Homemade Samoa Doughnuts

Okay, prepare yourself. I went picture-crazy with this recipe. I just couldn't decide on what picture to choose, so I pretty much chose all of them, haha. Anyway, I have a recipe on my computer to make homemade samoa girl scout cookies, tucked away for a rainy day. They are definitely one of my favorite cookies, well that and thin mints. Anyway, I found a good doughnut recipe that I had also been wanting to try, so I decided... well let's just make samoa doughnuts. The doughnuts are light and fluffy and then they are covered in chewy caramel-toasted coconut goodness. And then, dipped in chocolate and drizzled with more chocolate. I don't know how it could get any better, honestly. These babies are tasty. Yes, it was a little of a process, but it really wasn't too bad. And you won't regret the hard work with results like this. Anyway, give these a try. I promise they're delicious!!

For the Doughnuts:

1C + 2T Whole Milk, Warm

¼C Sugar

1 Package of Active Dry Yeast

2 Whole Large Eggs, Beaten

1 Stick + 2T Unsalted Butter, Melted

4C AP Flour

¼t Salt

1Q Canola Oil, For Frying

For the Glaze:

3C Confectioners’ Sugar

½t Salt

½t Vanilla

½C Milk

For the Samoa Topping:

3C Shredded Coconut, Toasted

12oz Good-Quality Chewy Caramels

¼t Salt

3T Milk

12oz Semisweet Chocolate, Roughly Chopped

Directions:

1. To Make the Dough: Make sure the milk is nice and warm, but not overly hot. Add sugar to milk. Stir to dissolve. Add yeast into a small bowl. Pour milk/sugar mixture over yeast. Stir gently, and then let it sit for 10 minutes. Melt butter in a separate bowl until butter is almost melted. Stir to finish melting so the butter won’t be overly hot. Add beaten eggs to the melted butter, stirring constantly to make sure the butter’s not too hot for the eggs. Add the egg/butter mixture to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook. With the mixer on medium-low speed, pour in the yeast mixture. Allow the dough hook to stir this mixture for a couple of minutes, making sure it’s thoroughly combine. With the mixer still going, add ½C increments of the flour until it is all gone. Stop the mixer, scrape the bowl, then turn the mixer on the same speed for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, stop the mixer and scrape the bottom of the mixer. Turn on the mixer for 30 seconds. Turn off the mixer off and let the dough sit, undisturbed, for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl. Toss the dough to coat, then cover with plastic wrap and place straight in the fridge. Refrigerate for at least 8 hours, or overnight.
2. To Make the Doughnuts: Remove the bowl from the fridge and turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Roll out to ¼inch thickness. Using a 3inch cutter, cut as many rounds as you can, then roll out the remaining dough and once again cut as many as you can (repeat until you can’t anymore). Cut holes out of each round using a 1 ½inch cutter. Cover with a large tea towel and place in a warm place in your kitchen. Allow the doughnuts to rise undisturbed for at least one hour. They should be visibly puffier and appear to be airy.
3. To Fry the Doughnuts: Heat the canola oil in your deep fryer to 375 degrees. One to two doughnuts at a time, gently grab the doughnuts and ease them into the hot oil. Allow them to cook 1 minute on each side; they will brown very quickly. Remove the doughnut from the oil with a slotted spoon, allowing all the oil to drip off. Place the doughnut immediately on paper towels, for about 5 seconds, and then flip it. Allow the doughnuts to cool slightly.
4. For the Glaze: Mix all the ingredients in a bowl until completely smooth. One by one, dip the doughnuts into the glaze until halfway submerged. Remove from the glaze, and then turn right side up on a cooling rack over a cookie sheet (to catch extra glaze). Let the glaze harden completely before adding the Samoa topping.
5. For the Samoa Topping: In a bowl, unwrap the caramels and place in large microwave safe bowl with the milk and salt. Cook on high for 3-4 minutes, stopping to stir a few times to help the caramel melt. When smooth, fold in the toasted coconut with a spatula. Using a spoon, lightly dollop and spread the Samoa topping on the cooled, glazed doughnut. While the topping sets up, melt the dark chocolate in a small bowl. Heat on high in the microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring thoroughly to prevent scorching. Dip the bottom of each doughnut into the melted chocolate and place on a clean piece of parchment paper. Transfer the remaining chocolate into a piping bag for later. Once the Samoa topping & chocolate bottom has set, drizzle the doughnuts with the remaining melted chocolate for garnish.
6. Serve immediately and enjoy!

source: samoa cookies. doughnuts. 
*Please check out, Sweets for a Saturday for my link, as well as many others!!
**A big thanks to At Home With Haley for featuring my recipe on her blog :)