Black Sesame Glazed Doughnuts

Chris has been coming home with doughnuts every time he makes a grocery run. They seem to be his comfort food and he’s been seeking them out more during quarantine. Chris has done so much these past few months trying to plan “weekend adventures” (aka, running errands or picking up food/drinks) to keep us sane and not so stir-crazy that I felt it would be nice to treat him to some fresh homemade doughnuts.

Yeasted vs Old-Fashioned Doughnuts

While he says he loves both, I can tell Chris has an affinity towards yeasted doughnuts over old-fashioned. I’ve featured some old-fashioned doughnuts on my blog before and I honestly like making those more because there’s no yeast involved. Hence, no proofing time. Just cut and go.

Old-fashioned doughnuts, sometimes called cake doughnuts, are typically a bit denser and crumbly. The surface is usually craggy and creates those amazing super crunchy bits. There’s usually a bit of a tang as they’re often made with sour cream. They can be served glazed or plain and tend to be less sweet than their yeasted friends.

Yeast doughnuts, on the other hand, are very airy and light. Because of the proofing, the texture becomes almost chewy and pillowy. These are the types of doughnuts that are typically filled with jams or custards and glazed which can lead them to be a tad bit sweet. Think Krispy Kreme as they’re the most iconic yeast doughnuts we have in these parts.

There’s no rubric to grade these two types of doughnuts against each other as they’re drastically different in preparation. There are camps of people who are fervent fans of one over the other but I’d like to think we love all doughnuts but prefer one over another in certain settings.

Black Sesame Paste

I wanted a different flavor profile in these doughnuts and settled on black sesame as I’ve been trying to meld my Chinese heritage with foods (or cooking techniques) of my American upbringing. I made these doughnuts with a black sesame paste that I found at a local Asian grocery store. The black sesame paste can also be found it on Amazon. Black sesame paste is the star of the donut. It adds a toasty note of flavor but without too much sweetness to counter the glaze.

Before you ask, you cannot substitute tahini for sesame paste. Sesame paste is made with toasted sesame seeds whereas tahini is made with raw sesame seeds. Tahini will have a much more mild taste than sesame paste would. If you’re looking for a super robust sesame flavor, you may have to venture out for this specialty ingredient.

Or, you can do a simple ingredient swap. The doughnuts won’t have as much of a robust sesame taste but they can be made without any specialty ingredients. Instead of using black sesame paste, add 1/2 cup of black sesame seeds to a blender/food processor and process for about a minute. Also, optionally, add a drop of black food coloring to simulate that dark charcoal color in the doughnuts.

The Frying Process

Speaking of specialty items, I cannot stress more that every kitchen should have a thermometer. It’s so important to have the oil at the correct temperature to avoid under- or over-frying. When food is fried in less than optimal temperatures, the foods can absorb the oil and become super greasy. On the other hand, frying foods at too high temperatures will cause the foods to burn on the outside but stay raw on the inside.

I personally hate those thermometers that clip on the side of pots/pans. I find them in my way all the time. Not to mention I have to squint to read the dial. Instead, I use an infrared thermometer. Not an ad. Just sharing one of my favorite kitchen tools. I don’t recommend using this to take temperature of meats – you will still need a probe thermometer for that. But this is great when tempering chocolate, frying food, and doing any kind of sugar work. It also helps avoid making a mess since there’s no contact!

Sugar

As usual, I try to decrease the amount of sugar in recipes because I don’t like overtly sweet foods. The glaze is already pure sugar and I think balances out the whole doughnut really well. With that said, if you have a notorious sweet tooth, feel free to increase the 1/4 cup of sugar to 1/3 cup or even 1/2 cup.