So just before posting my blood orange creme brulee, I finally found blood oranges in my grocery store! It's like they heard me complaining to no end every time I did my shopping because they had a huge stock of oranges. I bought three big bags and I still don't even know what I want to do with all of them.
The first thing I knew I needed to do was make a blood orange syrup. After a bit of thinking, I knew i wanted to make a blood orange cream-filled doughnut. I used the same yeasted dough I used in my fig and hibiscus doughnuts and used the vanilla pastry cream base I discovered in my newest pastry cookbook Sugar Rush (by the way, I soooo recommend checking out this book. There are so many awesome and approachable recipes in it.) I mixed in the blood orange syrup into the cream and then swirled more in the pastry bag for a bit more color in ghe cream. Then I rubbed in the blood orange zest into the sugar to coat the doughnuts.
These doughnuts are everything. The doughnuts have a nice crispy outside that protects the softest, fluffiest bread inside. This doughnut is amazing with nothing at all inside. But... you want to add in this pastry cream. It's a wonderful balance of creamy vanilla and the sweet tang of the blood orange. I'm telling you, there is no other want to celebrate blood orange season!
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Pastry cream recipe from Johnny Iuzzini's book Sugar Rush
Blood Orange Cream-Filled Doughnuts
Ingredients
For the Doughnut
For the Blood Orange Syrup
For the Pastry Cream
Instructions
For the Doughnuts
For the Blood Orange Syrup
For the Pastry Cream
Assembly
Notes
Marye Audet says
These look delish! I love making homemade donuts. 🙂
Miranda @ Cookie Dough & Oven Mitt says
These doughnuts look amazing! I'm a sucker for any kind of filled doughnuts. I can't believe you bought three bags of blood oranges. hehe Sounds like we'll be seeing a lot more blood orange recipes!
Matt says
These look amazing! LOVE blood oranges, so creative
Meg @ The Housewife in Training Files says
Girl, these are perfection! I would have bought the whole bag of blood oranges too. No shame.
So now you are stock piled...I am excited to see a whole bunch of blood orange recipes!
Medha @ Whisk & Shout says
These are just beyond beautiful! Pinning of COURSE! love the photography so much 🙂
Christina @ The Beautiful Balance says
Pinning this now and hoping the entire world sees it! The doughnuts, that syrup, and your photos?!?! Perfect. Again. Awesome job Amanda!
Angela {Mind Over Batter} says
Yep - That would have been me. Buy bags upon bags of blood oranges with no shame. I love a good yeasted doughnut. These are just BEYOND!!
Christina @ Bake with Christina says
Holy crap those doughnuts look AMAZING! I love the sugar texture on the outside, and that blood orange cream in the middle looks so yummy!! Pinned 🙂
Lauren @ Wicked Spatula says
Absolute brilliant idea! I'm off to find a Paleo donut recipe so I can recreate these.
Alice @ Hip Foodie Mom says
I probably would have purchased 3 bags too!! uh yes, these doughnuts are everything!! oh my gawd, brilliant!!! blood orange cream filled doughnuts and the zest on the outside?! these are a blood orange lover's dream! delicious!
Jennifer Farley says
These are epic!
Elizabeth @ SugarHero.com says
Amanda, stop it right now. These look so freaking good! This must be why blood oranges were invented. BRB, off to heat up the deep fryer...
Amanda says
Oh my gosh, you don't even know. I couldn't stop with the doughnuts. And the zest in the sugar was the best thing to happen to me. It's what my happiness is made of!
Lindi says
Oooh !!!! My LordieThese blood orange doughnuts, sound amaaaaazing, I too love blood oranges we had none for almost the whole season, then around mid November last year we had a huge glut, I made many Jars Blood Orange Curd, Marmalade,Rhubarb and blood Orange jam, Juiced froze, a number of Orange and Poppy Seed cakes to freeze I even made a quadruple batch if cranberry and orange butter cookies and froze in logs raw, what ever rind was left over I made bench cleaner. Almost forgot I did a couple jars of chocolate dipped candied orange peel. I just made your creme pastrerire the first recipe on here, it's cooling down at the moment, I am making little donuts tomorrow, before I go to bed I will stir some homemade Baileys thru the creme, not sure if you have Bailey's up there, it i really really delish.. I must go to bed now just gone midnight and have a huge baking day tomorrow, getting ready for Easter...