Dulce de Leche Glaze Donuts Recipe

To celebrate dulce de leche day (el dia de dulce de leche) this year I decided to try a recipe for dulce de leche glaze donuts that I’ve been working on perfecting from a series of recipes for dulce de leche donuts combined.

Donuts (also spelt doughnuts) are the ultimate comfort food. The spongy donut dough is fried (sometimes baked in the oven) and then glazed with a topping of your choice. Memories from childhood of each warm, sticky doughnuts and playing “don’t lick your lips” with friends make me smile to myself.

Dulce de leche donuts are just the best around. There are many recipes for dulce de leche donuts.. some are filled, some are glazed, some have the dulce de leche incorporated into the donut dough.. they are all delicious!

There are many donut recipes available online, but basically they all consist of 2 approaches to having the donut dough rise. Sometimes baking powder is added to the dough, but in this recipe I have gone for yeast as the rising agent for the dough.

Baking with yeast is really special, and gives such great texture in my opinion it can’t be beaten! But if you don’t have yeast, just google a simple baking powder recipe for donuts and then rejoin this recipe at the donut glazing stage.

There are so many outlets selling delicious, irresistible donuts.. But homemade donuts are just the best. Who doesn’t love warm donuts freshly fried at home?!

If you haven’t tried dulce de leche yet, you really must! What is dulce de leche? Well dulce de leche is a delicious caramel with a kind of toffee flavour. You can make homemade dulce de leche.

Dulce de leche is a very important, South American dessert ingredient. Typically dulce de leche is enjoyed with icecream, on pancakes, in traditional cookies (alfajores). At home, children around Latin America enjoy their dulce de leche simply on a spoon or with icecream!

Dulce de leche is basically made by gently boiling milk and sugar together for several hours until it condenses down to the caramel consistency of dulce de leche. Dulce de leche pairs perfectly with donuts, such a delicious taste sensation!

Alternatively there is a little hack, to make dulce de leche using condensed milk. It’s easy! Just place the tin of condensed milk in a pan of hot water and boil for several hours. Inside the tin, the condensed milk converts into a delicious caramel, extremely similar to dulce de leche.

And of course you can buy dulce de leche! This is the more expensive option, but the easiest. We used Onda-Onda dulce de leche.

Recipe dulce de leche glaze doughnuts

Ingredients

For the donut dough:

1 cup (240ml) whole milk

12g instant yeast

⅓ cup (65g) white sugar

2 large eggs

6 tablespoons unsalted butter (86g)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

550g all purpose flour (4 cup)

Oil for frying

For the dulce de leche glaze:

¾ cup soft brown sugar

6 tablespoons unsalted butter (86g)

½ teaspoon salt

¼ cup dulce de leche (150g)

¼ cup (60ml) whole milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup icing sugar (130g)

Prep time: 40 minutes

Cook time: 15 minutes

Equipment needed:

Large bowl

Medium bowl

Medium saucepan

Rolling pin

Whisk

Method

To make the dough: in a large bowl place the all purpose flour, sugar, nutmeg and instant yeast and combine.

You will need the unsalted butter melted, then add the melted butter, eggs, vanilla and whole milk to the flour and mix well to form a dough.

The mixture will come together as a dough. If it’s well combined and a little sticky, add a little extra all purpose flour until it can be kneaded into a donut dough.

Now place the donut dough in an oiled bowl and leave to rise. While the dough is rising, make the dulce de leche glaze…

In a medium pan, place the melted butter, brown sugar and salt. Over a medium heat, mix well. Its good to use a whisk to mix. Once it starts to bubble, add in the dulce de leche, milk and vanilla, and bring to a boil.

Boil for around 3 minutes stirring occasionally. Once the glaze has cooled a little (but is still warm) add in the icing sugar and mix thoroughly completely smooth. Place the dulce de leche glaze into a medium bowl and set aside.

Now check on the dough in the oiled bowl. After 10 minutes the dough will be more elastic, and after 20 minutes it will rise and have increased in size by around 50%. Its now time to make the donuts.

Start to heat the oil, so the oil is hot when you are ready.

Roll out the dough to around 1cm thick. This is just a guide. Next you need to cut out the donuts. To cut a donut, you need a large circle cutter and a small one for the inner hole

If you don’t have proper donut cutters, just use different sized cups or glasses. One the inner hole is cut, place the donuts on a baking sheet.

Once 6-7 donuts have been cut, place them gently in the heated oil and fry lightly. Keep the pan on a moderate heat so the donuts can brown gently, otherwise they will burn.

While they are being fried, continue cutting out more donuts.

Each donut should be fried lightly for around a minute on each side. After the donuts have been fried, remove with a slotted spoon and place on a baking sheet or kitchen roll to allow the oil to drain away and for the donuts to cool.

While you fry each batch of donuts, continue to roll out more donuts until all of the dough is used up. Continue to fry the donuts in batches until they are all cooked.

While the donuts are still warm, dip them into the dulce de leche glaze, covering as much of the surface as possible. Then place on a wire cooling rack or baking sheet until they cool to room temperature.

At room temperature, the dulce de leche glaze will slightly harden and will crack if the donuts are twisted.

How to store the glazed dulce de leche donuts

Of course, the dulce de leche donuts would be best enjoy right after you fry them! While they are still warm, fresh and spongy while the dulce de leche glaze is solidifying.

If you aren’t planning on eating the dulce de leche donuts straightaway, place the donuts in an airtight tin or box and keep in the fridge for 1-2 days.

Summary how to make dulce de leche glazed donuts

Form the dulce de leche donut dough from the dough ingredients – set the dough aside to rise
Prepare the dulce de leche glaze boiling the glaze ingredients. Mix well over heat
When the donut dough has risen, roll out and cut into donut form
Fry the donuts until golden brown
Dip the donuts into the dulce de leche glaze
Set the donuts aside and allow the dulce de leche glaze to dry