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Mandarin Lime Doughnut Holes with Chocolate Ganache Dipping Sauce

by 12 Comments

Happy Saturday, everyone!
Saturdays are probably my favorite days. I can laze around, read my books, bake without time constraints, or catch up on my favorite tv shows. 
I was watching the Cooking Channel and happened upon a show I’d never seen before, Sweet Julia. It might be one of my new favorite Cooking Channel/Food Network shows, along with Unique Sweets and Barefoot Contessa! She was making deep-fried pastry and I knew I had to try it, so I did…along with a few tweaks!
No orange juice? Use mandarins! No lemons? Got limes! No buttermilk? That’s fine, make your own! Even though I didn’t have half the ingredients, I managed fine with substitutions. Actually, better than fine because it turned out so great I wouldn’t change this recipe for anything.
The BEST thing about this recipe? They’re not your traditional doughnuts. There’s no yeast. You whip up the batter and fry! Simple as that. As a matter of fact, these babies took me only 30 minutes to whip up for a nice, sweet brunch treat.
Not only are they easy peasy, my whole family thought they were fantastic! Especially dipped in the chocolate ganache. Yummmm. I may have eaten some of that ganache with just a spoon. *wink*

Mandarin Lime Doughnut Holes 
with Chocolate Ganache Dipping Sauce
Original recipe on Sweet Julia
Makes 15 doughnut holes
Ingredients
1/2 cup fresh mandarin juice (you can use orange or tangerines as well)
2 TB salted butter
1/3 cup sugar
Zest of 2 mandarins, plus more for sprinkling
1 lime, juiced (about 1 TB + 1 tsp)
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
Coconut oil, for frying (I use non-virgin coconut oil to avoid coconut taste; you can also use any vegetable oil)
Confectioners’ sugar, for sprinkling
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Directions

Heat the mandarin juice in a small saucepan until it begins to thicken, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat into a small bowl, add the butter, and stir to melt. Add the sugar, zest and 1 tablespoon of the lime juice, and mix to combine. In a separate small bowl, mix the milk with 1 teaspoon of the lime juice and let sit for a couple minutes. Whisk the egg into the milk and add to the juice/sugar mix and stir again.

In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk together. Try not to over-mix your batter.

Fill a large saucepan two-thirds up the side with oil. Heat over medium heat until a deep-frying thermometer inserted in the oil reaches 350 degrees F. Using a cookie scoop, carefully drop scoopfuls of the batter into the hot oil and fry until golden brown all over, 2 to 4 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon onto a paper-towel-lined plate.

Sprinkle with some confectioners’ sugar and orange zest.

For the sauce, bring the cream to a boil in a small saucepan. Then pour the hot cream over the chocolate. Whisk well until the chocolate melts. Serve in small bowls or dishes alongside piles of the pastry.

Enjoy!
Please leave a comment below! What is your favorite thing about Saturdays?

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Comments

  3. Colby Lawless says

    Stumbled upon your blog and I’m so glad! I’m going to try making these for my boyfriends birthday and I’ll let you know how everyone liked them!
    Do you have any good twist on pancakes? I’m excited to start baking and trying all your recipes. Lemon squares are definitely next.

    Reply

    • Bekah says

      Hi Colby! Thanks so much for stopping by my blog. Yay, glad you’re going to try these! I really hope you and your boyfriend like the recipe, please do let me know how it comes out!
      Pancakes…hmmm. I pretty much always use the same two recipes, haven’t really experimented with pancake variations yet. Sorry! I do however have plenty of different pancake recipes Id like to try saved on my Pinterest ‘Brunch’ board here- https://www.pinterest.com/willbake4books/brunch/. I don’t know if it’ll help, but I thought I’d share just in case it does. 🙂
      Thanks so much for visiting my blog!! I appreciate it. Again, I hope you enjoy this recipe and whatever else you try. I’d love to hear your feedback. 🙂

      Reply

  4. Colby Lawless says

    I made these, and it was by far the best decision I have made in a while. Every single person that tried them, loooved them. They are not dry at all, they are the perfect amount of citrusy, sweet, moist in the middle, and crunchy on the outside. And I would say they are pretty easy!

    For anyone that wants to try these this what I discovered making them:
    – Second step, combine butter with juice BEFORE removing from heat.
    -They use a lot of oil, be prepared for that (I fully submerged them).
    – If you think you’re making the balls of dough small enough, make them smaller. They expand so much in the oil, you can do smaller than quarter-sized
    – For the dipping sauce, heat the chocolate a little before you combine with cream.

    Bekah, I’m so excited to bake more now and your blog will be my go to. These were awesome!

    Reply

    • Bekah says

      Oh, wow, your comment definitely made my day! 🙂 I’m soooo happy you enjoyed this recipe. Those are some really great tips as well- thanks for sharing with us!

      Thank you so much for visiting my blog and for leaving this kind comment. Happy baking!

      Reply

  5. Znjezdan says

    I really like your blog.. very nice corols & theme.Did you create this website yourself or did you hire someone to do it for you?Plz answer back as I’m looking to create my own blog and would like to find out where u got this from. many thanks

    Reply

    • Bekah says

      Hey. Thanks for the nice comment! I bought the foundation theme on Genesis for WordPress and then customized everything else to my liking. It’s called the Foodie Pro Theme. Good luck on your blog! 🙂

      Reply

    • Bekah says

      Hey Snaya. Well, whenever I want to find a substitute for an egg, I usually make a chia or flax egg. To make, mix 1 tablespoon chia seeds or flax with 3 tablespoons water and place in fridge for 15 minutes until “eggy” textured. Then go ahead and use as you would the egg! Hope that helps. 🙂

      Reply

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