Father’s Day Peach Melba Crumble Doughnuts

Posted on 5 September, 2015

It’s Father’s Day this Sunday (oh noooo, of course you hadn’t forgotten!).

And I don’t know about you, but the way to my dad’s heart is definitely through his stomach (hmm, must be hereditary).

As you know, I love nothing more than taking two delicious dishes and smooshing them together to make something EVEN MORE DELICIOUS, and this recipe is no exception. 

I mean, a dessert combined with a doughnut…name one place in the world where that could be considered wrong.

Doughnuts are so hot right now. They are literally everywhere. Everyone’s gone doughnut-crazy. One thing I will never understand though is why people feel the need to take a chunk out of the middle. Are you CRAZY? What a waste!

I’m loving the current doughnut trend cause I’ve been obsessed with them ever since I was a chubby little kid with a face-full of braces and a hypercolour jumpsuit.

My favourite have always been hot jam doughnuts. I had a friend in primary school who would buy me one from the school canteen every single day at lunchtime (diabetes, anyone?) in exchange for me agreeing to be her ‘first best friend’. Remember how you had to have a first, second and third best friend at school? So weird. Anyway, I’m ashamed to admit I did indeed accept doughnuts as payment for friendship. What a tart! I would’ve been her bestie regardless… but who was I to say no to food??

And speaking of tarts, I love the idea of taking the traditional jam doughnut and tarting it up. So I decided to combine a classic dessert with a doughnut to create these saucy little minxes.

Peach Melba is such a simple, elegant dish. First made by French chef Auguste Escoffier in honour of the late, great Australian soprano, Nellie Melba – who, as it turns out, took the surname Melba as a pseudonym (she was originally born Helen Porter Mitchell) after her home town Melbourne. Well, whaddya know? Totes appropes!

The combination of fresh peaches and raspberry sauce is so pretty and vibrant. So as we’re just coming into spring, I decided it would be the perfect little addition to my tarted up doughnuts. To give them some texture and a bit of crunch, I added a tasty little crumble on top.

Peaches aren’t in season in Australia at the moment, but I managed to get some lovely sweet, juicy ones imported from the States (thanks, American friends!), and some beautiful raspberries for the peach melba jam. As for the crumble, it’s just a simple mixture of oats, flour, cinnamon, sugar and butter, baked in the oven until golden and crunchy.

Voila! Mini peach melba crumble doughnuts. The perfect way to say I love you this Father’s Day.

They’re small (hello portion control), they feature not one but two kinds of fruit, AND rolled oats (umm, healthy!). They’re light, fluffy and easy to make, thanks to www.chow.com’s basic yeast doughnut recipe (seriously guys, they’re mostly air so have a few).

Happy Father’s Day to all you dads. Enjoy!

Which dish is the way to your dad’s heart?

Mini Peach Melba Crumble Doughnuts Recipe

Prep time: 45 mins
Cook time: 60 mins
Serves: approx. 25 doughnuts

Note: you’ll need to prep the jam ingredients the night before to let the fruit soak up the sugar.

Ingredients

Peach melba jam
600g peaches, stones removed, diced small
300g raspberries
600g jam sugar
1 lemon, juiced

Crumble
1/2 cup rolled oats
120g unsalted butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup caster sugar
1/2 cups plain flour

Doughnuts
110g unsalted butter
3 tbsp granulated sugar
1 packet instant yeast
2 1/2 cups bread flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup full cream milk (warmed)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 egg yolks
Peanut oil for deep frying

Icing sugar to dust

Instructions

For the jam

Mix together the peaches, raspberries and sugar in a large glass bowl. Cover with cling film and leave at room temperature overnight.

When you’re ready to make the jam, put the fruit and sugar mixture into a large saucepan, stir in the lemon juice and simmer over low heat to dissolve the sugar.

Bring the mixture to the boil, then turn the heat to low and simmer for 15-20 mins, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and let cool. Once a ‘skin’ has formed on the top that’s sticky to the touch, it’s ready. Let it cool for about 20 mins then put into air-tight jam jars and store in the fridge until you’re ready to fill your doughnuts.

For the crumble

Preheat the oven to 170C. Mix the sugar, cinnamon, flour oats and melted butter together in a bowl and spread it onto a baking sheet about 2 cm thickness. Bake for about 25-30 mins or until the mixture is golden but not burnt.

Remove from oven to cool for about 10 minutes and break it up with a mallet or a rolling pin to make a crumble.

For the doughnuts (adapted from www.chow.com’s basic yeast doughnut recipe)

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, stir together two cups of the flour, the yeast, sugar, and salt. Add the warm milk, vanilla, and egg yolks.

Mix until smooth. Add the remaining flour and the butter and mix until incorporated. Continue to mix on medium speed until the dough is soft and smooth (it should be slightly sticky).

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set in a warm, draft-free place to rise for 1 hour.

Lightly flour two baking sheets. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface and cut with a 6cm floured doughnut or biscuit cutter. Re-roll the dough scraps to cut out more doughnuts.

Place the donuts about 2cm apart on the baking sheets and cover loosely with cling film. Set in a warm place to rise until they are nearly double in size (about 30 minutes). If they’re not rising, you can put them in an oven with very low residual heat for around 5 minutes (the oven shouldn’t be turned on, just still slightly warm from baking).

The dough is ready when it springs back slowly after being touched.

Fill a deep-fryer to it’s recommended level with the peanut oil. If you’re using the stove-top, make sure you use a large, heavy-bottomed pot and fill with between 5-8cm of oil. Heat the oil to 170C. Using a slotted spoon, carefully lower the donuts into the oil (don’t overcrowd the fryer, just enough to fit comfortably). Fry for about 1 minute each side until they are a light golden brown and cooked through. Remove, place on paper towel and repeat until all doughnuts are cooked.

To assemble

When your doughnuts have cooled for about 5 minutes, carefully make an incision in the top with a very sharp knife and wiggle around carefully to make some space inside for the peach melba jam.

Use a small teaspoon or piping bag to fill with the jam, placing a small piece of the peach from the jam on the top of each doughnut.

Dust with some icing sugar, sprinkle a little crumble on the top and serve warm.

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