Munnki Finnish Donuts
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Preparation time: 30 minutes (excluding fillings)
Cooking time: 20 minutes (excluding fillings)
Makes about 14-15 donuts
- 1 1/4 cups lukewarm milk
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1.5 tablespoons instant dried yeast
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3-3.5 cups flour
- 50g/1.7ozs. butter, softened or melted
Step 1 - Place 1/4 of the milk and 1 teaspoon from the sugar in a bowl. Mix in the yeast and cover and allow to foam for 10 minutes. If it doesn't foam then start again as the yeast won't be activated. Whisk the egg, salt and the remaining milk together.
Step 2 - Knead 3 cups of the flour with the yeast mixture and the remaining sugar, milk mixture and butter. Add extra flour if you need it and knead until elastic. Shape into a ball and place in a bowl covered with a tea towel or cling film and allow to rise for 1 hour until double in size.
Step 3 - Punch down the dough and flour a surface generously as well as a tray on which to put the dough. Roll out to about 2cms (3/4 of an inch) thick and cut into rounds. They will expand a bit so be mindful of that when you cut them out and place them on the tray next to each other. Allow to rise for 30 minutes.
Step 4 - Heat oil for deep frying until it reaches 196C/384F. Fry three or four donuts at a time making sure not to overcrowd them cooking them for 2 minutes on each side. Drain them on paper towels and then dunk them in sugar. Allow to cool.
Filling ideas. And a little tip: be generous with your fillings. Munkki and bombolini are so much better that way!
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Nutella: use plain Nutella and place in a piping bag with a plain nozzle.
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Bruleed fig and spiced custard
Make 1/2 batch of the creme patissiere here and add 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg to the custard. Allow to cool completely. While this is cooling, cut figs in half and dip in sugar (I used some of the leftover sugar from dredging the donuts). Use a blowtorch to brulee the figs. Pipe the custard into the donut and then add the fig on top.
- Coconut Cream and Finger Lime
Whip 1/2 cup cream and 1/3 cup sifted icing sugar until you get stiff peaks. Add in 1 cup coconut cream and whip until it becomes firm again. Pipe into donuts and then top with finger lime caviar.
- Banana Cheesecake
Beat 1/4 cup softened butter and 1/2 cup softened cream cheese. Add 2-3 tablespoons salted caramel to the mix (depending on sweetness). Pipe into the donut and then add a slice of banana to seal the end.