As summer starts to draw to a close it always reminds of me of my favourite time of year. Apple season. It’s odd because I don’t really like cooked fruit but this time of year always reminds of the apple tree in my Mum’s garden full of beautiful homegrown apples. For the following weeks we would eat nothing but apple desserts, there would be just crumble topping in a bowl for me (the best bit!). It was such a big part of our childhood. So when it comes to thinking about homegrown fruit I always think of my Mum. Our garden has only just been finished so we didn’t get much of a chance to grow our own this year. On Sunday we headed over to my Mums and knocked down as many apples as we could get our hands on. Everyone got involved, Edith included. We filled a basket full and made plans on how to best use them. Naturally I wanted a recipe that was budget friendly and would keep in the theme of simple homegrown food. I thought about the best combinations for apples. Cinnamon and Custard. And how better to combine those two flavours other than fluffy doughnuts.
We stored the apples overnight in my Mum’s shed although they could have quite easily been stored in a garden office. The Garden Buildings Centre is the UK’s premier retailer of quality garden and leisure buildings, they have a great range of Garden Offices for sale. Then yesterday I turned the beautiful green apples into tasty doughnuts. They went down a treat and we’ve only got a few left. I don’t think they’ll hang around for long at all. This recipe is easy but the only thing I would say is to allow yourself a few hours to prove, prove and then frying time. It’s so worth the wait.
Apple & Cinnamon Custard Doughnuts
– Makes 12 –
200g strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
50g chilled unsalted butter, diced
7g sachet dried fast action yeast
1 tbsp caster sugar
1 medium free-range egg, beaten
100ml whole milk, heated to lukewarm
2 tsp ground cinnamon
300g finely grated Bramley apple
185g ready made custard
Sugar and cinnamon for coating
Sunflower oil for deep-frying, plus extra for greasing the bowl
In a large bowl sift the flour and add a pinch of salt.
Rub in the butter and stir through the yeast, ground cinnamon and 1 tbsp sugar. Make a well in the centre.
Mix the egg and the lukewarm milk and pour into the well. Mix quickly and bring together to make a soft dough.
Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for around 8 minutes or until the dough is smooth. Place the dough into a lightly greased bowl and leave in a warm place for an hour or until doubled in size.
Add in the grated apple to the mixture and distribute through the dough. Divide the dough into 12 evenly sized pieces and shape into balls.
Leave to prove for another 45 minutes in a warm place or until doubled in size again.
Heat the sunflower oil in a large, deep pan. To check if it’s the right temperature, drop a small cube of bread into the oil. It will brown in 30 seconds.
Carefully lower the doughnuts into the hot oil and fry in batches of 2 or 3.
Fry for 30 seconds on each side until golden and cooked through.
Drain on kitchen paper.
While the doughnuts are still warm, roll in the cinnamon sugar.
Make a hole in each doughnut by prodding in the end of a spoon.
Place the ready made custard into a piping bag and pipe a generous amount of custard into each doughnut.
Enjoy.
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