Bun of the Month: Chocolate and Cardamom Milk Bread Donuts with Brown Butter Glaze

Celebrating with fried dough because Chinese Enough is almost/sort of/kind out in the world!

Have You Eaten Yet? Here’s a new recipe from my kitchen to yours that I hope you’ll love! For more recipes, you can pre-order my next cookbook, Chinese Enough, or purchase Mooncakes and Milk Bread for all things Chinese Baking!

It’s been a very full couple of days. I’ve been celebrating my new book Chinese Enough, even though it’s not technically out until next Tuesday (October 1st), which feels weird and confusing but we are rolling with it. The book would have been officially out in the world on September 24th, but due to a little shipping delay we (mostly I) have to exercise a little bit of patience. But the tour schedule was set before said delay so we’re moving along with the celebrations as planned! Over the weekend I hosted a little pre-release party in Berkeley and spent the evening celebrating with close friends, the people who fill our home and dinner table with so much love and supported me throughout this whole cookbook writing process. The kitchen at Tarocco, where I held the party, also made small bites from the book and I was blown away by how good everything tasted. They made the miso pork meatballs, sweet and sour cauliflower, basil lime eggplant, and soy caramel apple crisp. There must be something about other people make your own food that makes it taste even better!

On Tuesday (my original pub date) I headed into San Francisco for my first official book tour event and I was full of jitters in the Uber over. Thankfully my driver distracted me by deeply discussing where the best California burrito in SF is so I didn’t have to think about being nervous too much. I saw a few familiar faces when I arrived at Omnivore and some of my anxiousness went away. I proceeded to hide away in the back storage room until it was showtime and when we went out I was so verklempt when I saw we had a full house and full sidewalk of attendees! If you were there I’m so thankful for you. Showing up meant so so much to me because I still struggle with imposter syndrome and I can’t help but assume that no one cares and no one is going to show up. But people do care. It was such special night and I can’t wait to keep the celebration going on my book tour! I’m on my way to Seattle now!

Between all the book tour excitement, I’ve still been finding time to cook and bake, baking especially because it somehow feels the opposite of stressful. Our good friends are moving to Copenhagen in a week and had a farewell party over the weekend, so I made these Chocolate and Cardamom Milk Bread Donuts with Brown Butter Glaze as a nod to their American and Danish melding of worlds! Chocolate. Cardamom. Butter. What could be cozier? or more hygge?

I tweaked the chocolate milk bread recipe from Mooncakes and Milk Bread with the addition of cardamom and removing the tangzhong because in the case of donuts you don’t really need it. Tangzhong helps keep your dough soft and pillow for a few days but when you make donuts you should really be eating them within a day… this batch lasted maybe an hour before there was no trace of them left.

I think I’m only ever going to make square donuts from now on. So much more efficient! I still had a little bit of scrap dough leftover, which I would normally try to re-knead and cut out an extra donut or two but I decided to just roll it into a bagel-looking mega donut instead. The baker’s donut. It was spectacular and I’m glad I split it with Reuben.

The brown butter glaze really makes these donuts sing. The addition of nutty browned butter somehow makes the glaze taste less cloyingly sweet. There’s a generous pinch of salt and additional cardamon throw in the mix too. It’s a rich and luxurious glaze for an already incredibly moist and tender pillow of dough. Someone described the donuts as “juicy” which I take as a high compliment.

my mega donut made with scrap dough

I made this month’s Bun of the Month free for all subscribers as a little thank you for your support and kindness 🥰

Chocolate and Cardamom Milk Bread Donuts with Brown Butter Glaze

makes about 12 donuts (with donut holes and a baker’s donut)

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For the dough:

250g (1 cup and 1 tablespoon) whole milk

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

50g (1/4 cup) granulated sugar, plus a pinch

335g (2 2/3 cups) bread flour, plus more for work surface

35g (1/4 cup) cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp ground cardamom

1/2 teaspoon coarse salt 

1 large egg

55g (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into pieces and softened

1 teaspoon canola or other neutral flavored oil, for bowl

Neutral oil, for frying

For the glaze:

113g (8 tbsp/1 stick) unsalted butter

120g (1 cup) powdered sugar

55g (1/4 cup) milk

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp ground cardamom

1/2 tsp salt

1. In a small saucepan, scald the milk over medium heat, bringing the milk to a gentle simmer (watch carefully as milk tends to boil over). Pour milk into the bowl of your stand mixer or a large mixing bowl if kneading by hand. Allow the milk to cool until warm to the touch (about 110°F). You can swirl the milk in the bowl to help speed up the cooling. Stir in yeast and a pinch of sugar, and set aside until the surface of the mixture is foamy, 5 to 10 minutes.

2. Add the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, cardamom, salt, and egg and mix on low until shaggy. Add the softened butter one piece at a time, mixing until fully incorporated before adding the next. Increase the speed to medium-high and continue to knead the dough until it is tacky and smooth, 8 to 9 minutes. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface. Wet your hands to prevent the dough from sticking, pinch and pull the ends of the dough to form a smooth ball.

3. Coat a large mixing bowl with 1 teaspoon of oil. Add the dough to the bowl, gently turning it to cover with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set in a warm spot to proof until doubled in size, about 2 to 3 hours (or place in the refrigerator to proof for at least 8 hours or overnight).

4. Cut 12 4-inch square pieces of parchment paper.

5. Transfer the proofed dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Roll out the dough into a 9x12-inch rectangle or slightly larger. Cut the donuts into 3-inch squares either with a cookie cutter or a knife. Cut out a hole in the center with a cookie cutter (save for donut holes). Place a donut on a piece of parchment paper and arrange on a cutting board or baking sheet. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and allow to proof until doubled in size, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.

6. Heat up 2-inches of oil in a heavy bottom pot over medium heat until it reaches 360F degrees. Peel the donut off the parchment and carefully lower into the oil. Fry the donuts in batches so you don’t overcrowd the pot. Fry the bottom for about 30 to 45 minutes and then flip and fry the other side for another 30 to 45 seconds. Since the dough is dark, it’s visually harder to tell when the dough is well cooked. Transfer the donuts onto a baking sheet with a wire rack set on top and allow to cool while you fry the remaining donuts.

7. To make the glaze, melt butter in a medium frying pan over medium-low heat. Continuously stir as the butter melts and starts to bubble, eventually the milk solids will start to separate and brown, 6 to 9 minutes. Once they are golden brown, immediately transfer to a medium heat proof bowl. Allow the butter to cool for a few minutes. Add powdered sugar, milk, vanilla, cardamom, and salt and mix until smooth. Adjust consistency if you want a thicker or lighter glaze.

8. Dip the top of the donuts into the glaze, carefully lift up, and shake off any excess glaze. Transfer back onto the wire rack and repeat with remaining donuts. Serve the donuts immediately or store and keep for later! I recommend eating them as fresh as possible!