Team Color Doughnuts Recipes

TEAM-COLOR DOUGHNUTS

Steps:

• Pick up some plain cake doughnuts and decorate a dozen in your team's colors: Whisk 2 cups confectioners' sugar with 2 to 3 tablespoons milk until smooth; tint with food coloring. Spread on the doughnuts and top with sprinkles or drizzle with candy melts and let set.

VANILLA CREAM-FILLED DOUGHNUTS

Steps:

• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, stir together yeast and milk; let stand until yeast is dissolved, about 1 minute. Add flour, 1/3 cup sugar, salt, and eggs; mix on low speed until dough comes together, about 1 minute. Continue mixing on low 2 to 3 minutes more. Add butter, a few pieces at a time, mixing after each addition and until butter is fully incorporated and dough is soft, 5 to 6 minutes.
• Remove dough from bowl and wrap tightly with plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 6 hours and up to 15 hours.
• Lightly flour a baking sheet; set aside. On a well-floured work surface, roll out dough into 12-inch square about 1/2 inch thick. Using a 3 1/2-to-4-inch round biscuit cutter, cut out 9 doughnuts. Transfer to prepared baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap; let stand in a warm spot until they've doubled in height and feel poufy and pillowy, 2 to 3 hours.
• Fill a large heavy-bottomed saucepan with oil to a depth of 3 inches; heat over medium-high heat until it reaches 350 degrees on a deep-fry thermometer. Working in batches, place doughnuts in the hot oil, taking care not to crowd them. Fry until golden brown on one side, 2 to 3 minutes; turn and continue frying on remaining side until golden, 2 to 3 minutes more. Using a slotted spoon, transfer doughnuts to a paper towel-lined baking sheet until cool enough to handle.
• Place remaining cup of sugar in a small bowl. Toss doughnuts in sugar, one at a time, to evenly coat. Return doughnuts to paper towel-lined baking sheet to cool completely, 30 to 40 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Gently fold in pastry cream; you should have 3 cups of filling. Transfer to a pastry bag fitted with a small round tip; set aside.
• Poke a hole in the side of each cooled doughnut and fill with about 1/3 cup filling; serve immediately.

BOSTON CREAM DOUGHNUTS

Steps:

• Heat the milk until it is warm but not hot, about 90 degrees. In a large bowl, combine it with the yeast. Stir lightly, and let sit until the mixture is foamy, about 5 minutes.
• Using an electric mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, beat the eggs, butter, sugar and salt into the yeast mixture. Add half of the flour (2 cups plus 2 tablespoons), and mix until combined, then mix in the rest of the flour until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Add more flour, about 2 tablespoons at a time, if the dough is too wet. If you're using an electric mixer, the dough will probably become too thick to beat; when it does, transfer it to a floured surface, and gently knead it until smooth. Grease a large bowl with a little oil. Transfer the dough to the bowl, and cover. Let rise at room temperature until it doubles in size, about 1 hour.
• Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface, and roll it to 1/2-inch thickness. Cut out the doughnuts with a doughnut cutter, concentric cookie cutters or a drinking glass and a shot glass (the larger one should be about 3 inches in diameter), flouring the cutters as you go. Reserve the doughnut holes. If you're making filled doughnuts, don't cut out the middle. Knead any scraps together, being careful not to overwork, and let rest for a few minutes before repeating the process.
• Put the doughnuts on two floured baking sheets so that there is plenty of room between each one. Cover with a kitchen towel, and let rise in a warm place until they are slightly puffed up and delicate, about 45 minutes. If your kitchen isn't warm, heat the oven to 200 at the beginning of this step, then turn off the heat, put the baking sheets in the oven and leave the door ajar.
• About 15 minutes before the doughnuts are done rising, put the oil in a heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven over medium heat, and heat it to 375. Meanwhile, line cooling racks, baking sheets or plates with paper towels.
• Carefully add the doughnuts to the oil, a few at a time. If they're too delicate to pick up with your fingers (they may be this way only if you rose them in the oven), use a metal spatula to pick them up and slide them into the oil. It's O.K. if they deflate a bit; they'll puff back up as they fry. When the bottoms are deep golden, after 45 seconds to a minute, use a slotted spoon to flip; cook until they're deep golden all over. Doughnut holes cook faster. Transfer the doughnuts to the prepared plates or racks, and repeat with the rest of the dough, adjusting the heat as needed to keep the oil at 375.
• For the glaze, whisk together 1 3/4 cups powdered sugar, 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, 1/4 cup milk and 1 teaspoon vanilla until smooth. Dip the tops of the doughnuts in the glaze, and let it harden on a rack.
• Combine 2/3 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons flour, 2 tablespoons cornstarch and a pinch of salt in a small saucepan. Over medium heat, whisk in 2 eggs and 2 cups cream. Continue cooking, whisking almost constantly, until the mixture just begins to boil and thickens, about 10 minutes. Adjust the heat so the mixture bubbles gently; cook until it coats the back of a spoon (when you draw your finger through this coating, the resulting line should hold its shape). Stir in 2 tablespoons softened unsalted butter and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve, and cool to room temperature before using.
• To fill the doughnuts with the pastry cream, insert the tip of a pastry bag filled with cream into the side of the doughnut, and squeeze. (Alternatively, poke a chopstick into the side of the doughnut, and wiggle it around to hollow out some space inside. Plunge a small funnel into the hole, spoon some filling into the funnel and use the chopstick to push it into the doughnut. If the filling clumps up toward the center of the doughnut, just press lightly on the top to distribute it evenly.)