Roasted Strawberry Brioche Doughnuts with Vanilla Bean Pastry Cream and Strawberry Sugar. These Yeast Raised Brioche Doughnuts are fried until perfect and then tossed in a strawberry sugar. They are filled with a vanilla bean pastry cream and roasted strawberry filling.
Strawberry Brioche Doughnuts
How is it already August?!? Don’t get me wrong - August is my fave (I’m an August baby so it’s birthday month!), but holy moly this year has just sped past. Next week I am going on a little road trip up to Hudson for a few days which I am super excited about, and then we have a wedding in Philadelpia, and then I get to go to ALASKA with Bake from Scratch for a few days, and then, before I know it, August will be over!
I’ve been sitting on this one for a while, and decided I couldn’t possibly wait any longer to share it with you - that I had to share it while strawberries are still in their prime here in the states! Roasting up fruit is one of my favourite ways to use up that box of berries / fruit you may have in your fridge that is nearly past it’s prime - the giant flat of berries you bought with good intentions for, and haven’t quite managed to use up, or that big box of peaches you are working your way through but it’s taking forever. Just me? Surely not.
Roasted Strawberry and Vanilla Bean Pastry Cream Doughnut Filling
The recipe for these came about as we were planning on leaving for our holiday to Canada, and I had a giant box of strawberries to use up, so I roasted them off, and paired them with a vanilla bean pastry cream (classic but great combo). I then stuffed both of these things into a fluffy brioche doughnut, which I made with my go-to brioche recipe (best ever), which I tossed in a sugar and freeze dried strawberry mixture, which gave them the prettiest pink hue, and helped to drive the flavour home. Roasted fruit and pastry cream in a doughnut is a sure fire winner - the great and easy thing about it is that it is super adaptable, this recipe would work with almost any roasted fruit, or you can leave it out entirely and just go for a plain custard / pastry cream filled doughnut. You really can’t lose.
A few wee tips for Strawberry Brioche Doughnuts
- I rolled these in a strawberry sugar which I made with freeze dried strawberry powder and sugar. If you don’t have freeze dried strawberry powder on hand, regular sugar is fine!
- I made the brioche dough the night before, and did the first rise overnight in the fridge, which makes the process feel a little less involved. Alternatively you can make the dough the day of and do both rises in one day.
- Either a thermometer or a deep fryer is needed for the frying process - I got a deep fryer recently and it is great, but if you are just frying in a pot, I like to use cast iron as it holds the heat nicely and helps keep the oil at a consistent temperature.
- The strawberries are super, super delicious and are great for using up nearly past it fruit - the recipe can be easily doubled and the mixture kept in the fridge.
- If strawberries aren’t in season, you can likely roast frozen strawberries! It will help to bring out the flavour a lot - I would thaw them first. Alternatively, a strawberry jam as a filling would work great too.
For more doughnut recipes, check out:
- Salted Caramel and Milk Chocolate Ganache filled Brioche Doughnuts
- Balsamic Blueberry and Cheesecake Doughnuts
- Thanksgiving Inspired Doughnuts
Made this recipe and love it?
I would LOVE for you to leave me a review below to let me know how you liked it! Make sure to tag me on Instagram if you make it! Print
Roasted Strawberry Brioche Doughnuts
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: 12 doughnuts 1x
- Category: Doughnuts
- Cuisine: American
Description
Roasted Strawberry Brioche Doughnuts with Vanilla Bean Pastry Cream and Strawberry Sugar. These Yeast Raised Brioche Doughnuts are fried until perfect and then tossed in a strawberry sugar. They are filled with a vanilla bean pastry cream and roasted strawberry filling.
Ingredients
Roasted Strawberry Filling
- 600g fresh strawberries, diced
- 50g sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla bean paste
- pinch of salt
Vanilla Bean Pastry Cream
- 132g egg yolks (about 8 yolks)
- 110g sugar
- 37g corn starch
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
- 550g whole milk
- 27g unsalted butter, at room temperature
Brioche Dough
- 2 ¼ tsp active dry yeast
- 250g whole milk, lukewarm
- 4 Tbsp (50g) sugar
- 565g all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
- 100g unsalted butter, at room temperature
- Neutral Oil for Frying
Strawberry Sugar
- 250g sugar
- 1 Tbsp freeze dried strawberry powder
Instructions
ROASTED STRAWBERRIES
- Preheat the oven to 350°f / 180°c. Line a sheet pan with tin foil. In a medium bowl, toss together the strawberries, sugar, vanilla bean paste, and salt. Spread onto the sheet pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the fruit and juices are bubbling. Transfer to an airtight container and chill until ready to use.
VANILLA BEAN PASTRY CREAM
- In a large bowl, whisk together the yolks, sugar and cornflour in a bowl.
