Inspired by Kora in New York
Watch How To Make It:
**If you want a lighter purple color for your ube glaze, check out the alternative glaze recipe at the end of this post, which uses colorless ube extract.
This Halo-Halo Donuts Recipe is inspired by Kora, an online-only bakery in New York with Filipino donut flavors!
For the record, these are a lot simpler compared to the Kora donuts. Whether or not you make these at home, you HAVE to check them out!
Halo-Halo is a shave ice dessert from the Philippines. It’s typically filled with ingredients like nata de coco (coconut gelatin), sweet red beans, jackfruit, banana, and other sweet goodies.
Then it’s drowned in evaporated milk, and topped with ice cream and leche flan (usually ube ice cream!)
Filipino halo-halo is perfect to enjoy during hot weather, but this HALO-HALO DONUT can be enjoyed anytime.
I filled the inside with a creamy coconut custard jam that’s easy to make, and topped it with an UBE GLAZE.
The halo-halo ingredients are mixed into the coconut custard, and also placed on top of the donut.
Finally, the donut is sprinkled with pinipig, which are immature grains of glutinous rice that are crunchy when toasted!
Try this recipe at home – you’ll LOVE it! It’s not too sweet, and it was DELICIOUS!
Shopping List:
☆ Ube Extract: https://amzn.to/32KC6QG
☆ Colorless Ube Extract: https://amzn.to/3cdI1kT
☆ Halo-Halo Jar: https://amzn.to/32OsnJn
Ingredients:
Donut:
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (420 g)
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup sugar (66 g)
2 tsp instant yeast
2 large eggs
1/2 stick butter, room temperature (1/2 stick or 57 g)
1/2 cup – 1 cup milk
1 tbsp vanilla extract
Custard:
1 (12 oz) jar Halo-Halo mix
1 (13.5 oz) can of full-fat coconut milk (reserve 2 tbsp)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp butter
2 eggs
2 tbsp sugar (25 g)
1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch (mixed with 2 tbsp coconut milk)
Dark Purple Glaze:
1/2 cup powdered sugar (60 g)
2 tbsp coconut milk
1 tsp ube extract
Light Purple Glaze:
1/2 cup powdered sugar (60 g)
2 tbsp coconut milk
1 tsp colorless ube extract
1-2 drops of purple food coloring (adjust to get the hue you want)
Toppings:
Pinipig (immature grains of glutinous rice, pounded flat)
Halo-Halo jar leftovers
Directions:
Donuts:
1. In a stand mixer, combine flour, salt, sugar, and yeast. Mix well.
2. Add the eggs directly into the dry ingredients. Mix well.
3. Slowly add the milk into the mixture until all the flour has been picked up at the bottom of the bowl, then add just a splash more. The dough should be sticky.
4. Add the vanilla extract and the butter. Knead until the dough is very smooth (this takes my stand mixer about 8-10 min on medium speed).
5. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and leave in room temperature until doubled in size.
6. Once doubled, lightly flour your work surface. Dump out the dough and dust more flour on top.
7. Flatten the dough into a circle using your hands, then use a cutter (I used a 3.5 inch cutter) to cut out donut circles.
8. Place the donut circles on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet about 1.5 inches apart. Cover with plastic wrap or a large plastic bag, and allow to rise until the dough is puffy (about 30-45 min). When you poke the dough, it should spring back halfway.
9. In a large pot or pan, heat up enough frying oil to cook at least the bottom half of each donut (best temp is ~350-375ºF).
10. Cut the parchment paper around each donut. Place the donut in the oil (parchment paper side down) and fry until golden brown on both sides.
11. Place donuts on paper towel lined plates and allow to cool before handling.
12. Once cooled, stuff each donut with the halo halo custard until you feel the donut getting puffy from the custard filling (I’ve found the best way to do this is with a spoon and a chopstick).
13. Dip one side of the donut in the ube glaze, then flip upside down onto a plate (ube glaze facing up). Use a spoon to spread the glaze if needed.
14. Top donut with additional halo-halo ingredients and pinipig. ENJOY!!!
Custard:
1. In a small saucepan, combine the coconut milk, vanilla extract, butter, eggs, and sugar.
2. Turn on the flame on low heat, and stir constantly so the eggs don’t curdle.
3. Once the mixture reaches 160ºF or coats the back of your cooking spoon, it’s fully cooked. Remove from the heat.
4. In a small bowl, combine the 2 tbsp coconut milk and cornstarch. Mix together well, then dump the mixture in the saucepan.
5. Return the saucepan over low heat, and continue stirring constantly until the mixture significantly thickens. Turn off the heat.
6. Dump the contents of the halo-halo mix into a bowl, and mix together. Add about 3/4 of the jar into the custard mixture, then mix well.
Glaze:
In a medium bowl, sift the powdered sugar. Add the coconut milk and ube extract, and mix together until well combined.
Special Notes: if you want to bake these donuts, brush the tops of the donuts with oil and bake at 350ºF for about 20-25 min or until the donuts are golden brown.
DID YOU MAKE THIS?!
Post on social media and tag @jeanelleats! I get so happy when I see people making these recipes at home!