Dulce De Leche & Vanilla Filled Donuts With Cinnamon Sugar

Dulce de leche & vanilla filled donuts, dusted in cinnamon sugar

Ingredients:
For the dulce de leche:
- 1 tin sweetened condensed milk
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste

For the donuts:
- 500g strong white bread flour
- 125g softened butter
- 60g golden caster sugar
- 7g dried active yeast, or 14g fresh yeast
- 4 eggs
- 2 tsp salt
- 1/2 lemon zest
- 2 litres sunflower oil

For cinnamon sugar:
- 200g caster sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Method:
For the dulce de leche filling:
- First of all, remove the label & place your sweetened condescend milk into a deep pan filled with water, on a low boil for 3 hours, making sure it submerged at all times.
- Removing carefully, set aside & make sure that you leave to cool for at least 2 hours before opening.
- Once cooled, open and add in the vanilla bean paste and mix together.
- Cover and leave in fridge to firm up slightly whilst you make the donuts.

For the donuts:
- Place all the ingredients apart from the butter into a large bowl, mixing until combined.
- Once the ingredients are mixed, place onto a stand mixer on a medium speed for roughly 6-8 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic.
- Let the dough rest for about a minute, then start to place the butter in, little by little, until fully incorporated.
- Once the dough is again smooth and elastic, flour the top of the dough, and cover with a slightly damp cloth.
- Leave to prove for about 1 hour, or until it has doubled in size.
- Once doubled, tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knock back the dough.
- Knead for 5 minutes, then place back into a lightly floured bowl, again covering with a slightly damp cloth, leaving to rise for another hour or until doubled in size.
- Once doubled, Knock back the dough again.
- Roll out to about 2cm thick, and using the cutter, cut as many donut shapes as you can, re rolling with any excess each time.
- Place onto a baking tray with greaseproof & then cover with a slightly damp cloth. Leaving to prove for one more hour.
- Heat the oil to 180c, using a sugar thermometre.
- Whilst it heats up, prepare a tray with caster sugar and cinnamon mixed together, keeping to one side for later.
- When the oil has reached temperature, being very careful start placing the donuts in one by one, leaving little space between each one.
- Fry for about 2 minutes until golden brown, then carefully turn over and do the same for the other side.
- Once golden brown, carefully take out of the oil and put onto a kitchen paper to get rid of any excess oil.
- Whilst the donuts are still warm, place on the tray with sugar and cinnamon and coat evenly.
- Place onto a cooling rack and leave to cool.
- Once cooled, use a skewer to make holes in each donut.
- Fill a piping bag, or an icing syringe with dulce de leche & fill the donuts.
- Once filled, store in a container, for best result eat within 24 hours.