Coconut Creme Filled Doughnuts

Well, almost creme filled. The tip on my pastry bag wasn't long enough to fill the doughnuts completely, so only the first 1/2 inch of the doughnuts are creme filled.  Even without all the filling, they are a delicious low fat alternative to their fried counterparts.  And when I say delicious, I mean DE-LIC-IOUS!!! These are so good you will not miss the deep fried version. Trust me, makes these, and you will not regret it!

To fill the doughnuts, use a long tipped squirt bottle like the red ketchup bottles you see in diners. As I found out, pastry tips are just not long enough to get the job done. These are best eaten the day they are made but I like to freeze them and reheat them later for a quick breakfast treat.

Coconut Creme Filled Doughnuts
Adapted from 101 Cookbooks
Makes about 1 1/2 medium doughnuts

For Doughnuts:
1 1/3 cups warm milk, 95 to 105 degrees (divided)

1 packet active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
5 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt

For Filling:
1 package fat free sugar free vanilla pudding mix, made according to package directions

For Topping:
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon milk
2 tablespoons light margarine, melted and cooled
Coconut flakes (I used unsweetened but you can use sweetened as well)

Place 1/3 cup of the warm milk in the bowl of an electric mixer. Stir in the yeast and set aside for five minutes or so. Be sure your milk isn't too hot or it will kill the yeast. Stir the butter and sugar into the remaining cup of warm milk and add it to the yeast mixture. With a fork, stir in the eggs, flour, and salt - just until the flour is incorporated. With the dough hook attachment of your mixer beat the dough for a few minutes at medium speed. This is where you are going to need to make adjustments - if your dough is overly sticky, add flour a few tablespoons at a time. Too dry? Add more milk a bit at a time. You want the dough to pull away from the sides of the mixing bowl and eventually become supple and smooth. Turn it out onto a floured counter-top, knead a few times (the dough should be barely sticky), and shape into a ball.

Transfer the dough to a buttered (or oiled) bowl, cover, put in a warm place, and let rise for an hour or until the dough has roughly doubled in size.

Punch down the dough and roll it out 1/2-inch thick on your floured countertop. Most people don't have a doughnut cutter, instead use a 2-3 inch cookie cutter to stamp out circles. Transfer the circles to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Cover with a clean cloth and let rise for another 45 minutes.

Bake in a 350 degree oven until the bottoms are just golden, 8 to 10 minutes - start checking around 8 minutes. Transfer doughnut to cooling rack to cool completely.

To fill doughnuts: Put pudding into squirt bottle and fill each doughnut with about 2 tablespoons of pudding.

To make icing: mix the powdered sugar, vanilla, milk, and margarine together to make a VERY think icing. Frost the top of the doughnuts and then dip the tops into a bowl of coconut flakes. I toasted some of the coconut flakes before hand because I love toasted coconut.

Eat immediately and freeze any leftovers in an air-tight container. To thaw, microwave on medium power for about 30 seconds or until thawed.