Baked doughnuts filled with dulce de leche.

(In Portuguese)

Remeber that dulce de leche I got as gift?

I love it. I could sing odes to conaprole.

But people, it's just one person in here. haha 

There's no way I can handle 1kg of dulce de leche.

So, I thought to myself, I'll bake something with it, since I'm having visitors.

This doughnuts came out extremely soft, the dough is not so sweet, and it is easy.

Adapted from here.

2 teaspoons dry yeast

3/4 cup (240ml) warm milk

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 large egg, at room temperature

5 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 teaspoon grounded cinnamon

3 cups all purpose flour

Dulce de leche, as needed (or jelly, ganache, whatever you prefer...)

Confectioners sugar, to decorate

First I heated the milk until warm (not hot, because that would kill the yeast),

and mixed in the yeast and 1/2 tablespoon sugar in a bowl.

I let it proof for about 10 minutes, covered with a dish cloth, and this was what it looked like:

In the blog where I got this recipe, the lady suggests doing it like this to make sure you haven't killed the yeast and that everything will be all right. :)

Then I added the remaining sugar/ oil/ egg/ salt/ vanilla/ cinnamon and stirred well.

I added the flour little by little, stirring with a spoon, until it didn't work anymore and then I started to 

knead until it was well incorporated. The dough was a bit stiff, but that's how it is.

I shaped a ball and put it back in the bowl, letting proof for one hour (or until it doubles in size)

covered in plastic and a dish cloth. I let the bowl rest over a hot water bag, covered with a dish cloth, 

because in my kitchen there are drafts.

After one hour, I cut the dough in 8 equal parts, like this:

I divided each triangle in two equal parts, and shaped balls with them.

I flatten the balls, placed one heaping teaspoon of dulce the leche in the center of each one,

and closed the dough pinching the tips. I placed all the small balls in a baking sheet lined

with parchment paper (seam side down).

I covered with plastic and dish cloth, placed once again on top of the hot water bag,

and let proof for 45 minutes (or until it doubles in size).

15 minutes before baking I preheated the oven at 180oC.

Here are my chubbies, after proofing:

They need to be baked for 15 or 20 minutes, until light brown on the tops.

It is advisable to let cool for a while before eating, because the dulce de leche

will be flaming hot when taken out of the oven.

After that, just dust with sugar to be whimsy, e atack!!

Yields 16 doughnuts.

Note: if you can't easily find dulce de leche where you are,

you may make it at home:

Pour 4 cups milk (1l) and 2 cups sugar in a pan, and simmer over

low heat until the sugar dissolves (about 10 minutes).

Let simmer for one hour more, stirring constantly to avoid that the

milk boils, until it reaches a creamy consistency and light caramel color.

When it has reached this point, remove from heat and let cool before

transferring to a clean mason jar. It may be kept for 10 days in the refrigerator.