Caramel nut crunch doughnuts

Soft, fluffy yeasted doughnuts covered in caramel glaze and dunked in crunchy cinnamon-flavored nuts.

These caramel nut crunch doughnuts though. Guys, we have reached peak doughnut goals over here and I’m ready to shout it from the rooftops because no jokes, this is good stuff. ???

I first saw the idea for this doughnut recipe on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives when they visited Pies & Thighs in New York and since that day, I have not been able to stop thinking about them. Their version saw their soft, freshly fried doughnuts dunked in a sweet glaze and then dunked again in buttery pecan crunch. I mean, what more could you want? I decided to put my own spin on things and added some caramelised condensed milk (also known as Caramel Treat or Dulce De leche) to the glaze because caramel makes everything better and then covered the glazed doughnut in a mixture of chopped pecans, almonds, a little sugar and a pinch of cinnamon. You could take a shortcut and just blitz up some nut brittle in a food processor and dunk the glazed doughnuts in that and the end result will be very similar (albeit a lot more crunchy).

Listen, I’m not going to lie to you, these are super dangerous to have around because they are everything you could hope for in a doughnut. Sweet, fluffy, moreish, crunchy. You’ve got it all in every bite. And yeah, this is not the quickest recipe around. It does take a little bit of time but if you are into doughnuts (who isn’t?!), I promise you it’s so worth it. I made the dough early on in the morning and gave it a good few hours to rise before knocking it down, cutting out the doughnuts and allowing it to rise for a second time. This allows a ton of flavour to develop in the dough which you just don’t get when you make non-yeast doughnuts. Plus the rise on these babies is spectacular. They are worth every minute of work and trust me, it’s hard to stop at just one.

Caramel nut crunch doughnuts

When it comes to making dough, it's always better to be as precise as possible, which is why I've used metric measurements for the dough.

5 from 3 votes

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Course: Baking, Donuts, Doughnuts, Vegetarian

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes

Servings: 6 -8 doughnuts, depending on size

Author: Alida Ryder

Ingredients

for the doughnuts

• 200 ml warm milk
• 75 g sugar
• 10 g instant yeast
• 4 eggs
• 750 g flour
• 2 teaspoons salt
• oil to fry

for the glaze

• 1 cup sifted icing sugar powdered sugar
• ½ -¾ cup milk depending on how thick you want the glaze
• ½ cup caramelised condensed milk/Caramel treat
• pinch of salt

for the coating

• 1 cup pecan nuts
• 1 cup almonds
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon caster sugar
• pinch of salt

Instructions

• To make the dough, whisk together the milk, sugar and yeast and allow to stand for 10 minutes.
• Pour the yeast mixture into a bowl and whisk in the eggs.
• Slowly add the flour and salt and bring together until you have a sticky dough then turn out onto a floured surface and knead for 5-10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic.
• Place in a bowl greased with a little butter, cover with cling film and allow to rise for 2-3 hours.
• When the dough has risen, knock it down, turn it out onto a floured surface and cut out your doughnuts (I used two different sized drinking glasses but you can also use a doughnut cutter, of course).
• Cover the dough loosely with cling film and allow to rise for another 30 minutes.
• Heat enough oil in a deep saucepan to deep fry the doughnuts then fry until golden brown on both sides and cooked through.
• Remove and allow to drain on kitchen paper.
• To make the glaze, whisk together all the ingredients. Strain to remove any lumps.
• To make the coating, place the nuts, sugar, salt and cinnamon in a food processor and blend until the nuts are very finely chopped.
• Coat the doughnuts first in the glaze then in the nuts, set on a cooling rack to chill and set for 15-20 minutes before serving.