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Banana Cream Pie Doughnuts

August 22, 2016 by Joy the Baker 32 Comments

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Banana Cream Pie Doughnuts

Banana Cream Pie is my favorite…  actually, hold please… if you had a Coconut Cream Pie in your fridge I could be persuaded to flip.  It wouldn’t take much, obviously.  Add the word Cream to most any dessert and I’m there with a hot pot of coffee. 

A few weeks ago I made a Chocolate Bottom Banana Cream Pie.  It was a thing of dreams until I got carried away, adding too much bourbon to the pudding.  Delicious, but the pudding wouldn’t set.  Delicious, but the pie wasn’t super slice-able.  Delicious if you were one of the few friends who came over and just ate it with forks straight from the pie pan.  

When it comes to bourbon, more is too much. 

So! Forget the pie plate. I’m putting banana cream pie filling inside fresh-fried doughnuts.  A pie and doughnut hybrid the logical next step, right? 

Banana Cream Pie Doughnuts

This is a baking adventure.  To be sure. We’re making doughnuts, pudding, aaand cream.  This is a lot, so fun, and totally worth the effort. 

I don’t want you to think I just hang around my house on any given Wednesday and whip up these donuts in a flash. This is involved.  Call your friends! Make it a kitchen adventure with mega reward you can enjoy together! 

Banana Cream Pie Doughnuts

We start by dissolving yeast in warm water with a pinch of sugar. Activation! 

Banana Cream Pie Doughnuts

Banana Cream Pie Doughnuts

I find it easiest to mix this dough in a stand mixer because the dough starts off pretty soft and sticky. 

Flour and sugar into the bowl. 

Banana Cream Pie Doughnuts

Banana Cream Pie Doughnuts

Salt and cinnamon for balance and flavor.  

Banana Cream Pie Doughnuts

We’ll toss the dry ingredients together while the yeast activates. 

Banana Cream Pie Doughnuts

Luscious (truly) egg yolks are added straight into the dry ingredients.  

It’ll all come together evenly soon.  

Banana Cream Pie Doughnuts

Banana Cream Pie Doughnuts

Banana Cream Pie Doughnuts

Activated yeast, melted butter, and room temperature milk are added to the bowl.  

Banana Cream Pie Doughnuts

I like to toss the wet and dry ingredients together with a spatula before adding the dough hook.  Just give all of the ingredients a head start. 

Banana Cream Pie Doughnuts

While mixing, I added extra flour… the dough seemed a bit wet to me.  I think I added about 1/2 cup extra. 

While the dough mixes and rests, we’ll make the pudding. 

Alternately, you can totally make the pudding first or even a day or two before you make the doughnut dough so it’s super chilled in the fridge when the doughnuts are fried. 

Banana Cream Pie Doughnuts

Milk, heavy cream, egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch, salt, and butter for our pudding base. 

The bananas we’ll mash later and stir into the pudding.  The cookies we’ll crumble and sprinkle… again, later. 

Banana Cream Pie Doughnuts

Banana Cream Pie Doughnuts

In a small saucepan we’ll stir together brown sugar, cornstarch, and salt.  

Banana Cream Pie Doughnuts

Whisk in the egg yolks creating a thick paste.  

Banana Cream Pie Doughnuts

Into the paste goes a slow stream of milk and cream. 

We’ll cook the pudding over medium-low heat until it comes to a light simmer and begins to thicken.

The egg yolks will help the mixture thicken, but the cornstarch will do most of the heavy lifting when it comes to thickening and don’t forget, cornstarch thickens at the boiling point.

Whisk the mixture frequently as it warms and once it begins to simmer, whisk it constantly until it holds whisk streaks.  

In other pudding news:  Really Very Good Chocolate Pudding 

Banana Cream Pie Doughnuts

Banana Cream Pie Doughnuts

We’ll add a good pat of butter to the thickened pudding and a splash of vanilla extract.  

Banana Cream Pie Doughnuts

We’ll transfer the pudding to a bowl, cover it with plastic wrap so the plastic touches the surface of the pudding, and chill!

Notice that we haven’t added the mashed banana yet.  Banana browns in air so we’ll save that for the last minute. 

Banana Cream Pie Doughnuts

Banana Cream Pie Doughnuts

Look at this tender, sweet dough!

It really is my favorite yeasted dough.  Egg yolks and butter make it easy to love.  Too easy to love. 

Banana Cream Pie Doughnuts

The dough is rolled to about 3/4-inch thick, cut with a round 2 1/2-inch biscuit cutter and left to rest and rise for 30 minutes.

