Cream Filled Powdered Donuts
 
Prep time
Bake time
Total time
 
The flour listed below is a range from 4-5 cups. Depending on the conditions in your kitchen/geographic location will determine how much flour you will need to use, see video tutorial for a more in depth explanation and visual for how the dough should look.
When measuring cornstarch I cannot stress enough that a kitchen scale is the best way to go. Cornstarch is a very difficult ingredient to measure consistently with a volume spoons measure, so while I list both measures below I cannot stress enough how the grams measure with a scale is going to give you the best results. I cannot tell you how many times people have complained that their custard is like rubber and they don't know why!
This is from a heavy measure of cornstarch when using volume measuring spoon vs the 100% accurate scale measure in grams.
Serves: 9 Donuts
Ingredients
  • For the Donut Dough:
  • All Purpose Flour 4-5 cups *see note above (500g-625g)
  • Sugar ½ cup (100g)
  • Dry Yeast 1½ Tablespoons (15g)
  • EnerG Egg Replacer *see notes in text of blog post for alternative ingredients 4 teaspoons (6.5g)
  • Baking Powder 1 teaspoon (3g)
  • Salt 1 teaspoon (6g)
  • Vanilla Extract 2 teaspoons (10ml)
  • Plant Milk *I use soy milk 2 Cups + 2 Tbs (500ml)
  • Vegan Butter 6 Tablespoons (85g)
  • For the vanilla Bean Custard:
  • Plant Milk *I use soy milk 2 cups (475ml)
  • Sugar ½ cup (100g)
  • Cornstarch * see note above 4 Tablespoons (32g)
  • Vegan Butter 2 Tablespoons (28g)
  • Vanilla Bean Paste 2 teaspoons (10ml)
  • Aquafaba for brushing the donuts dough approximately ¼ cup
  • Confectioner Sugar approximately 2 cups for coating the donuts
Instructions
  1. For the Donut Dough, first prepare the Tangzhong by taking out ½ cup of the flour and combining it with ⅔ cup (160g) of the plant milk in a small sauce pot
  2. Whisk it smooth over a medium heat stirring constantly until it reaches 150°F on an instant read thermometer.
  3. Scrape out the roux into a small bowl and let cool to lukewarm to the touch.
  4. Combine the room temperature plant milk with the dry yeast & a pinch of sugar in a small bowl and whisk together, let stand for 5 minutes to prove the yeast
  5. In the work bowl of your electric stand mixer with a dough hook attachment combine all the ingredients including the cooled roux, the proved yeast/milk mixture and the softened vegan butter and mix on low speed to form a shaggy dough.
  6. Once the dough comes together increase the speed to medium and mix for 4 minutes.
  7. Add flour as needed to make a soft pliable dough rather than a sticky blob.
  8. The dough should clear the sides of the bowl but not be tough **watch video tutorial for more information and explanation on how the dough should look.
  9. Decrease the speed back to low and mix for another 5 minutes
  10. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, cover and rise in a warm spot for about 1 hour or until almost double in size.
  11. Meanwhile prepare the custard by combining the sugar & cornstarch together in a small bowl with a whisk, then add to a heavy bottom medium sauce pot with the plant milk
  12. Bring to a full boil whisking constantly to avoid scorching the bottom, then remove from the heat and add the vegan butter & vanilla bean paste
  13. Transfer to a bowl and cool in the refrigerator while you finish the donuts.
  14. Once the dough has risen to double, turn out onto a lightly floured surface and roll to ½" thickness.
  15. Cut donuts with a 3.5" cookie or biscuit cutter and transfer to a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.
  16. Re-roll the dough scraps gently and you should get 9-10 donuts total out of this recipe
  17. Brush the donuts with aquafaba and then cover lightly and rise again in a warm spot.
  18. Once the donuts have risen again to almost double preheat the oven to 350°F and bake immediately for approximately 18-20 minutes or until lightly golden brown and no longer raw in the middle.
  19. Cool slightly (they should still be warm) and then plunge each donut into a powdered sugar
  20. With a skewer or something similar, hollow out the centers of each donut and then fill with the cooled vanilla bean custard
Notes
Custard filled donuts will stay fresh for up to 2 days at room temperature, however I am not sure I would want to leave them filled with custard at room temperature.

I left mine on the counter for 1 whole day 24 hours, and they were still good and the custard did not go bad, but I am not sure I would feel comfortable leaving them out longer than that.

Yeast products will get stale before they go bad because there are no preservatives to keep them fresh for several days.
Recipe by Gretchen's Vegan Bakery at https://www.gretchensveganbakery.com/cream-filled-donuts/