 g plain flour
• 35 g potato starch

Bring the milk to the boil, then immediately remove from the heat and stir in the advocaat.

Whisk the sugar and egg yolks together until pale and creamy. Add the flour and potato starch and continue whisking until smooth. Pour the egg mixture into the milk and advocaat mixture and whisk thoroughly until smooth. Return to medium heat and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Once the mixture comes to the boil, continue cooking for about 1 minute until thickened and bubbling.

Transfer to a bowl and cover directly with cling film touching the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Leave to cool completely.

Ingredients for the advocaat icing:

• 1½ cups icing sugar
• 4 tbsp advocaat
• hot water, as needed

Place the icing sugar and advocaat into a bowl and mix with the back of a spoon until smooth. Add a little hot water, starting with 1 teaspoon, until the icing reaches the correct consistency. It should not be too runny, otherwise it will slide off the doughnuts, nor too thick, otherwise it will coat them too heavily. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the icing for decorating. Thicken this portion with a little extra icing sugar so that the piped lines hold their shape.

Additionally:

• a handful of freeze-dried or fresh raspberries

Decorate the glazed doughnuts with raspberries and the thicker icing.

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!