French Cruller Recipe
The softest French cruller donuts with fluffy, honeycomb texture and a sweet vanilla glaze.
Servings: 13 cruller donuts
Ingredients
For the Cruller Choux Pastry
- 113 g (1 stick) Unsalted Butter
- 240 ml (1 cup) Milk
- 2 teaspoon (2 teaspoon) Granulated Sugar, (caster sugar)
- ¼ teaspoon (¼ teaspoon) Salt
- 130 g (1 cup + 1 tbsp) All-purpose Flour, (plain flour) sifted
- 5 (5) Large Eggs, (room temperature) *Use medium eggs if in the UK
- 1 (1) Egg White
- Vegetable Oil, for frying
For the Vanilla Glaze
- 240 g (2 cups) Powdered Sugar, (icing sugar)
- 1 teaspoon (1 teaspoon) Vanilla bean paste
- 80 ml (⅓ cup) Whole Milk
Instructions
How To Make Choux Pastry
- Add the milk, sugar, butter, and salt to a saucepan over medium heat. Stir together until the butter has melted and the mixture starts to boil.
- As soon as the mixture is boiling, remove it from the heat and quickly add all of the sifted flour. Stir with a wooden spoon until the flour is totally incorporated.
- Return the pan to the heat and continue to beat it vigorously for 2-4 minutes until it comes together into a smooth, shiny ball, and you can see a thin film on the bottom of the pan.
- Transfer the dough to the bowl of a stand mixer and use your spoon to spread it up the sides of the bowl to help it cool faster. Leave to cool for at least 10 minutes until it is no longer hot to touch.
- Turn the stand mixer on low speed with a paddle attachment fitted. Add the eggs one at a time, letting them mix until completely incorporated.
- Beat the egg white lightly in a small bowl. Add it to the mixer a little at a time, testing the pastry in between to see if is ready. You are aiming for a paste-like dough that is smooth, glossy, and pipeable. You can test if it is ready by putting a spatula into the bowl and lifting it out - if the dough is the right consistency, it will fall off the spatula in a V-shape. Once the right consistency is reached, do not add any more egg.
Pipe the French Cruller Donuts
- Transfer the choux pastry to a piping bag with a large open star tip. Squeeze any air bubbles out of the bag.
- Pipe rings of pastry onto a piece of parchment paper. Chill for 1 hour.
Fry and Glaze
- Before you start the frying process, it's a good idea to set up everything you'll need. Alongside your saucepan, thermometer, slotted spoon, and tongs, you'll also want to set up:Wire rack with paper towels underneath (not on it)A plate or something to rest your tools on when not in useA second wire rack for your glazed crullers. Glaze - Crullers should be dipped in glaze while they are still warm, so you want to have your glaze ready to go so you can dip and fry at the same time.
- To make the glaze, sift the powdered sugar into a bowl, then add the vanilla and half of the milk. Stir until smooth and add more milk, a little at a time, until it is runny but still thick.
- Fill a large pot with vegetable oil, so it is at least 2 or 3 inches deep, and heat it over medium heat until it reaches between 170°-180°C / 340°F-355°F. You may need to keep turning the heat up and down to maintain it at this temperature. Make sure you check the temp in between every batch of crullers as it will fluctuate.
- Cut up the parchment paper that the crullers are sitting on so each one is on its own little square of parchment.
- Use the parchment square to drop a cruller into the hot oil upside down. It should start bubbling up immediately. After a few seconds, you can use some metal tongs to carefully pull out the parchment paper square.
- Fry for 2-3 minutes on each side until deep golden brown. Let the first side cook fully before flipping. You can use your spoon to gently lift up the side to check if it is brown enough.
- Once the crullers are brown all over, use a metal slotted spoon to scoop them out and lay them on a wire to get rid of any excess oil. It's best to fry just 2 or 3 at a time, depending on the size of your pot. Any more than this and it may lower the oil temperature too much. Make sure you check the temperature between each batch.
- Dip the crullers in vanilla glaze while they are still warm, but not hot, then lay them back on the cooling rack to set.
- Let them cool completely before enjoying.
Notes
Eggs: Use large eggs in the US or medium eggs in the UK. British eggs are bigger than American eggs.
Measuring: I always recommend weighing your ingredients with a kitchen scale, but it's especially important for choux pastry as it's all about ratios.