Glorious Doughnuts! Blackberry & White Chocolate Long Johns

Yeast doughnuts filled with blackberry preserves, topped with white chocolate ganache.

Blackberry & White Chocolate Long Johns

Ingredients:
2/3 cup warm (not hot) buttermilk
1 1/8 teaspoon active dry yeast
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

Oil, for frying

Seedless blackberry preserves-Around 1/2 cup

6 ounces white chocolate chips
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

Directions:
Place the warm buttermilk in the bowl of an electric mixer. Stir in the yeast and 1 tablespoon sugar, and set aside for eight minutes. Add the additional sugar, butter, egg, flour, and salt. With the dough hook attachment of your mixer, beat the dough on low, until just combined. Increase mixer speed to medium, and beat for 8 minutes. 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. (I did) You want the dough to pull away from the sides of the mixing bowl and eventually become supple and smooth.

Turn dough out onto a floured countertop, knead a few times, 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 out 1/2-inch thick on your floured countertop. Using a sharp knife, being careful not to knick your countertop, cut dough into rectangles. Cover with a clean cloth and let rise for another 45 minutes. I actually let it rise for several hours, which made these even fluffier.

Heat a large saucepan of oil (you don't need a whole lot-maybe 2-3 inches high) over medium low to medium heat. When hot, fry 2 long johns at a time, flipping after about 30 seconds. Adjust heat as needed.
Drain doughnuts on paper towels on wire racks.

*If you want to bake your doughnuts, brush a little melted butter on them, and bake in a 375 degree oven until the bottoms are just golden, 8 to 10 minutes; cool on a wire rack.

Place blackberry preserves into a piping bag. Stick a wooden skewer through each long john, and wiggle a bit, to form a tunnel. Pipe blackberry preserves into long johns. (I had a little trouble with this. I could only get the preserves halfway through the long john. I don't know what the solution to this is, though.)

To make the white chocolate ganache, place white chocolate chips in a small bowl. Heat the cream in a small saucepan, over medium heat, until hot, but not boiling. Pour cream over chocolate, and stir until mixture is starting to melt and come together. Place bowl in the microwave, and microwave at 10 second intervals, stirring each time, until white chocolate is melted.
Dip, spread, or pipe ganache onto doughnuts.

Yield: 1 dozen