- In a medium pot, warm the milk and vanilla paste until there is movement just around the edges of the milk - do not bring it to the boil.
- Remove the milk from the heat, and, whisking constantly, add half of the milk mixture into the egg and cornflour mixture to temper the egg yolks. Whisk briskly for 30 seconds. Transfer the milk-yolk mixture back to the pot, and return to a medium heat. Whisk constantly until very thick.
- Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter, mixing well until totally combined. Allow to stand for 5-10 minutes, whisking occasionally. Transfer to an airtight container and allow to cool completely.
DOUGHNUTS
- In a small bowl, combine the yeast, milk and 2 Tbsp of the sugar. Mix well, and leave to sit for 10-15 minutes, or until foamy.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the flour, salt, and remaining 2 Tbsp sugar. Mix briefly to combine. Add the eggs, vanilla, and foamy yeast mixture to the bowl. Mix on low for 2-3 minutes, until the dough is starting to come together. It may look slightly dry but do not worry - it will mix together nicely in the next steps. Increase the mixer speed to medium, and mix for another 5 minutes, until the dough is soft and smooth.
- Reduce the mixer speed to low, and add the butter a little at a time, waiting until it is fully incorporated into the dough before adding the next piece. This process should take 3-4 minutes. Once the butter is fully incorporated, increase the mixer speed to medium, and mix for a further 5 minutes, until the dough is very soft and smooth.
- Transfer to an oiled bowl, and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Place in the fridge for a minimum of 3 hours and up to overnight. Alternatively the first rise can be done at room temperature.
- Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Turn the dough out onto work surface (try not to use flour if you can). Divide into 75g portions. Roll each portion into a tight ball, making sure that they are well sealed on the bottom
- Place the rolled doughnuts on the baking sheets, flattening each one slightly, leaving adequate space between.
- Leave the doughnuts to proof for a second time. This rise time will depend on the weather and the temperature of your starting dough so will take anywhere between 20 minutes to an hour. When you poke them lightly with your finger, it should leave a small indentation that springs back.
- While the doughnuts are proofing, heat neutral oil in a large heavy-bottomed pot (cast iron works great). Heat the oil to 350°f / 180°c. Place a wire rack over a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Place the sugar and freeze dried strawberry powder in a shallow bowl. Mix to combine.
- Once the oil has come to temperature, test it with a few scraps of dough. Gently lower the doughnuts, two at a time, into the hot oil. Cook for 3 minutes on one side and then flip again, and cook for a further 3 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from the oil using a slotted spoon and place on a cooling rack.
- Allow to cool for 30 seconds before tossing in the sugar. Repeat the process with the rest of the doughnuts. Once the doughnuts are totally cool, poke a hole in them using a chopstick, and widen the hole using your finger.
- Transfer the strawberry filling to a piping bag with a large round tip and the pastry cream to a piping bag with a medium round tip. Pipe some of the strawberry filling into the doughnut, then fill the remainder of the cavity with pastry cream. You will feel the doughnut get heavy in your hand. Finish with a small piece of strawberry if desired.
- Repeat with the remaining doughnuts. Best eaten on the day that they are made.
Notes
Pastry cream adapted from Bouchon bakery
Keywords: Strawberry, brioche, Doughnuts, Donuts, roasted strawberry, custard, pastry cream
Comments
I don't have a stand mixer. Can these only be made using a stand mixer?
I haven't tried making brioche by hand before but you could certainly try - it will take a lot of kneading and maybe get a bit sloppy but you will get there!
I am going to try grinding up a few freeze dried strawberries and mix it w/the sugar to coat these. I was wondering - we have an air fryer. Do you think these would fare well cooked that way?
Hi! If you air fry them, you will end up with hamburger buns, not doughnuts. The process is totally different. So while it may work, it's absolutely not the same thing 🙂 an air fryer is basically a convection oven
Hi!
Maybe I'm not reading the recipe right, but it doesn't say anything about filling the doughnuts. I'm assuming you put both fillings in pastry bags and them fill them one after the other?
So sorry I missed this!
Is there any way to bake these donuts instead of frying them?
Hi! If you bake them, they will just be bread rolls. So yes, you can bake them, they just won't be doughnuts!
This was my first time making fried doughnuts and they came out wonderfully! Recipe was well written and easy to follow. The crème pat and roasted strawberries were perfect fillings. Will definitely make again!
★★★★★
Eee they looked so perfect!
Hi! I’m wanting to make these, but it doesn’t say anything about proofing the yeast- just adding. I need to proof it first right?
Hi! It's in step one of the brioche part!
Issue - dough just about broke my stand mixer as it was quite difficult! Not sure what went wrong.
★★★★