Pistachio Cream Doughnuts – Super fluffy yeast doughnuts are tossed in powdered sugar and filled with homemade pistachio pastry cream. These doughnuts are going to be your family’s new favorite breakfast treat!

Happy Labor Day! How are you enjoying the day? We’ll be hitting up the pool this afternoon celebrate a friend’s birthday and eat our faces off, per the usual.

I’m just happy to enjoy one last hurrah out in the sun before it’s officially Fall. Only one more month! I’ve already started dreaming up some killer recipes perfectly for the Fall, including another macaron recipe, some comforting soups, and my first baked doughnut!

Speaking of doughnuts, I got a yummy yeast doughnut for you today. I am a huge fan of yeast doughnuts because they’re so chewy and light. But it’s hard to get them to crispy on the outside by just baking them, so unfortunately there is no getting around the frying.

But frying doesn’t have to be such an intimidating experience. The thing that always worried me the most was now knowing when the oil was hot so I’d always have soggy fried food. But that changed after I got a candy thermometer to ensure I was always frying at the right temperature.

Today’s version of yeast doughnuts is made with one of my newest obsessions: pistachios. I had never tried pistachio anything until I met my husband – green nuts just didn’t sounds like something I’d like.

But I had no idea they had an almond-like flavor, which I LOVE. After I tried pistachio gelato, I was hooked. Gimme pistachio everything!

So I added some chopped pistachios to a pastry cream and used that cream to fill up some classic yeast doughnuts and voila – my Pistachio Cream Doughnuts were born!

Now, I love a great, easy recipe. Sometimes you just want some breakfast and you want it fast. But I gotta warn you: this is not one of those recipes.

There are a few more steps to these doughnuts than you may be used to, but they are sooo worth the effort. Plus, it’s great therapy for days when you just want to take some stress out in the kitchen.

And did I mention there is pistachio filling?! It’s not your average custard filling. I am much more inclined to make a recipe that requires a little more effort if it’s something totally unique and not available unless I make it myself.

To make these doughnuts, you’re gonna use the same dough recipe from my blackberries & cream slider doughnuts. Remember those? They were so light and fluffy but with a slight crisp on the outside. The recipe was so perfect so there was no need to change it up for these doughnuts.

For the filling, we’re making a pastry cream. Pastry cream is the same as custard, essentially, but it’s what we call the filling in eclairs, Boston creme pie, and Napoleons.

The recipe is simple: heat milk, add to eggs, sugar, and cornstarch. Then, we thicken the mixture over heat into a custard. Finally, you finish off the custard with a pat of butter, vanilla and almond extracts, and a pistachio paste.

For the pistachio paste, all you need to do is blend the pistachios with water in a food processor. That’s it! But if there’s one tip I have for you regarding the pistachios, it’s to buy them already shelled. I thought it would be easy to shell them myself and save some money.

But OMG, shelling that many pistachios is ANNOYING. It took forever and I got sore fingertips from opening about a million shells.

Here are a couple more tips to help you replicate this recipe perfectly:

1. Do not roll out the dough too thin when cutting the doughnuts. If the doughnuts are too thin, they won’t expand properly in the hot oil and you’ll have flat, dense doughnuts.
2. You don’t need a deep fryer for these doughnuts. I simply use my cast iron dutch oven and a candy thermometer to help me. And while I’m talking about frying, you don’t need to fill the whole dutch oven with oil – 1/3 full is perfectly enough oil to fry these doughnuts.
3. Make sure you chill the pastry cream long enough so that it can thicken up. It’s hard to fill these doughnuts when the pastry cream is thin – so messy!
4. Doughnuts are tough to make ahead of time. But there are things you can make the night before if you want to save time. You can make the dough and let it rise once the night before. Punch it down and then put it in the fridge overnight. Remove from the fridge about 30 minutes before using to let it get to room temperature and then roll out and cut into doughnuts. You can also make the pastry cream the night before and let it chill in the fridge overnight.

There you have it – the best way to enjoy pistachios for breakfast! You’re gonna love these doughnuts! See you on Thursday for another yummy breakfast recipe!

Here are all the kitchen tools and serveware that I used in today’s recipe. For each item sold below, I make a small commission. I only recommend items that I own and love so you can trust that each recommendation is tried and true. Thank you for supporting CPA!

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More breakfast recipes you’ll love:

Blackberries & Cream Doughnuts

Strawberries & Cream Danish

Classic Butter Croissants