Lemon Poppyseed Crullers

Sometimes all you need is a fresh doughnut, but sometimes you just don’t have the time or patience to make them. There’s making the dough, leaving it to rise, rolling, cutting and then leaving them to prove again. Here’s where the Cruller comes in: choux paste that’s fried to a deep golden before being dunked in a thin lemony glaze. Top with a sprinkling of poppyseeds and fresh lemon zest and they’re irresistible.

The key here is to ensure you fry the choux pastry for a lot longer than you would a doughnut. You want them to be dark and really crisp or you’ll end up with a soggy Cruller within 20 minutes of frying. These are really fun to make and all with ingredients you probably have already!

Ingredients - makes 6-8

For the choux paste:
100g unsalted butter
100g whole milk
100g water
1 tsp caster sugar
1/2 tsp salt
130g strong flour
180-200g egg (approx. 3 x medium eggs)
2lt vegetable oil, for frying

For the lemon glaze:
300g icing sugar
30ml lemon juice (approx. 2 lemons)
40ml water
zest of 1 lemon
poppyseeds, to garnish
lemon zest, to garnish

Method

please be careful frying these as the oil is very hot

For the choux pastry:

Start by placing the butter, milk, water, sugar and salt into a saucepan over medium heat. Once the mixture begins to simmer, add in the flour and mix together until it forms a paste. Continue to cook the choux pastry for a couple of minutes, mixing continuously. When its done, it should no longer stick to the sides of the pan and be one smooth paste. Remove the pan from the heat and tip the paste into a bowl. Leave to cool for a few minutes, stirring occasionally.

In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs together. While the choux paste is still slightly warm, gradually add in a little egg at a time, beating well after each addition. Depending on how long you cooked the paste will determine how much egg you need to add. You’re aiming for a glossy paste which forms a ‘V’ shape when it falls off the spoon. Go slowly as you can always add more egg but not take it out. Once you’ve finished adding in the eggs, place the choux paste into a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle (I used a No.16.) Place a piece of clingfilm over the nozzle to ensure it doesn’t dry out and refrigerate for at least an hour or up to 1 day.

For the lemon glaze:

Whisk all the ingredients together, apart from the poppyseeds, until smooth. Cover and set aside until needed.

When you’re ready to fry:

Cut 6-8 squares of baking parchment, big enough to fit an 7cm cutter. If you’re confident in your piping you can go ahead and pipe straight onto the papers. If you’d prefer a guide, take a 7cm cutter and trace the outside of the ring onto each square of paper. Flip the paper over, so that the pencil is on the underside.

Take the choux paste out of the fridge and pipe rings of paste onto each piece of paper, letting it fall loosely from the nozzle (pipe along the cutter guide if you’ve used it.) Make sure to overlap the start and end of the ring so it doesn’t come apart while frying. Place the crullers onto a baking tray so that they’re easy to transport to fry.

Fill a large saucepan halfway with vegetable oil. Place over medium heat until it reaches 170°C. (You’ll need to adjust the heat accordingly while frying to ensure the temperature remains at 170°C.) Carefully place 2-3 crullers into the oil, paper side up. After a few seconds, the paper will come loose and you can remove it with some metal tongs. Leave the crullers to fry for 5 minutes, or until it begins to crack and open. This way the cracks will stay underneath and keep the top side looking pretty. Flip the crullers top side up with the tongs and fry for a further 5 minutes until very golden and crisp. If the tops look like they’re beginning to crack, quickly flip them back over to ensure it cracks underneath. You want these to be fairly dark or they will significantly soften once cool.

Using tongs, remove the golden crullers from the oil and leave to cool for 5-10 minutes on some kitchen paper. Prepare a baking tray with a cooling rack resting on top and get the lemon glaze you prepared earlier. Dip each cruller into the glaze, turning to coat. Place onto the cooling rack to let to excess glaze drip off. Sprinkle with poppyseeds and lemon zest. Leave to cool completely before serving. Best eaten fresh.