Because it was only right to bring a Christmas twist to doughnuts, today we’re making incredibly soft brioche doughnuts filled with cheesecake filling spiced with cinnamon and ginger, the perfect combination to set the mood ahead of the festive holidays.

Gingerbread Cheesecake Doughnuts

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 amazing thing about brioche doughnuts is that you can literally fill them up with whatever you want, so since ’tis the season, I thought what better than giving them a Christmas twist by spicing them up with ginger and cinnamon for the ultimate comforting treat.

So, what are they 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
• Ground cinnamon
• Ground ginger
• Vegetable oil

A few tips for success

• 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.

Gingerbread Latte Cheesecake Brioche Doughnuts

Ingredients:

For the donuts (makes around 12 – 14 donuts):

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

For coating:

• 150 gr of sugar (aprox)
• 1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon

For the cheesecake filling:

• 400 gr of cream cheese at room temperature
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp of freshly brewed coffee at room temperature 
• 50 gr of icing sugar 
• 2 tbsp of double cream
• 1 tsp and 1/2 of ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp of ground ginger 

Method:

1. Start by making the dough. In a pot, warm up the milk and allow the butter to melt in 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 by 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 to your fingers or the surface but doesn’t leave any residue. After kneading, shape the dough like a ball and place it 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. Roll the dough into a rectangle of approximately 1.5 to 2 cm thick.
5. Using a 7 cm cookie cutter, cut the dough into as many donuts as you can. Combine the scraps and cut out more donuts. If you just want to make round doughnuts, you can follow this recipe to do so.
6. Place the doughnuts onto a floured 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 doughnuts 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 doughnuts are ready, roll them in the sugar mixed with cinnamon and place them on a wire rack to cool down.
10. While the doughnuts are cooling down, make the cheesecake filling. In a bowl, mix together the ingredients for the filling until stiff peaks, add the ingredients gradually tasting as you mix to make sure you are happy with the sweetness/coffee/spice level, this was perfect for me, but you may like them sweeter or with a stronger coffee taste. Place the cheesecake filling into a piping bag, I used a star nozzle on mine.
11. To assemble, make sure your donuts have cooled down completely, then insert a knife into the centre of each donut to create a hole that goes all the way through it without breaking the other side. Fill them with the cheesecake filling and enjoy!