French Cruller Donuts Recipes

PERFECT HOMEMADE FRENCH CRULLERS RECIPE

Steps:

• In a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan, bring the milk, water, butter, sugar, and salt to a boil.
• Turn off the heat, dump the flour in all at once, and begin to stir vigorously.
• Turn the heat back on, stirring constantly for 2-3 minutes over medium heat. It will become a thick dough and you will be turning and pressing it onto the pan.
• After a few minutes, once the dough is smooth, remove from the heat and spread the dough out in the bowl of a stand mixer or large mixing bowl to cool quickly.
• After about 15 minutes, once the dough is just a touch warm, add 2 of the eggs and the lemon zest and beat until fully incorporated.
• Add the remaining two eggs and beat until blended. Place the dough in an airtight container and refrigerate for at least an hour, until fully chilled.
• While the dough is chilling, cut parchment paper into eighteen 3-inch (7 ½ cm) squares.
• Once the dough has chilled, place in a piping bag fitted with a large open star tip. Pipe a 3-inch (7 ½ cm) circle of dough on each square of paper, making sure the ends connect.
• In a large, heavy-bottomed pot, pour oil 2 inches deep, clip a thermometer to the side of the pot and heat to 350°F (180°C). (If you don't have a thermometer then heat the oil on medium heat). Place a wire rack on a baking sheet next to the pot and a bowl of vanilla doughnut glaze near the rack.
• Once the oil is at temperature, place a square of parchment with the cruller on it on a slotted spoon and slowly lower it into the oil. Add one or two more crullers to the pot in this way, leaving the paper on.
• After a minute, pull the paper away from the cruller with metal tongs. Fry about 2-3 minutes on one side, until golden brown, and then flip and fry the other side for another 2-3 minutes.
• Remove from the oil, dip in the glaze, and let drain and cool on the wire rack. Repeat with the remaining crullers, frying only 2 or 3 at a time to keep the oil at the correct temperature.
• Serve immediately. Crullers taste best and should be eaten the day they are made. You can store any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.

FRENCH CRULLER DONUTS

Steps:

• In a sauce pot, heat the water, milk, butter, sugar, and salt over medium heat. Once the mixture is boiling, take it off the heat and pour all of the flour into the pot at once. Stir quickly until the mixture comes together into a cohesive dough.
• Flatten the mixture to the bottom of the pan and return it to medium heat. Listen for the mixture to begin making a crackling sound. Once you hear it crackling, pull the mixture to one side of the pot and check if there is a thin film on the bottom. It there is, it is dried out enough. It not, heat longer until a film forms.
• Remove the mixture from the heat and stir until all of the steam has evaporated off.
• Off the heat, add the eggs into the mixture and stir until each egg has completely absorbed into the batter before adding the next. This takes a little arm work to get it all mixed in.
• Once the batter is smooth and glossy it is done. Chill in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
• Meanwhile, set up a deep fryer, pot, or deep skillet with at least 3" (7.5 cm) of oil. Bring the oil to 350 F (177 C). Cut parchment paper into 10 square pieces about 5" x 5" (13 x 13 cm) in size.
• Transfer the choux pastry to a piping bag fit with a large star tip. Pipe circles of batter onto each parchment square.
• Using a slotted spoon, lower a piece of parchment paper with a piped donut into the hot oil. Let it fry for about a minute and then use tongs to gently release the donut from the parchment paper and remove the parchment from the oil. Flip the donut after about 3 minutes of frying. Fry for about 2-3 more minutes.
• Move the cooked donuts to a cooling rack set over a sheet pan to drain.
• Whisk together all of the ingredients for the glaze adding enough milk to create a thin dippable consistency.
• Dip the donuts in the glaze, flipping to coat, and move them back to the cooling rack.

FRENCH CRULLER DOUGHNUT RECIPE

Steps:

