Cooking Time: 185 minutes
Recipe Difficulty: Intermediate
Servings Amount: 6
Recipe Lead: …for when everyone else is eating sugary donuts and you want garlic bread…
Ingredients
Pistachio Pesto
- 4-5 cups fresh basil*
- 1 cup pistachios
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/2 tbsp coarse sea salt
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1/2 cup pine nuts
Donut
- 2 cups AP flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp dry malt powder**
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1/6 cup vegan butter^ or vegetable shortening
- 1/2 cup non-dairy milk
- 3 tbsp aquafaba (juice from a can of garbanzo beans)
- 1 tbsp + 1/2 cup pistachio pesto
- 1/4 cup warm water
- 2 1/4 tsp (1 packet) yeast
- 1 tsp dry basil
Pesto “Mayo”
- 3 1/2 tbsp aquafaba
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp pistachio pesto
Pistachio Pesto
- Place all pesto ingredients except for olive oil into food processor and start pulsing. Slowly add in olive oil until it all comes together.
- Should be a little thicker than a typical pesto–more like a paste. You will have made enough for more than what this recipe requires. You can save (and freeze) the rest and add more olive oil when you want to use more as a sauce (for pasta, dipping bread, etc.).
Pesto “Mayo”
- Add aquafaba, salt, and pesto into tall container. Using an immersion blender, blend ingredients until creamy.
- Slowly drizzle in olive oil until it thickens into a velvety delicious sauce.
- Try and act cool, even though you just made vegan mayonnaise. You don’t want your friends knowing that you are a die hard cooking geek.
Donut
- Proof the yeast by adding it to warm water together with sugar.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, add flour, dry basil, pesto, and salt.
- Melt vegan butter (I used microwave) and add warm non-dairy milk (if it’s too cold, the butter will curdle) and aquafaba. Stir.
- Using hook attachment on slow, stir together dry ingredients, and then add proofed yeast.
- Slowly add non-dairy milk/butter/aquafaba mixture until dough forms (it will be one large, sticky ball hanging off the hook). Increase mixer speed to medium and let it run for 6 minutes (this will help with the development of gluten).
- Remove dough from bowl and form into one large ball. Place in a bowl sprayed down with cooking spray. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise for 1 hour.
- After 1 hour, remove dough from bowl and cut off 1/3, while leaving the remaining 2/3s in the bowl. Place the bowl in the fridge (covered).
- Roll out the 1/3 portion of dough into a rectangle, roughly 4 x 8 inches.
- Spread pesto onto dough and roll it up (carefully) like you would a fruit roll up.
- Carefully cut the cylinder into 6 1-inch pieces.
- Place them into a muffin tin (sprayed with oil) and cover them, allowing them to rise for 30 minutes.
- In the meantime, preheat your oven to 350° F. Once the pesto-rolls have proofed, place them in the oven for approximately 18-20 minutes. They should be just nearly cooked, but not completely. Let them cool completely.
- Once the pesto-rolls have cooled, remove the remaining dough from the fridge and roll out into a very large rectangle. Divide into 6 squares and wrap each pesto-roll (swirly sides up/down) with remaining dough pieces. Be sure to seal the ends and place them on a sheet of parchment paper, seam-side down. Let them proof for another 30 minutes under a towel.
- Bring a pot of canola oil up to 350° F (I used my Dutch oven for this). I would use a candy thermometer for this–if the temperature is too hot, your donuts will burn. If the temperature is not hot enough, they’ll turn soggy.
- One by one, fry each of the donuts until golden brown on each side. Place on cooling rack to drain excess oil.
- Once donuts have cooled, brush a bit of pesto mayo on them. Sprinkle with chopped pistachios or dry basil.
- Take photos to impress all your friends and family, because they will be long gone by the time anyone gets to your house to see them in person.
*I prefer Gotham Greens for my basil.
**You can find dry malt powder here.
^I prefer Miyoko’s vegan butter for this recipe.