In that rest time, it’s a good idea to add oil to a medium heavy-bottom saucepan.  I add about 3 to 4-inches of oil. 

A fry thermometer is key.  We need to know exactly how hot the oil is before we start frying. 350 degrees F is just the ticket.

Banana Cream Pie Doughnuts

Banana Cream Pie Doughnuts

Doughnuts are fried to deep golden brown, about 1 minute on each side, then left to cool on a wire rack.  

Banana Cream Pie Doughnuts

Time to stir the mashed banana into the cooled vanilla pudding! 

Banana Cream Pie Doughnuts

Banana Cream Pie Doughnuts

I used two disposable pastry bags with metal cake decorating tips to fill the doughnuts. This worked fine for me, but there were moments of wonkiness.  

I think the very best way to fill the doughnuts would be with two squeeze bottles with the tips cut wide.  

Banana Cream Pie Doughnuts

The doughnuts are cooled to room temperature and we’ll use the back of a spoon to create a hole in the side of the doughnut for the filling! 

Banana Cream Pie Doughnuts

Banana pudding squeezed into the doughnut.  

Banana Cream Pie Doughnuts

Cream to top.  

Banana Cream Pie Doughnuts

Doughnuts are set upright and sprinkled generously with Nilla Wafers. 

Banana Cream Pie Doughnuts

Banana Cream Pie Doughnuts

Keep the doughnuts cool until you dig right in.  

Scratch that, dig right in and then keep the leftover doughnuts cool.  Count the ways you love them.  Creamy, sweet, doughy.  A pie + doughnut hybrid? We are a success, no doubt.  

Photographs with Jon Melendez. 

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Banana Cream Pie Doughnuts

★★★★★ 5 from 1 reviews
  • Author: Joy the Baker
  • Prep Time: 180
  • Total Time: 3 hours
  • Yield: 12 1x
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Ingredients

Scale

For the Pudding

  • 1/2 cup lightly packed brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup cornstarch
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 large egg yolks
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 medium banana, ripe and mashed well

For the Doughnuts

  • 1 (1/4-oz) package active dry yeast (2 1/2 teaspoons)
  • 2 tablespoons warm water (105–115°F)
  • pinch of salt
  • 3 1/4 – 3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour plus additional for sprinkling and rolling out dough
  • 1 cup whole milk, at room temperature
  • 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
  • 3 large egg yolks
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  • About 6 cups vegetable oil for deep frying, you’ll need about 3 to 4-inches deep for frying

For the Cream

  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 3 tablespoons powdered sugar
  • pinch of salt
  • splash of pure vanilla extract

Instructions

  1. I think it’s best to start by making the pudding so it has plenty of time to chill in the refrigerator before becoming filling for the doughnuts.
  2. To make the pudding, in a small saucepan whisk together brown sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Add the egg yolks and whisk to a thick, smooth paste. Slowly whisk in the milk and heavy cream. Place the pan over medium-low heat and heat, stirring frequently with a whisk, until thickened. The mixture will thicken after it has simmered for a few minutes. Once the mixture simmers, whisk constantly until the mixture is thick enough to hold streaks.
  3. Remove from heat stir in butter and extract and transfer to a bowl. Cover so that plastic wrap touches the surface of the pudding. Refrigerate until completely cool. Once cooled and just before filling the doughnuts, stir the mashed banana into the pudding.
  4. To make the doughnuts, stir together yeast, warm water, and a pinch in a small bowl until yeast is dissolved. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. (If yeast doesn’t foam, discard and start over with new yeast.)
  5. In the bowl of an upright stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix together yeast mixture, flour, milk, butter, yolks, sugar, salt, and cinnamon. Beat at low speed until a soft dough forms. Increase speed to medium-high and beat 3 minutes more. The dough will be soft and sticky. If you’s too sticky to handle, add up to 1/2 cup more flour. Note: the doughnut dough should be soft and somewhat sticky so don’t add too much flour.
  6. Scrape dough down side of bowl (all around) into center, then sprinkle lightly with flour (to keep a crust from forming). Cover bowl with plastic wrap and a clean kitchen towel. Let dough rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled in bulk, 1 1/2 to 2 hours. (Alternatively, let dough rise in bowl in refrigerator 8 to 12 hours.)
  7. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll out with a lightly floured rolling pin into a 12-inch round (1/2 inch thick). Cut out as many rounds as possible with 3-inch cutter and transfer doughnuts to a lightly floured large baking sheet. Cover doughnuts with a clean kitchen towel and let rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until slightly puffed, about 30 minutes (45 minutes if dough was cold when cutting out doughnuts). Do not reroll scraps (they’ll make for tough doughnuts).
  8. Heat 3 inches oil in a deep 4-quart heavy pot until it registers 350°F on thermometer. Fry doughnuts, 2 at a time, turning occasionally with a wire or mesh skimmer or a slotted spoon, until puffed and golden brown, just over 2 minutes per batch (about 1 minute per side). Before removing the cooked doughnuts from the oil.
  9. Return oil to 350°F between batches before frying each pair of doughnuts.
  10. To make the whipped cream, place cream sugar, salt, and vanilla in a medium bowl. Use electric hand beaters to whip cream to soft peaks. Keep cool before filling.
  11. Let the doughnuts cool to room temperature before filling.
  12. Place pudding in a pastry bag with a wide tip. Place whipped cream in a pastry bag with a wide tip.
  13. Insert the back of a spoon into the side of a doughnut creating a space for the filling.
  14. Gently squeeze pudding into the doughnut. Shake the doughnut some to help the filling go down into the center of the doughnut.
  15. Set hole side up, and squeeze in a bit of whipped cream. Sprinkle with vanilla wafers. Keep chilled until serving.

