Malasadas filled with pastry cream

Whisk the warm milk, castor sugar, yeast, eggs and a small pinch of salt until smooth.

Add the flour and knead about 5 minutes on low speed, or 10 to 15 minutes by hand.

Turn out the dough and portion evenly by scale, or roll into a log and cut; roll into small rounds.

Place on a baking tray coated with oil, cover, and leave in a warm spot (around 90F) until doubled in size.

For the pastry cream, separate the eggs; whisk the yolks with vanilla paste, sugar and cornstarch until dissolved.

Heat the milk in a pot to just before a simmer; ladle it slowly into the yolk mixture to temper, then pour in the rest while whisking.

Return to the pot and cook on medium heat, whisking constantly, until thickened; take it off the heat every 10 seconds or so to keep it from scrambling.

Cover with plastic wrap and cool in the fridge about one hour.

Heat oil, a deep pot filled about halfway, to 350 to 375F.

Flatten each dough round into a disc and fry 2 to 3 minutes per side until dark golden brown.

Drizzle a little hot oil over the top and toss in castor sugar to coat.

Make a hole in the side with a butter knife and pipe in the pastry cream until full.