Sometimes I think of foods to make and whip them up immediately, and sometimes I sit on an idea for years. These donuts fall into the latter category. I’ve been wanting to try frying donuts in olive oil since I learned you can fry things in olive oil, and I’ve been obsessed with adding preserved lemon to desserts for a while now. But the last time I tried to make filled donuts it did not go well. I ended up with greasy, flat and heavy things leaking apple butter. I was somewhat scarred from that experience.

Time is good for forgetting kitchen disasters, so I was finally ready to try again this year. I remembered this genius recipe too for making a small amount of donuts, and so I knew I could make a manageable amount, not enough to stock a whole store. I will happily eat four donuts, but 16 is too much even for me, and it’s not as easy to give away food these days. And then, when my roommate brought home the most beautiful, sunshine-yellow Meyer lemons from her parents’ house, I knew it was time to make a new batch of preserved lemons. Which meant that six weeks later it was time to make donuts!

Happily, my donuts this time around came out perfectly. Really, just exactly the plush texture I love in a yeasted donut, and the filling was just the right kind of salty sweet I was hoping for. I’m the only one who can vouch for these, since all four were gone in a matter of days, before I could share. I can’t say I’m sorry about that, but it does mean you’ll just have to take my word for it and try these out.

Preserved Lemon Cream-Filled Donuts

Makes 8 donuts

This recipe has some steps, but you can make the pastry cream a day or so in advance and keep chilled until needed. These donuts are best eaten fresh, the day they are made. If you don’t plan to eat them right away, I would wait to fill them. Once they are filled, they need to be refrigerated, and the fridge will not do anything good for the texture.

For the Preserved Lemon Pastry Cream:

1 quarter to 1 half of a preserved lemon
1 tbs preserved lemon juice (liquid from the jar)
1 cup whole milk
1/4 cup sugar
zest of 1/2 Meyer lemon (organic and unsprayed if possible)
1 inch peel of lemon (from the same lemon as the zest)
2 egg yolks
2 tbs corn starch
1 tbs unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/2 cup heavy cream

For the donuts (adapted from Joy the Baker)

2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
3 tbs warm water
3 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup whole milk, warmed to just above room temp
3 tbs unsalted butter, room temp
3 egg yolks
2 tbs sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 1/4 cup granulated sugar, for rolling
a few fresh thyme sprigs
zest of 1/2 Meyer lemon (organic and unsprayed if possible)
olive oil, for frying

Make the pastry cream: Blend the preserved lemon and the juice until smooth, and set aside. Rub the lemon zest into the sugar, and then warm the milk with 1/2 of the sugar and the peel, until simmering. Set aside to steep for 15 minutes.
Bring the milk mixture back to a simmer over medium heat. In a heat-proof bowl, whisk the egg with the corn starch and remaining sugar, then whisk while slowly adding the milk, a bit at a time, until incorporated. Pour the mixture back into the pot over medium high heat, and cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture thickens and begins to bubble. After you see the first bubble, continue whisking for 90 seconds, then remove from heat and pour the mixture through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl. Whisk in the butter and then the lemon puree. Cover with plastic wrap pressed against the surface of the pastry cream, then chill at least 2 hours. Stir vigorously before using.
While pastry cream is chilling, make the donuts: Stir together the yeast and the warm water until the yeast is dissolved, and let sit 5 minutes, until foamy. Add the yeast mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer with the flour, milk, butter, egg yolks, sugar and salt, and mix on low speed with the dough hook until everything combines, then increase the speed to medium high and beat for 3 minutes more.
Scrape down the sides of the the bowl, then sprinkle the dough with a bit of flour, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise for one hour, until doubled.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and roll out to a 1/2 inch thick round. Cut into rounds with a 2 1/2-3 inch cutter. Place rounds on parchment lined baking sheet and let rise, covered, for another 30 minutes. Let the scraps rise too, they will be excellent testers for frying (and snacking).
In a bowl, rub together the thyme, lemon zest, and sugar and mix with a pinch of salt. Set aside.
Heat enough olive oil in a sturdy pot to reach 3 inches up the sides, to 350 degrees. You can get away with a smaller pot and thus less oil, but make sure the sides are high enough you won’t be in danger of oil bubbling over, and only fry enough donuts at a time so you don’t crowd the pan. I fried these one at a time, and since they only take a few minutes each, that’s not a ton of frying time, and easier to manage the sugar dusting.
When your oil has reached temperature, get your assembly line ready. Pour the thyme lemon sugar onto a rimmed baking sheet, or a cake pan, or any vessel that will work for tossing a hot donut in. Use some of the dough scraps to test out your oil. Fry each round for about 1 minute per side, then remove and immediately transfer to the sugar mixture. Toss to coat on all sides, then set on a wire rack to cool completely.
Once you have fried and cooled all the donuts, whip the heavy cream to soft peaks and fold in the pastry cream. Fill a piping bag (or zip top bag with the corner snipped off) with the filling mixture. Using kitchen scissors, snip a hold in the side of each donut round, and use the handle of a teaspoon to widen the hole enough to fill. Insert the tip of the pastry bag in the hole and fill with desired amount of filling. The donut should feel heavier once filled. Repeat with remaining donuts and enjoy ASAP!