Nutella Trilogy – Part I: Bomboloni alla Nutella (Nutella-filled Donuts)

A couple of weeks ago I had a late night conversation with two crazy (read = amazingly crazy) bloggers, Lora (Cake Duchess) and Ethan (Tastes Better with Friends). The topic of conversation, as some of you know, was Nutella. Now, I’m Italian and I couldn’t care less for peanut butter, marshmallows or other American treats. But, please, don’t you ever ever ever mention Nutella to me…above all not at night! The craving kicks in and there is nothing I can do about it. Nothing but to prepare a master plan like this: a Nutella Trilogy.

What is the Nutella Trilogy? Well, easily enough it’s going to be a series of three recipes featuring Nutella. I told you! When I get cravings I’m not a normal person anymore. Well, I’m a weirdo in my “normal” days…go figure what happens when I have cravings! One Nutella treat was not going to be enough! I wanted to make my favorite three Nutella desserts of all times.

I don’t think there are any words necessary to be added. And my hands are busy holding a bombolone and trying not to spill Nutella on my laptop...but wait…no…I do have a few notes to add about this recipe….man, I need to put the bombolone down and Wally is going to try to steal it…see what I do for you guys?!?

NOTES: You might remember that about a month ago I overcome my fear of frying with the October Daring Bakers Challenge. At that time I tried the cake donuts but I promised myself to try the filled donuts. The Nutella craving was the right excuse! I have to say I was very skeptical about this recipe. The bomboloni I saw around during the challenge did not look like the bomboloni we eat in Italy. I did, nevertheless use the same recipe. I have to admit they turn out great (Wally, get off my plate!) but, again, they are not the bomboloni I know. So now I have another mission: try an Italian recipe!

Also, I did use the recipe provided for the DB challenge but I did the filling part in the Italian way: after cutting out the dough disks I spooned some Nutella on half of them and covered them with the other half of the disks. I then let the filled dough sit for another hour before proceeding to fry. I like this system better but it also means, of course, that you get half the bomboloni that the recipe says. Still…totally worth it!

Final note: with this recipe I participate for the first time to the Sugar High Fridays! Yuhuuuu. I was so excited to hear that this month theme chose by Souffle’ Days was a “dessert with a hidden surprise”. I could not ask for a better theme for my first participation. Don’t forget to go and check out the other amazing desserts that will be presented on the last Friday of the month!

Nutella Bomboloni

Ingredients

Yields about 32 bomboloni

1/3 cup + 1 tbsp lukewarm water

10 gr (3 ¼ tsp) active dry yeast

22.5 ml
(1 ½ tbsp) honey

420 gr (3 cups or 14 ¾ oz)
all purpose flour

45 ml (3 tbsp)
milk

6
large egg yolks

75 gr (1/3 cup or 2 2/3 oz) white sugar

6 gr (1 tsp) Kosher salt (I used normal salt)

42 gr (3 tbsp or 1.5 oz) unsalted butter

Canola Oil or any other flavorless oil used for frying

Nutella

Confectioners sugar to sprinkle

In the bowl of a standing electric mixer, mix the water, yeast, honey and 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (160 gm) of the flour. (Alternatively, whisk the ingredients by hand.) Cover with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature until foamy, about 1 hour.

Return the bowl to the mixer, fitted with a dough hook. Add the remaining 1 ¾ cups plus 2 tablespoons (260 gm) of flour, along with the milk, egg yolks, 1/3 cup of granulated sugar and the salt. Mix at low speed until blended, then add the butter and knead at medium speed until silky but sticky, about 5 minutes; the dough will not pull away from the side of the bowl.

Using an oiled spatula, scrape the dough into an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight.

In a large saucepan, heat the canola oil to 360°F/180°C.

Line a rack with paper towels.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough a scant 1/2 inch (12 mm) thick.

Using a 2-inch (50 mm) round biscuit cutter, stamp out rounds. Spoon some Nutella (don’t put too much!) on half of the rounds and cover them with the other half closing them with wet finger.

Fry the rounds, 4 to 5 at a time, until they are browned, about 4 minutes (mine only took about a minute each – try to go more by sight).

Be sure to keep the oil between 360°F and 375°F 180°C and 190°C.

BIG NOTE: for me this temperature was way too high! The first couple of bomboloni got burnt without cooking inside so I let the oil cool down to 340-360 max before frying the others.

Drain the bomboloni on paper towels.

Filling Directions if you decide to follow the original method:

Fit a pastry bag with a plain donut tip (or a 1/4-inch (6 mm) tip) and fill with the Nutella (you can also use a squeeze bottle). Poke the tip three-fourths of the way into the bomboloni and squeeze in the Nutella, pulling the tip out slightly as you squeeze to fill them as much as possible. Serve warm.

Have a sweet day!