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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!
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time10 minutes
Total Time2 hours 40 minutes
Servings: 20 doughnuts

Ingredients

For the doughnuts:

  • 1 cup milk whole
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 packet active dry yeast
  • 2 tablespoons warm water
  • 3 1/2 cups flour
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • vegetable oil for frying (about 8 cups)

For the pistachio filling:

  • 1 1/2 cup milk whole
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 3 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
  • 2 tablespoons butter salted
  • 1 cup pistachios shelled
  • 4 tablespoons water

Instructions

For the dough and the filling:

  • Heat milk in small saucepan over medium-low heat, until small bubbles form around the edge of the milk. Remove from heat and add 2 tablespoons of sugar and 1 teaspoon of salt. Stir to combine and set aside to cool.
  • Add yeast packet and warm water to a small bowl to activate the yeast. Let it sit, untouched, for 10 minutes. You should see a layer of foam on top of water after the time is up. If not, that means your yeast is dead and you need to use cooler water or buy a newer packet.
  • Add milk to a large bowl with 2 1/2 cups of flour, 2 tablespoons of oil, eggs, and yeast mixture. Mix together with a wooden spoon until mixture is combined. It will be thick, but still wet and sticky. Add remaining 1 cup of flour to a clean counter. Pour yeast batter onto flour and knead together until completely combined. Add more flour if batter is too wet and keeps sticking to the counter. Knead dough for 4-5 minutes until dough is smooth. Place into a large bowl with a little vegetable oil to keep from sticking. Cover with a towel and let the dough rise for 1 1/2 hours.
  • While dough is rising, make the pastry cream. Add milk to a medium saucepan and heat to a simmer. Turn off heat. Add eggs, cornstarch, and sugar to a small bowl and whisk until completely combined. Add a little of the warmed milk and whisk together. Slowly add the rest of the milk as you whisk slowly. Pour mixture back into saucepan.
  • Place saucepan with mixture on stove set to medium-high heat. Stir constantly until mixture begins to thicken, like pudding. It happens pretty quickly so make sure you're paying attention. As soon as the mixture is the consistency of pudding, remove from heat and transfer to a small bowl. Add butter, salt, vanilla extract, and almond extract and stir together.
  • Add pistachios and water into a food processor. Blend until pistachios are crushed and in the form of a paste. Add to pastry cream and stir together until combined. Place a piece of plastic wrap on top of mixture and refrigerate for 3 hours so it can chill and thicken.
  • Once dough has risen, punch it down with your fist and remove from the bowl. Lightly dust your counter with flour and place the dough on top. Begin rolling out the dough into a large oval or rectangle that is 1/2-inch thick. Make sure to release it from the counter so that it's not sticking or stretching.
  • Using a 2 to 3 inch round cutter, cut out perfect rounds and place them on a lightly floured baking sheet(s). Make sure to leave about 1/2 inch between them so they don't stick together after rising. You will get about 15 rounds with the first pass at the dough. Gather the scraps in a ball and roll them out to get about 5-6 more rounds. Cover doughnuts with a kitchen towel and let them rise again for about 30 minutes.
  • While the doughnuts rise again, begin heating the frying oil. Place oil in a large pot or dutch oven and heat on medium-high until a candy/frying thermometer reaches 375 degrees. Then reduce heat to about medium. Fry doughnuts 4 at a time, 1 minute on each side. Continue to monitor temperature. Do not let it get below 350 degrees or above 380 degrees. Let doughnuts cool on paper towels to drain excess oil. Repeat until all doughnuts are fried.
  • Place 1 cup of powdered sugar in a paper bag. Place a doughnut in the bag 1 at a time and shake to cover the doughnut in sugar. Repeat with the rest of the doughnuts. Let them cool for 5 minutes

For assembly of the doughnuts:

  • Once the doughnuts are cool to handle, take a sharp knife and insert it through the top edge of the doughnut through the middle but don't let the knife get all the way through. This is to help create a tunnel for the pastry cream. Place chilled pastry cream in a pastry bag fitted with a rounded tip. Place tip of the pastry bag into hole of the doughnut. Gently press on the bag to push the filling into the doughnut. You'll start to feel the doughnut fill up. Once it's full, a little cream will poke out of the hole. Remove pastry bag and repeat with remaining doughnuts. Serve immediately. Doughnut will only stay good for the day.

Notes

Pistachio cream filling recipe adapted from The Candid Appetite