Zitronen Berliner: German Lemon Donuts
I am addictive to anything Berliner and anything Lemon. Combine the two and I am in heaven dreamland. This German donut features a creamy lemon pudding filling that I know you'll love!
Servings: 12
Calories: 338kcal
Ingredients
Zitronen Berliner Dough
- 500 g all-purpose flour plus more for shaping the berliner
- 1 pouch active-dry yeast 7 grams
- 250 ml milk luke warm
- 4 egg yolks room temperature
- 80 g sugar
- 60 g butter room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 lemon zest only
- ⅛ teaspoon salt a pinch
- powdered sugar for topping
- frying oil I like using safflower oil or peanut oil, but any high heat oil will work
Lemon Pudding Filling
- 375 ml milk you could use milk alternatives like almond milk, oat milk or soy milk as well
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1.5 tablespoon cornstarch
- 40 g sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 lemon zest and juice
- ½ tablespoon butter
- 50 g cream cheese
Instructions
- Combine the luke warm milk and yeast and set aside for 5 minutes. It should be bubbly. If not, start over (your milk may have been too hot or too cold). In the bowl of a standmixer, combine all ingredients for the dough and knead for 10 minutes on the medium-low setting. Cover the bowl and allow to rest in a warm spot until doubled in size, about one hour.
- In the meantime, make your lemon pudding. Combine all pudding ingredients except cream cheese in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Once boiling, whisk on low for one minute and then pour into a bowl to cool down (you can transfer it to the fridge to speed up the cooling down process). To keep a skin from forming on the surface of the pudding, cover it with some plastic wrap. Once cool, whisk in the room temperature cream cheese. The Berliner filling is ready.
- Divide the dough up into equal pieces (best to use a kitchen scale), and using flour-dusted hands, shape each portion into a ball. Allow to rest for another 30 minutes (covered up by a clean linen towel).
- Preheat frying oil (I used safflower oil) to 160°C/320°F and bake in batches (you will want the donuts to be able to swim on the surface) for about 5 minutes or until golden on the outside (flipping once).
- Fill each Berliner with the lemon pudding from the side, using a decorating bag and filling tip and dust with powdered sugar. I also LOVE filling my Berliner with plum butter! So lecker!
Nutrition
Calories: 338kcal | Carbohydrates: 48g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 87mg | Sodium: 104mg | Potassium: 155mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 13g | Vitamin A: 370IU | Vitamin C: 10mg | Calcium: 83mg | Iron: 2mg