Vegan Bomboloni (Italian Filled Donuts)
A Bombolone is a round shaped pastry. It’s usually stuffed and fried (but it can also be empty and baked).
It’s the essence of comfort food, their taste simply cuddles your soul. 🥰
In our Vegan Bomboloni we substituted the dairy milk and butter with plant-based milk and oil.
They’re traditionally fried but if you prefer a “lighter” version, you can also bake them (look at the “notes” section of the recipe). Taste and consistency varies as well but that’s personal preference.
Filling Recipes and Ideas
Saying that you can also leave your bombolone empty, the traditional fillings are pastry cream, chocolate cream and jam. We recommend to try our vegan pastry cream and our Vegan Nutella! You can also fill them with a spread of your choice e.g. pistachio or almond.
Origins
Bombolone is a traditional recipe from Tuscany. Although, you can find other similar recipes in other regions.
You can find it (with some differences) also in Emilia Romagna, Lazio and Umbria (where they usually call it bomba). In Northern Italy, you can find the krapfen.
Almost certainly, the bombolone derives from the krapften which gradually spread from Germany and Austria firstly to Northen Italy and then throughout all the country.
In German, the krapfen is usually called Berliner Pfannkuchen. In English, it’s often called Berliner.
The Berliner seems to have Jewish origins. There are also similarities with a Romanian food (during the Ottoman occupation) and even with a preparation of ancient Rome.
Word Spelling and Meaning
In Italian, bombolone is singular while bomboloni is plural.
Their name sounds like “bombs” and they probably got this name because they look like bombs. Today, another additional meaning can be due to their high calorie density i.e. a “calorie bomb”.
Vegan Bomboloni (Italian Filled Donuts)
Equipment
- bowl
- pastry ring (about 8cm/3in ⌀)*
- pastry board
- pan
- fork
- sieve/skimmer
Ingredients
- 250 g all purpose flour (8.81 oz)
- 10 g fresh yeast** (0.35 oz)
- 40 g sugar – any kind (1.41 oz)
- 30 g sunflower oil (1.05 oz)
- 150 g plant-based milk (1.76 oz)
- a pinch of salt
- frying oil
Instructions
- Dissolve the yeast in lukewarm plant-based milk, together with a tsp of sugar.
- In the bowl, combine flour with sugar and salt. Then add the yeast mixture and the sunflower oil. Mix and knead until you have an elastic and homogenous dough.Cover and let it rise for 3h in a warm place.
- On the pastry board, roll out the dough until reaching 1.5cm (0.6in) of thickness. With the help of the pastry ring, cut out as many disks as you can.Cover and let them rise again for 1h.
- Heat abundant frying oil in the pan on low-medium heat.Do the toothpick test: immerse the toothpick in the oil, when you see bubbles around it, the oil is ready. If you have a food thermometer, the right temperature is 140°C/284°F.Deep-fry one or more bomboloni (depending on the size of your pan) until they are golden brown. Keep the heat on low/medium power – this avoids that the bomboloni cook too much on the outside while remaining uncooked on the inside.
- Drain on absorbent paper. Then roll each piece on sugar.
- Now you can fill your bomboloni with your favourite cream! You can also leave them empty if you prefer.
Notes
You can bake them for 15-20 minutes in a 180°C/356°F preheated oven. Storage
4-5 days in Tupperware
Get in Touch!
If you try this recipe, don’t forget to tag @myitalianvegan on socials. We would love to see the result!
If you have any questions or feedback, don’t hesitate to leave a comment in the section below. We love hearing from you!
