Strawberry Basil Donuts
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Yeast donuts with basil infused dough, filled with homemade straberry jam. Garnished with simple candied basil. Recipe from SouthernFatty.com.
Author:
Recipe type: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Serves: 12 donuts
Ingredients
Strawberry Jam Filling
  • 1 quart strawberries, hulled
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • pinch salt
Basil Donuts
  • 1 cup (245 g) whole milk
  • ½ cup (100 g) sugar, granulated
  • 2¼ teaspoons (one pack) yeast, active dry
  • ¾ cup (170 g) butter, melted and cooled
  • 2 eggs (140 g), whole, whisked, at room temperature
  • ½ tablespoon vanilla bean paste or extract
  • 4 cups (510 g) bread flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ¼ cup basil, small chopped
  • 1 cup sugar, granulated, to finish
Candied Basil (garnish)
  • 1 bunch basil leaves
  • 1 egg white
  • ¼ cup sugar
Instructions
  1. If you want to garnish with candied basil, I recommend making these a day or two before the donuts. Tjhey will dry out and leave you with crisp basil that is perfect. Alternatively, you can make it an hour or two before the donuts and still enjoy.
Candied Basil (garnish)
  1. Clean and dry basil leaves.
  2. Whisk egg whites in small bowl.
  3. Using a small pastry brush, apply a VERY thin layer of egg white to basil leaves (both sides).
  4. Immediately sprinkle sugar on both sides of leaves. Cover completely.
  5. Place coated basil leaves on a drying rack and set aside for a couple hours to a couple days. The sugar will preserve the leaves well for several days.
Strawberry Jam Filling
  1. Roughly chop hulled strawberries.
  2. Place in medium saucepan with lemon juice and sugar.
  3. Cook over medium heat, stirring and breaking up strawberries.
  4. Cook over medium heat until berries have broken down well, about 12-15 minutes.
  5. Remove to cool completely.
  6. Can be made in advance and kept cold until use.
Basil Donuts
  1. Warm milk to 105 F. This is ideally done with a good kitchen thermometer.
  2. Add yeast, stir lightly and let sit for 10 minutes. Yeast should foam well.
  3. While waiting, whisk flour and salt together in a mixer bowl with dough hook attachment.
  4. Whisk eggs in a bowl with the cooled butter and vanilla.
  5. Pour yeast into flour mix. Mix on low speed until roughly combined.
  6. Add the egg mix and mix fully. Scrape down sides with spatula.
  7. Increase the speed to medium/medium high (6-7 on KitchenAid mixer).
  8. Add the basil to the dough.
  9. Mix for about 15 minutes. Scrape the sides in the early stages when needed.
  10. The dough should be formed on the hook and slapping the bowl sides. You should be able to stretch it quite a bit without it ripping. This is critical to it being able to proof correctly.
  11. Once mixed, transfer dough to a lightly oiled bowl. Roll the ball around to coat.
  12. Cover with plastic wrap of a lightly damp kitchen towel.
  13. Let sit until doubled in size, about an hour for most room common tempertures.
  14. Move to lightly floured surface.
  15. Roll dough to ½" thickness.
  16. Punch out rounds (I used 2½" rounds with this great cutter set).
  17. Transfer rounds to a parchment lined baking sheet.
  18. Spray tops very lightly with cooking spray and drape plastic wrap over top of the pan of donuts. Be careful that the pastic isnt sealed down to prevent the donuts from rising well.
  19. Proof until puffy, almost doubled in size.
  20. This is where I think most go wrong. You want the donuts to be puffed. In my home at around 70-72 degrees, I gave these almost 2 full hours. You don't want to over-proof, but certainly underproofing is why most donuts fail.
  21. Heat oil in deep heavy-bottom pan (I prefer peanut oil for donuts) to 360 F.
  22. If you can pick up the donuts from the tray to transfer them to the oil, that's great. If not, simply cut the parchment that the donuts are on. You can carefullly place the donut ON the paper into the oil and slide the paper right out from under it. This is how I prefer to do it, as it makes sure you don't deflate any of the pastry.
  23. Flip after about 30 seconds and cook until golden. This should take a couple minutes at the correct temperature.
  24. Take great care to keep the oil temperature at 360 F. Do not let it get hotter and allow for time to recover between batches if needed. Dutch ovenswork beautifully for frying.
  25. Remove cooked donuts directly to a shallow dish with the finishing sugar. Flip and coat both sides.
  26. Move donuts to a paper towel-lined rack to cool completely.
Finishing
  1. Fill donuts with straberry jam. I use a pastry bag and large piping tip since the jam can be thick and still have strawberry pieces.
  2. Garnish with candied basil and enjoy!
  3. Find more recipes on SouthernFatty.com.
Notes
Donut base adapted from Serious Eats.
Nutrition Information
Serving size: 1 donut
Recipe by Southern FATTY at https://www.southernfatty.com/strawberry-basil-donuts/