Bomboloni-OM NOM NOM

I decided a few days ago that I really wanted homemade doughnuts and after searching Martha, I picked out Spiced-sugar Bomboloni which are a type of Italian doughnut.

I didn't really notice in the photo that it basically looks like zeppole (mmm, New York carnivals!). I had to use whole wheat flour because I am terrified of the possible moth situation in the while flour. That's right. The moths are STILL around. I don't understand how this is possible. We didn't have moths in West Street until the spring of '07, then all of sudden they were everywhere. And two years later, they still follow me. Anyway, you can look at Martha for the real recipe, I just want to post my pictures and talk about what happened/my discoveries.

The recipe said to roll out the dough to an inch thick and use a circular cutter. I didn't have one so I just cut it with a knife. While the first doughnut was cooking in a few inches of oil (flipping after about 4 minutes), I realized that this was probably not the best method for making the doughnuts. I decided to just roll them with my hands into dough balls (hence the zeppole effect). They cooked much better this way because the first doughnut turned out tasty but very burnt on the outside and a little raw inside.

My next three hand-rolled doughnuts turned out much better. I used powdered sugar instead of fine crystal sugar because I decided to accept that I had made zeppole instead of bomboloni. Nevertheless, I spiced the sugar according to the directions (nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, and ginger) which I was not a huge fan of.


I made some more yesterday and thought that it would be a good idea to put a filling in the middle that didn't need to cook because I was still having problems with the inside being under-cooked. What better filling than chocolate?! I wrapped the dough around some chocolate chips and rolled it tightly closed. It was absolutely delicious and the chocolate was perfectly melted in the middle. Due to my desire to put peanut butter on everything, I added some to the top. I think next time I will try to fill them with peanut butter and chocolate.
The moral of the story: bomboloni=meh, zeppole=amazing and best when made with a filling!