Ferrero rocher is the best chocolate to have ever existed. It is definitely one of my favourites. So I wanted to make doughnuts, inspired by ferrero rocher.
A while ago, I made twix doughnuts. I posted the recipe for those on Instagram, it was before I had this blog.
THOSE WERE SO GOOD. So ever since, I’ve been wanting to make doughnuts inspired by more chocolate bars so here we are!
Video Tutorial
The tangzhong
Like with all my doughnuts, I used a Japanese milk bread dough to make these.
Japanese milk bread typically uses a ‘tangzhong’. Which is just a mixture of water and flour that has been heated together.
I love using this in all my doughnuts, it makes them a lot more softer and fluffier. It’s an extra step but it doesn’t take long to make!
Handling the dough
One thing about this dough, it is sticky.
If you’ve made any type of dough before, you’re probably use to adding more flour to it, if it seems sticky.
However, for this dough, it is ok for it to be sticky. You only need to add extra flour if it is not forming into a dough at all.
I recommend rubbing your hands with a little bit of oil before touching the dough, this will help a lot. Also when you are rolling it out and cutting the doughnut shapes, use a lot of flour on your surface to prevent it from sticking.
What kind of yeast should I use?
For every dough I ever make, I always use instant yeast.
With instant yeast, you don’t have to activate it first, you can just add it straight into your bowl with the rest of the ingredients.
I find it the easiest to use and also the easiest to find.
However, if you only have active yeast, that works too. Instant and active yeast are easily interchangeable.
If you are using active yeast, don’t add it in with the rest of the ingredients though. Mix it with the warm milk and about 1 tablespoon of the sugar. Leave this aside for 10 minutes, then add it into your bowl with everything else.
Leaving the dough to rise
There are 2 points where you need to leave your dough to rise in a warm place. The first time is after you have kneaded the dough, and the second time is after you have cut out your shapes.
If you want to do this over a 2 day process, so that you don’t have to do everything at once, there are ways to do this.
One way is by getting to the point where the dough has been kneaded. Then instead of leaving it to rise in a warm place for 1-2 hours, just put it straight into the fridge and then carry on the next day.
Or instead you could get up to the point where you have cut out your shapes, then instead of leaving these for 30-40 minutes, put them in your fridge overnight. Then the next day you can fry them straight away.
Either way works great, i think the process is just a little easier if you do it over 2 days but you don’t have too.
Ok now let’s get into the recipe!
Ferrero Rocher Doughnuts
Ingredients
Makes: 6
- For the tangzhong:
20g plain flour
100ml water
- For the dough:
330g plain flour
30g granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
8g instant yeast
1 egg
The tangzhong
120ml warm milk
30g softened unsalted butter
- For the chocolate topping:
250g milk chocolate
80g hazelnuts
Plus some nutella to fill the doughnuts
Directions
- Making the tangzhong:
- In a pot, mix together the flour and water, then place this on medium-low heat.
- Keep heating this, whiles mixing, until the mixture turns into a thick paste. Leave this in the fridge too cool down for 5 minutes.
- Making the dough:
- In a bowl, add all the ingredients for the dough, except the butter. Don't forget to add in the tangzhong you just made.
- Mix this until a dough forms, then add in the butter and knead for 8 minutes. This will be a sticky dough, don't worry.
- Once kneaded, place this into a grease bowl, cover and leave to rise in a warm place for 1-2 hours, or until doubled in volume. You could also leave it in your fridge overnight.
- Cutting the shapes:
- Once the dough has risen, place it onto a floured surface and roll it out until it's about 1 cm thick. Again this is a sticky dough, so keep some flour next to you.
- I used a 9 cm/3.5 inch round cookie cutter to make my doughnut shapes. You could cut them whatever size and shape you want.
- Cut circles out of the dough and place these onto a tray that has square pieces of baking paper on it.
- Cover and leave them in a warm place to rest for about 30-40 minutes. After this time they should look slightly puffier and feel softer than before, you don't need them to double in volume.
- Frying the doughnuts:
- When there's about 10 minutes left, you can heat up your oil. The best temperature to fry doughnuts is around 180c.
- Once the oil is ready, add the doughnuts into this and fry until they're a deep golden brown on both sides. Leave these on a wired rack to cool.
- Filling and dipping the doughnuts:
- Once all the doughnuts have been fried and have cooled down, you can fill them.
- Add your nutella into a piping bag, cut a hole into the top of one of the doughnuts with a knife, then insert the piping bag into this. Add as much nutella your heart is telling you to add, then repeat this with the other doughnuts too.
- For the topping, melt the chocolate then finely chop the hazelnuts and add this into the chocolate.
- Dip the doughnuts into this, leave the chocolate to set and then that is it!!
As soon as I observed this website I went on reddit to share some of the love with them.