I really love doughnuts! Any excuse I get to eat one, I definitely do. So, I was really excited to make up a batch for Cream Filled Doughnut Day. I also wanted to make a filling that was different from many other flavors.
In honor of National Cream Filled Doughnut Day, I made a Brioche Lemon Cheesecake Filled Doughnut! Omg! This filling is so good! It really tastes like you’re biting into a piece of lemon cheesecake. Its so creamy, rich, and full of lemon flavor. You will want to just eat the filling by itself!
To make it lemon cheesecake, I added cream cheese, lemon juice, and lemon zest to a rich vanilla pastry cream. The lemon is added when you mix in the egg yolks. You add the cream cheese after the yolks are combined with the dry ingredients and everything is placed into a pot together. The cream cheese melts and mixes into the lemon pastry cream.
This filling combined with the soft pillowy brioche doughnut was amazing. It’s the perfect taste and texture. This recipe is definitely a keeper!
Brioche Lemon Cheesecake Filled Doughnut
Ingredients
Doughnuts
- 1 package yeast
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 3 cups flour
- 10 tbsp softened butter
- oil for frying
Lemon Cheesecake Filling
- 1 1/2 cups milk or heavy cream or a combination of both
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 4 egg yolks
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 2 tsp lemon zest
- 2 tbsp cream cheese
Instructions
Doughnuts
- Warm buttermilk in the microwave until slightly warm but not hot. Pour in a Kitchenaide bowl. Sprinkle yeast on top. Let it sit for 5 minutes. Add sugar, salt, vanilla, and eggs. Attach dough hook and turn on the machine. Add the flour a cup at a time. After the flour is in, add the softened butter a tbsp at a time. Let the dough kneed for a few minutes. Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let it rise for 1-2 hours. Punch dough so it deflates. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator overnight. The next day, remove bowl from the refrigerator. Divide the dough into about 10 equal pieces, depending on the size you want the doughnuts. Roll each piece into a ball and place on a baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap to rise. To speed the process, place a pan of boiling water in the bottom rack of the oven, place the baking sheet with the doughnuts on a higher rack and close the oven door.When the doughnuts have risen, heat vegetable oil in a pot and fry them on both sides until browned. Place them on a baking rack to let the excess oil come off of them for about 5 minutes, then roll them in sugar.
Lemon Cheesecake Filling
- Warm the milk in the saucepan until you start to see wisps of steam. It should not actually be boiling. In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, and salt. Add the egg yolks, lemon juice and lemon zest and whisk them into the dry ingredients. This will form a thick paste. Pour a little of the hot milk into the eggs and whisk to combine. Continue pouring the milk slowly into the eggs, whisking continuously. When all the milk has been added to the eggs, pour everything back into the saucepan.Set the pan back over medium heat. Add the cream cheese. Whisk constantly. At first, the pastry cream will look very thin and frothy, but it will start to thicken after a few minutes. When it has thickened to a pudding-like consistency, pause whisking every few seconds to see if the cream has come to a boil. If you see large bubbles popping on the surface, whisk for a few more seconds and then remove the pan from heat.Pour the cream into a strainer set over the bowl. Cover the pastry cream with a piece of plastic wrap pressed right up against the surface of the cream and chill completely.When ready to use, fill a pastry bag with a round tip with the cream. Push the tip of the pastry bag into the side top of one of the doughnuts. Fill each doughnut. Serve immediately.
