Salted Caramel Apple Doughnuts

I made these doughnuts this morning just because I wanted to make something using apples as I was hoping to submit at least an entry for the Little Thumbs Up event for this month. Actually I was planning to make something more elaborate for the event but I got a little distracted (an understatement!). I had all the ingredients for these easy-to-make & delightful doughnut balls. While waiting for the dough to rise, I kept myself busy on my desktop & finally managed to complete the laksa post. Anyway, if you happen to have all the ingredients, try making these. They are really good!

Salted Caramel Apple Doughnuts

Ingredients:

75 ml milk
25g butter, cut into small pieces
200g plain flour (I used bread flour.)
4g sachet fast-action dried yeast
25g caster sugar, plus 50g extra for dusting
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon, plus 1 tsp (or more) for dusting
1 small egg, beaten
1/2 apple, grated (I used Granny Smith.)
vegetable or sunflower oil for frying, plus extra for greasing
about 200ml salted caramel sauce

Method:

1. Warm the milk in a saucepan. Add the butter and set aside until the milk has cooled to hand temperature and the butter has melted. Put the flour in a large bowl with the yeast, sugar, cinnamon and 1⁄2 tsp salt, mix well. Make a well in the centre and pour in the warm milk mixture, egg and apple. Combine with a wooden spoon, then tip out onto a work surface and knead for a few mins to combine. Pop into a lightly oiled bowl, cover with oiled cling film and leave somewhere warm to rise until doubled in size – about 2 hrs.
2. Lightly grease 1 large baking tray. 
3. Uncover the dough and knock out all the air. Remove a lump of dough, roughly the size of a walnut, and roll into a smooth ball. Put on a tray and squash gently with your palm. Repeat with the remaining dough. Cover the tray with a sheet of oiled cling film and leave to prove until doubled in size again – about 30 mins.
4. Line a large plate or baking tray with kitchen paper, and mix the remaining sugar and cinnamon on another. Pour enough oil to come halfway up the sides of a large saucepan. If you have a thermometer the temperature should reach 180C. If you don’t have one, drop in a small chunk of bread. The oil is ready when it browns in about 30 secs. Drop in 3-4 doughnuts at a time (depending on the size of your pan) and cook for 4-5 mins until each one is deep golden brown and puffed up. Drain on the kitchen paper, then quickly toss in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Repeat with the remaining doughnuts.
5. To fill the doughnuts, use a skewer or cocktail stick to make a hole in each one. Wiggle it around in the middle to create a cavity. Transfer the caramel to a piping bag fitted with small nozzle, insert the nozzle into the doughnut and squeeze as you pull it out, filling generously. Continue with the remaining doughnuts. Serve with extra caramel for dunking.

Adapted recipe from BBC Good Food.

Notes & modifications:

1. I made only half the original recipe. It made 14 fist-size doughnuts after dividing the dough into 30g-balls. I intended to make bite-sized doughnuts but they turned out rather big. Next time, I'd form into 15g balls.
2. I mixed my dough using my cake mixer using the dough hook until the dough developed a membrane. 
3. For step 2, I lined the tray with silicone paper & dusted some flour on it.
4. Instead of filling the fried doughnuts with store-bought caramel-in-a-can, I filled mine with my homemade salted caramel sauce.

I'm submitting this post to the Little Thumbs Up (Oct: Apple) event organized by Bake For Happy Kids with My Little Favourite DIY & hosted by I-Lost in Austen.