Incredibly fluffy brioche donuts fried to perfection until golden brown, coated in sugar and filled with vanilla cream cheese and blueberry jam. These are a perfect treat for any occasion.

Brioche Donuts

I didn’t discover brioche donuts until I moved to the UK in my early 20s and once they came into my life, they felt like the best thing ever invented, I am pretty sure I ate at least one a day for about a month because I was genuinely addicted to them. In the last couple of years I also discovered the amazing donuts from Bread Ahead in Borough Market in London, which are probably one of the best donuts I’ve ever eaten and now that a Bread Ahead has opened near my house, I just knew I had to give these a go, because otherwise I’ll spend all my money!

It won’t come as a surprise that brioche donuts are indeed made with a brioche dough, this dough is made with flour, milk, butter, yeast and eggs. Now, if you have been here for a while, you may have realised that I don’t tend to add eggs to my doughs, however, they play a key role in making these donuts super fluffy and moist.

The best thing about these? You can literally fill them up with whatever you want!

So, what are these made of?

These are actually fairly easy to make and I am sure many of the ingredients needed are already in your pantry. All you’ll need is:

• Whole milk
• Butter
• Flour
• Sugar
• Vanilla extract
• Eggs
• Cream cheese
• Icing sugar
• Double cream
• Blueberry jam
• Vegetable oil

Some tips for success…

These are not hard to make, however, there’s a few things that will help you take them to the next level:

• What’s the best way to proof the dough? A great tip to have the perfect dough is to turn your oven on to the lowest temperature (mine is 50 degrees celsius) for about 2-3 minutes. We don’t want the oven to get to 50 degrees, we just want some hot air in there, you should feel warmth but should be able to touch the inside of the oven without burning your hands. This will help the dough rise quicker.
• Don’t get carried away with the flour – this dough is sticky and on the wet side, so don’t add too much flour while kneading. Before kneading, make sure to add flour to your surface and to your hands and when kneading, add just enough for the dough to remind sticky but allowing you to knead it without completely sticking to your hands or the surface.
• Test the oil – before frying the doughnuts, take a piece of dough and put it in the oil, if it starts bubbling, your oil is ready to cook the donuts.
• Store bought jam is completely fine – you can make your own jam if you want to, however, I used store bought jam for these and it worked great. All you have to do is make sure it’s good quality jam.

Blueberry Cheesecake Brioche Donuts

Ingredients:

For the donuts (makes around 9 donuts):

• 200 ml of whole milk
• 30 gr of butter
• 390 gr of flour
• 10 gr of fast action dried yeast
• 40 gr of sugar
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 litre of oil

For coating:

• 80 gr of sugar (aprox)

For the cheesecake filling:

• 400 gr of cream cheese at room temperature
• 1 tsp of vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
• 50 gr of icing sugar
• 2 tbsp of double cream
• 150 gr (aprox.) of good quality blueberry jam

Method:

1. Start by making the dough. In a pot, warm up the milk and allow the butter to melt on it making sure the milk doesn’t start boiling. Once the butter is melted, set aside to cool down, it doesn’t need to be cold, but you should be able to touch with without burning yourself.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, yeast and sugar. Pour in the milk and butter followed but the egg and vanilla extract and mix using a spatula or wooden spoon until combined and a dough is formed. I beat my egg separately to make mixing easier.
3. Flour a clean surface and your hands and knead the dough for 5 minutes until smooth. The dough should be sticky but easy to knead, if you find it sticks way too much to the surface or your hands, add flour gradually until it sticks but doesn’t leave any residue. After kneading, shape the dough like a ball and place in a oiled bowl, allow it to proof at room temperature for at least an hour or until doubled in size.
4. Once the dough has doubled in size, punch it down to get rid of the air and place it over a floured clean surface. Using a knife or a dough cutter, divide your dough into approximately 9 smaller pieces weighting around 70 to 80 grams.
5. Working with one piece at a time, start by flattening it slightly into a disk and then slowly bring the edges into the centre in a clockwise motion and pinch them together to “close” the ball. Then, roll the ball around in your hand or on a clean work surface to create tension on the dough and seal the bottom of the ball. If you have any dough left, you can put it together and create an extra smaller (but cute) donut.
6. Place the donuts onto a flour baking sheet and cover with cling film, allow them to proof once more for 30 to 45 minutes. Make sure you leave a 2 to 3 cm separation between them so the can grow.
7. Once ready, pour 1 litre of vegetable oil into a deep pot and allow it to heat up, your oil should come to around 120 degrees celsius. Best way to test if the oil is ready is to take some left over dough and add it to the oil, if it starts bubbling it is ready for the donuts.
8. Cook 3 donuts at a time for around 3 minutes on one side and 1.5 minutes on the other side until they are have a golden brown colour. Then, transfer to a tray with kitchen towel to soak up the excess oil.
9. Once your donuts are ready, roll them in the sugar and place them on a wire rack to cool down.
10. While the donuts are cooling down, make the cheesecake filling. In a bowl, mix together the cream cheese, vanilla bean paste, icing sugar and double cream until stiff peaks. Place the cheesecake filling into a piping bag, do the same with the blueberry jam.
11. To assemble, insert a knife into each donut to create a hole that goes all the way through it without breaking the other side. Start by filling them with the cream cheese filling half way through, then add the blueberry jam all the way to the top and finish it off by adding a small amount of cream cheese. Enjoy!