Ube Cream Filled Donuts

For the ube cream filling

Pour the milk in a saucepan over medium-high heat. 

When the milk is almost heated, whisk sugar, egg yolks, cornstarch, ube extract, and salt in a bowl until thick and smooth.

As soon as the milk starts to simmer, remove it from the heat and gradually add about half of it into the egg mix, whisking constantly. Add the egg mixture into the rest of the hot milk in the saucepan.

Heat the mixture over medium heat while whisking until it starts to thicken. Once thickened, lower the heat and whisk constantly for about one minute.

Remove from heat and immediately add butter and stir until fully incorporated. 

Pour this ube custard mixture into a bowl and immediately cover the surface with plastic wrap, making sure the plastic wrap is touching the whole surface. This is to prevent a skin from forming on top. 

Let the custard cool down to room temperature and then let it chill in the fridge until completely chilled (I like to leave it overnight).

Whisk the heavy cream and powdered sugar using an electric mixer or stand mixer until you achieve firm peaks.

Remove the ube custard from the fridge and whisk until smooth. Then fold about ⅓ of the whipped cream into the custard. Once well mixed, fold the rest of the whipped cream into the custard.

For the donut

Add all ingredients except for butter into bowl of stand mixer. Knead at low speed until combined. Add the butter and continue to knead at medium speed for about 5 minutes. 

Place dough into another large and greased bowl. Cover and leave in a warm area to proof for about 1.5-2 hours or until double in size. 

Turn dough out onto floured working space and roll to about 1/2 inch thick. Using a round 3” cookie cutter, cut out circles of dough. Transfer to parchment paper. 

Cover dough and allow to rest for another hour. 

Prepare oil in a large hot. Use a candy thermometer to measure the temperature. Once the oil reaches 170C, place 2-3 donuts at a time depending on the size of your pot. Cook for 2-3 minutes and flip, continuing to cook the other side for another 2-3 minutes. Remove from oil and place on paper towel, then coat with granulated sugar while still hot. 

Assembly

Once the donuts have cooled, fill a piping bag fitted with a round piping tip (I use size 10) with the ube cream. Create an opening in the donut using a chopstick or skewer and pipe the cream in.