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  1. medital

    February 10, 2023 at 4:18 am

    thanks for sharing

    ★★★★★

    Reply
  2. Giftbasketworldwide

    September 20, 2021 at 3:23 am

    What a fabulous post!! Very interesting.

    Reply
  3. Olivia Bair

    January 23, 2017 at 5:52 pm

    can I have your shirt k thanks bye

    Reply
  4. Dana Laughlin

    August 28, 2016 at 11:33 pm

    I totally want to eat these! But, I got distracted by your beautiful shirt/dress, and I must know, where is it from?!?!?

    Reply
  5. Laura

    August 28, 2016 at 8:09 am

    How do you dispose of your oil

    Reply
    • joythebaker

      August 28, 2016 at 11:32 am

      Zip lock bag and put it in the trash can. This may not be the best way, but it’s what I usually do.

      Reply
  6. Kaleigh Sanio

    August 26, 2016 at 7:57 am

    Oh these look delicious! I may have to bring some in to work so I don’t devour them all myself! On that note, Joy, how on earth do you bake (and presumably eat) all of these delicious foods and stay so fit? Is it good genes? Do you work out all the time? Don’t get me wrong, I love my body and all it does for me, but I love food too and it seems like my jeans are getting tighter! I want to become a food and/or beauty blogger, but I can’t figure out how to do that, taste test all those recipes, while not gaining a ton of weight! Also, where does all of your food go? Do your friends take it? Do you donate it? Eat it all yourself? I think what I’m saying is, I would love to see a post from you on how you balance work (including taste testing all these recipes! Jealous!) with being healthy.

    Reply
  7. Alison

    August 23, 2016 at 10:51 pm

    Awesome idea! But seriously, couldn’t take my eyes off that lovely purple shirt. ;)

    Reply
  8. Akaleistar

    August 23, 2016 at 7:18 pm

    Those look amazing! I’m not wild about banana cream pie – the bananas get too mushy – but these doughnuts look so good!

    Reply
  9. Efrain Vargas-Hernandez

    August 23, 2016 at 6:43 pm

    Thank you so much for this delicious recipe. When I saw it on Instagram I had to have it. It look so delicious. It certainly was delicious I made them today and I am so glad I did. Thank you for sharing.

    Reply
  10. Katrina

    August 22, 2016 at 3:13 pm

    These are stunning girl! Love, love, love the flavour.

    Reply
  11. Monica

    August 22, 2016 at 2:15 pm

    I’ve been talking about making banana pudding for a couple days and now you’re putting it in doughnuts! Now I’m definitely going to have to make both! :D

    Reply
    • joythebaker

      August 22, 2016 at 6:11 pm

      I think just the pudding and the cookies would be fantastic too!

      Reply
  12. dessertfortwo

    August 22, 2016 at 1:17 pm

    Well, this is all I need in life. <3

    Reply
  13. Tina

    August 22, 2016 at 10:43 am

    Joy these look amazing! Thank you for all the love, time and care that you put into your post. I so look forward to reading each new recipe or bit of advice.

    Reply
  14. Madeline

    August 22, 2016 at 10:22 am

    I so love banana cream pie too! These donuts sound completely amazing!

    Reply
  15. Kasey

    August 22, 2016 at 10:22 am

    These looks INSANE Joy. The photos are incredible!

    Reply
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