• In a large, heavy bottomed saucepan, bring the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt to a rolling boil over medium heat. (A rolling boil means that bubbles are "rolling" across the entire surface of the liquid.)
• Remove from the heat and add the flour all at once. Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until combined and throughout moistened.
• Return the pan to the heat and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring vigorously the entire time. The dough will be very thick and stirring it will give your arm a good workout. Rather than "stirring", think of it as kneading the dough with a wooden spoon. After 2-3 minutes, a thick film should have formed over the bottom of the pan and the dough should feel smooth.
• Dump the dough into the bowl of an electric standing mixer and use the spoon to spread it out into a somewhat thin layer, covering the bottom of the bowl and moving a few inches up the sides. Let cool, uncovered, until the dough is just slightly warm - about 15 minutes.
• Fit the mixer with the paddle attachment, scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula, and add 2 of the eggs to the dough. Beat on medium speed until the eggs have been fully incorporated into the dough, stoping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
• Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the 3rd egg to the dough. Beat on medium until fully incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the egg white and lemon zest. Beat on medium until fully incorporated.
• Scrape down the sides of the bowl, cover and let chill in the refrigerator for 10 minutes.
• Cut out ten 3-inch by 3-inch squares of parchment paper and brush each lightly with vegetable oil.
• Heat a fryer to 370 degrees F (187 degrees C). OR - add enough vegetable oil to a deep saucepan or stockpot to come 3 or 4 inches up the sides, and heat the oil to 370 degrees F (187 degrees C). *It's extremely helpful to have a deep fry thermometer.
• Remove the dough from the refrigerator and scoop some into a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip. Holding the pastry bag vertically over one of the parchment squares, pipe an even circle of dough, just making the ends meet and connect. Repeat with the remaining dough and parchment squares.
• Gently place a cruller onto a slotted spoon, along with it's paper, and lower it into the hot oil, paper and all. Hold the spoon under the cruller for 4 or 5 seconds to prevent it from sinking to the bottom of the fryer. Fry the doughnuts 3 or 4 at a time for 5 1/2 to 6 minutes, removing the paper with mental tongs after 1 minute and flipping them over after 2 1/2 minutes. The crullers should be a deep golden brown on all sides. Do your best as the doughnuts cook to keep the temperature of the oil between 355 - 370 degrees F (179.4 - 187 degrees C).
• Use a slotted spoon to remove the doughnuts from the oil to drain on paper towels. Cool completely before glazing.
• Add all glaze ingredients to a small bowl and stir to combine. Add enough milk to create a runny glaze that's still thick enough to adhere to the tops of the doughnuts.
• When the crullers are completely cool, dip the tops of each one into the glaze.

FRENCH CRULLERS - DUNKIN DONUT COPYCAT RECIPE - (3.8/5)

Steps:

• To make this French Cruller donut, bring the water, butter, sugar and salt to a brisk boil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Stir in the flour all at once and continue stirring until the flour is completely incorporated. Keep stirring over medium-high heat. The more moisture you can remove, the more eggs you can mix in later which will result in a lighter pastry. When you see a thin film start to coat the bottom of the pan, the batter is ready. Transfer the dough to the bowl of a stand mixer. Use the paddle attachment to stir the dough for a minute to help it cool. Turn the mixer to medium speed and add one egg. Don't add the next egg until the previous has been completely incorporated into the dough. Then add the egg whites a little bit at a time until the dough becomes smooth and glossy and holds a little shape (not much). Do not add too much egg white or else the crullers will become heavy. Transfer the dough to a large pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch star tip. Fry the crullers in 2 inches (or more) of vegetable oil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. The oil should register 370 degrees. While the oil is heating, cut a dozen 3-x3-inch squares of parchment. Lightly grease the squares on one side (I brushed with vegetable oil) and pipe a ring of dough onto each of the squares. When the oil has reached temperature, carefully place a French cruller, paper-side up, into the hot oil. Do this one at a time unless you like the idea of hot oil burns and other disasters. After a minute or so, use tongs and a sharp knife tip to gently peel the parchment off the cruller. When the cruller turns golden (about 2 minutes), flip it over and let it fry for another couple of minutes before removing it to drain on a cooling rack or paper towels. Make the glaze: While the cruller donuts cool, mix the confectioners' sugar, honey, and milk together until smooth. When the crullers are cool to the touch, dip the top of each cruller into the honey glaze and set on a cooling rack to let the drips run off. When the glaze has set, the crullers are ready to serve. Crullers can also be baked. Preheat oven to 450°F. Pipe crullers onto a parchment-lined baking sheet at least 2 inches apart. Bake for five minutes then reduce oven to 350 degrees and bake another 15 minutes. Turn off heat, open the oven door a crack, and let crullers sit for 5 to 10 minutes. Glaze and serve.

CRULLERS

Steps:

• Make the Crullers: Combine the water, butter, sugar, and salt in a large saucepan and bring to a rolling boil over medium-high heat. Immediately remove from the heat, add all the flour at once, and stir hard with a wooden spoon until all the flour is incorporated, about 30 to 60 seconds. Return the pan to the heat and cook, stirring, to evaporate some of the moisture, about 2 minutes.
• Scrape the mixture into a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or use a hand mixer or mix by hand), and mix at medium speed. With the mixer running, and adding 1 egg at a time, add 3 of the eggs, stopping after each addition to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Mix until the dough is smooth and glossy and the eggs are completely incorporated. The dough should be thick, but should fall slowly and steadily from the beaters when you lift them out of the bowl. If the dough is still clinging to the beaters, add another egg and mix until completely incorporated.
• Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Using a pastry bag fitted with a star tip (use a large size, like #12), pipe the dough onto the sheet pan in rows of 2 1/2-inch rings. Freeze them for 30 minutes to make them easier to pick up.
• Meanwhile, make the Glaze: Stir together the powdered sugar and milk in a small bowl.
• Pour the vegetable oil into a large pot to a depth of 2 inches and heat to 325 degrees F. Working in batches, lift the dough circles off the sheet pan and carefully slip them into the oil. Fry, turning once, until lightly browned. Drain the crullers on a brown paper bag; then dip them completely in the glaze. Let the crullers cool and set before serving.