Bomboloni

Bomboloni are round Italian yeasted doughnuts, deep fried and filled with cream. Bomboloni is the plural of bombolone, the name for this doughnut in Italian bakeries and cafés. The dough is enriched with egg, butter and sugar, so it is softer and richer than a plain fried bread, and the cream filling is what sets it apart from a plain sugared doughnut.

What it really is

Bomboloni are made from a soft yeasted dough of flour, egg, butter and sugar. The dough is shaped into rounds, left to rise until puffy, and deep fried in hot oil until golden and light. Once cool enough to handle, each one is filled with cream, usually pushed in through a small opening with a piping nozzle, and then rolled or dusted in sugar. Unlike a ring doughnut, the bomboloni has no hole, so the cream fills the middle.

Cream is the classic filling. Jam and chocolate fillings are also found, but a bomboloni filled with cream is the standard form.

How it's served

• Warm or at room temperature, dusted with sugar, and eaten by hand.
• As a breakfast pastry, a snack or a dessert, from a bakery or café counter.
• Best eaten on the day it is made, because the fried dough softens and the cream filling does not keep well.

How to write it on the menu

• Name the filling on the menu, for example "cream-filled", and list any other fillings as separate choices.
• Flag wheat in the dough, eggs, and milk, which comes from the butter and the cream.
• Say whether the sugar coating is standard, and name the frying oil if it contains nuts or sesame.
• State how the cream is kept, since it is a dairy filling and guests will ask whether the bomboloni are chilled.