Thursday, June 7, 2012

Tastee Donuts


Growing up in New Orleans, I spent many a weekend and half my summers with my Dad’s parents.  And one of my fondest memories is my Paw Paw going out on Sunday morning before I woke up and getting donuts.  He didn’t always go to the same place - it always depended on where his errands would take him.  Sometimes it was Tastee Donuts (this video cracked me up), sometimes McKenzie’s, sometime other places that are so long gone that I don’t remember the names.  I had a favorite type of donut at every location, but my MOST favorite was this donut from Tastee that was a glazed donut, with a chocolate frosting and pastry cream piped into the hole.  Loved.It.  I was always so excited when I saw the bag.  It was the perfect donut... you get the glazed (which is just always good in a simply pure way, like vanilla ice cream), with a little chocolate (because you always want a little chocolate), with filling (because I, for one, can NEVER decide if I want a regular donut or filled).

A few months ago I purchased donut pans because I started looking at the recipes and 1) they looked yummy and 2) one donut fit easily into my weeknight dessert calorie budget.  I couldn’t believe it!  I could have donuts!  Every night!!!  I knew I had to get the pan.

The first donut I made was chocolate, of course.  They were very yummy.  Nice and dense and chocolatey.  It was perfect because it felt like a substantial dessert and at 160 cals a piece, I was in heaven.



As my husband and I were enjoying them he said “Could you overfill the pan and make a place to put filling?”  And the lightbulb went off in my head!  I thought ‘I could make the Tastee Donuts donut!!  I wanted to do it right away!  But, of course, life happened and I never got around to it.  But it was always there, in my mind.  And then this past weekend I had some time and I wanted something fun to go with the pizza.  Also, I had pastry cream that I had already made.  So it seemed like the perfect time.  I started with this basic donut recipe.  They are so incredibly easy to make.  And, because they are being baked in a pan, it was very easy to spread the dough over the center piece and create a “well” for my pastry cream.  It worked perfectly.

Then I made a “quick” chocolate ganache.  Admittedly, I probably should’ve taken a little more time with this one.  It worked and it tasted ok, but it could’ve been so much better.  I tossed a few chunks of dark chocolate into a bowl with a little half and half and some Via coffee grounds - because everyone knows a little coffee makes chocolate taste better.  Well, I put a little too much grounds for the amount of chocolate and my ganache had a distinct mocha flavor.  Also, I think it needs to be more of a chocolate glaze - ie: a higher milk to chocolate ratio - like you would find on a chocolate glazed donut.

Next, the pastry cream.  I just put a few tablespoons of my leftover pastry cream in a ziploc bag, cut the tip and piped it into the center.  I was pleased with how this came out.  It worked perfectly in the donut, but more so, the pastry cream defrosted wonderfully.  It’s been in the freezer for about 3 weeks and I just took it out of the freezer in the morning and by the afternoon it was defrosted and tasted great.  I saved off a small amount to eat with the leftover donuts throughout the week and re-froze the rest.  I love not wasting food.  Especially good, yummy pastry cream.

This donut made me so, so happy.  I still have some tweaks to make and it’s a cake donut, not a good old, fried, glazed donut, but they were close enough to make me giddy with Tastee Donut memories.  I finished the last one tonight and I will not wait so long to make them again!



This is just for the donut, since I had no idea how to figure out the ganache and cream

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