Bomboloni are these delicious Italian donuts that are light and fluffy, rolled in sugar and filled with pastry cream. There’s a food blog I love called An Italian in my Kitchen who has an awesome recipe, so I played off of theirs and switched the flavors around to get a tiramisu variation. The donuts are espresso flavored, rolled in cocoa sugar and filled with mascarpone cream for the ultimate Italian experience!

This recipe makes around 12 donuts

  Ingredients:

1/2 Cup (120mL) Lukewarm Milk

1 1/4 Tsp Active Dry Yeast

2 1/2 Tbs (30g) Granulated Sugar

3 Tbs (37g) Melted Unsalted Butter, cooled

1 Large Room Temperature Egg Plus One Egg Yolk

1/2 Tsp (2g) Vanilla Extract

2 Cups+3.5 Tbs (280g) All-Purpose Flour

1/8 Tsp (a pinch) Salt

2 Tsp Espresso Powder

  For the filling:

1 Cup (237mL) Cold Heavy Cream

3 Tbs (37g) Granulated Sugar

8 oz (227g) Mascarpone 

1 Tbs Amaretto 

1/4 Tsp (1g) Salt

  For the sugar coating:

½ Cup (100g) Granulated Sugar

1 Tbs (7g) Cocoa Powder

Directions:

1.     Pour the yeast into the warm milk and mix in a pinch of sugar. Allow this to sit at room temperature for around 5 minutes or until the yeast is activated (foamy). 

2.     In the bowl of a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment, add the flour, salt and espresso powder and mix with a spoon just to combine. 

3.     Add the egg and egg yolk to the foamy yeast mixture, and with the mixer on a low speed, pour that into the flour, then add the vanilla and butter. 

4.     Mix on a low speed until a dough forms, then turn the mixer up to a medium speed and mix the dough for around 4-5 minutes or until an elastic cohesive dough is formed, it may still stick to the bottom of the bowl but should not stick to the sides. 

5.     Transfer the dough to a well-oiled bowl (use vegetable oil), coating the dough in oil as well. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap then place a kitchen towel over that and put the bowl in a warm place and allow the dough to rise for around 2 hours or until over doubled in volume. 

6.     Generously flour a clean large surface and turn the dough out onto the surface, lightly flouring the top of the dough. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a rough rectangle and roll the dough until it’s ½ an inch thick, lightly dusting flour as needed to prevent sticking. 

7.     Use a 3-inch circle biscuit cutter and cut out as many circles of dough, re-rolling until you’ve cut all of it. Place the cut circles of dough on a generously floured baking sheet, leaving a couple inches of space between each one because they will spread as they rise. Place another baking sheet of equal size upside down on top of the sheet with the dough on it. This prevents the dough from drying out while it rises. You can cover them with plastic wrap, just make sure you generously grease it. Allow to rise for 1.5-2 hours or until doubled in size. 

8.     In a deep, heavy bottomed pot, pour about 3 inches of vegetable oil and heat it to 350 Degrees F (180 C), keeping a candy or fry thermometer in the pot so you can monitor the temperature. Place a wire cooling rack on top of a cookie sheet and lay some paper towels on the cooling rack. 

9.     Gently place 2-3 dough circles at a time in the oil, frying for around 2 minutes on the first side until golden brown, then gently flip them using a fork and fry for another 2 minutes. If it looks like the dough is inflating and a large bubble is forming, simply poke it with a knife to let the air out. 

10.  Use a slotted spoon or wire spider to remove the bomboloni from the oil and place on the paper towels, repeating until all the dough is fried. 

11.  In a bowl, mix the ½ cup sugar and tablespoon of cocoa powder and toss the donuts in that while they are still warm, then allow to cool completely. 

12.  To make the filling, add put the cold cream and sugar in a large bowl, and whisk or use a hand mixer to beat the cream until stiff peaks form (whipped cream consistency. 

13.  Add the amaretto and mascarpone and use a spatula to fold the mixture together, until light and fluffy and well combined. You can do this step ahead of time and keep it in the refrigerator covered with plastic wrap until ready to use. 

14.  Put the whipped cream into a large piping bag with a 1/2-inch round tip and insert the tip into the side of the cooled donuts, piping your desired amount of filling inside. Be sure not to over-fill them as they will burst. At this point they are ready to eat!

-To keep them fresh longer, only pipe filling into the donuts you intend to eat/serve that day and keep the filling in the refrigerator and fill them as you want/need them. 

-Store covered tightly with plastic wrap or in an airtight container in the refrigerator or you can freeze them for up to 3 weeks.