Cappuccino Donuts with Espresso Cream Filling

You voted for it, I made it. As a side note, let me say that I got really excited to see so many votes... only to find out that my father voted for this confection 7 times! It worked - he was the one who ended up coming over to try them.

The verdict? They were ok, said my father and husband. OK is not what I was going for here - these were time consuming and messy to make. The dough has a long rising time, the filling is made fresh and then cools for hours... then there is another rising time on the donuts, followed by frying them 2 at a time and then dipping each one in topping and injecting with the filling.

I thought the donuts themselves, minus the filling, were pretty tasty. The filling wasn't bad, it just wasn't great by any means. I may save the recipe for just the dough and use it with some other, more tasty filling... perhaps chocolate hazlenut. These also might be good twisted up and glazed with a sugar coating, or punched with holes in the middle and given a simple chocolate glaze.

In case you'd like to play with filling donuts, here's the recipe for the dough:

Doughnuts
2 1/4 teaspoons dry yeast (measured from 2 envelopes)
1/4 teaspoon plus 1/4 cup sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons warm whole milk (105°F to 115°F)
4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, melted, cooled to lukewarm
2 large eggs
Canola oil (for deep-frying)

Combine yeast and 1/4 teaspoon sugar in large bowl of heavy-duty mixer. Pour warm milk over and stir to blend. Let stand until yeast dissolves and mixture bubbles, about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, whisk flour, cinnamon, salt, and 1/4 cup sugar in medium bowl to blend. Whisk butter and eggs in another medium bowl to blend.

Butter large bowl. Using dough-hook attachment, beat butter-egg mixture into yeast mixture on medium-low speed until well blended, stopping occasionally to scrape down sides of bowl, about 4 minutes. Beat in flour mixture by 1/4 cupfuls, then beat dough until smooth and beginning to pull away from sides of bowl, about 5 minutes. Scrape dough from hook into bowl. Let dough rest 5 minutes. Scrape dough into buttered bowl (dough will be sticky). Turn dough to coat with butter. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate dough overnight.

Sprinkle 2 baking sheets lightly with flour. Gently press dough to deflate. Roll out chilled dough on lightly floured surface to 1/3-inch thickness. Using 2 3/4- to 3-inch-diameter round cutter, cut out dough rounds. Transfer rounds to floured sheets, spacing 2 inches apart. Gather dough scraps. Roll out to 1/3-inch thickness; cut out more rounds. Repeat until all dough is used. Cover dough rounds on sheets with towels. Let rise in draft-free area until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.

Line 2 baking sheets with several layers of paper towels. Pour oil into large deep skillet to depth of 1 1/2 inches. Attach deep-fry thermometer and heat oil to 360°F to 370°F. Fry 3 dough rounds at a time until golden brown, adjusting heat to maintain temperature, about 1 1/2 minutes per side. Using slotted spoon, transfer doughnuts to paper towels to drain. Dip both sides of warm doughnuts into topping. Transfer to rack and cool completely.