Sour Cream Doughnuts

In the quest for the next great doughnut, you can't really sneak by without sour cream doughnuts. A staple of doughnut shops, sour cream doughnuts represent the dense, cakey contender in the boxing ring o' sweet fried dough.

Doughnuts are like a special combination of breakfast and fair food. Every time I make them, I think about funnel cakes and how doughnuts are a way to enjoy that at home.

When thinking about doughnuts, the main two varieties are yeast and sour cream, also called cake doughnuts. I have to say these are often my top choice, because they are strong enough to support the glaze and stay firm and also are dense and flavorful. As I'd already tried two different cake style doughnuts that were not sour cream (but more like actual pieces of cake) and yeast doughnuts, it was time to try a sour cream recipe.

The recipe starts simple enough, like most baked goods do. I creamed together the butter and sugar, then mixed in egg yolks.

Next, I mixed in the vanilla and sour cream. I used about 1/4 cup extra sour cream because my dough seemed a little dry. In a small bowl, I mixed the flour, baking powder, cornstarch, and salt together, then gradually mixed it into the dough. I then had to let the dough rest for an hour in the fridge.

I rolled it out until it was about 1/2 inch thick on a pastry board.. The dough was heavy and held its form easily, making it the easiest dough to handle thus far. In the meantime, I got the oil heated up to 350 degrees F.

Most of the doughnuts have been so soft that when I move them to go into the fryer, they lose their perfectly circular form. This one was solid and dense and moved early to the fryer. I used a straining spoon to drop the dough into hot oil. I fried about 4-5 doughnuts at a time. Frying a smaller number of doughnuts helps keep the heat up and allows the doughnuts to fry evenly.

I fried the doughnuts for 2-3 minutes per side until they turned lightly browned, then placed the doughnuts on a plate lined with paper towels to drain the oil. The last step was to dip each side of the doughnut in the glaze. And there it was! Sour cream doughnuts.

These came out so good! They were exactly the thick density I expected. It's been an interesting journey, this doughnut walkabout. Frying hasn't been something I've spent much time doing, but I'm becoming more comfortable by the project.

So how about the doughnut flavor?  Wonderful. Sour cream doughnuts are quite the contrast to yeast doughnuts, with yeast doughnuts giving that light, airy, sugary taste, and sour cream doughnuts offering a sweet flavor with a dense, cakey texture. I often see cake doughnuts with more flavoring inside the dough, such as blended blueberries, whereas yeast doughnuts often have a cream filling. Both of these styles are a crucial part of doughnut making. And I have to say, this is one of the easiest, too. For a pretty simple doughnut recipe, sour cream is definitely the one to shoot for.

Sour Cream Doughnuts Recipe

Ingredients:

For the doughnuts:

3 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 large egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/4 cup sour cream

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon salt

2-3 cups oil for frying (I used canola)

For the glaze:

3 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup water

Instructions:

Beat butter and sugar together until creamy. Add egg yolks and continue mixing, then stir in vanilla and sour cream until well combined. In a separate bowl, use a whisk to mix the flour, baking powder, cornstarch, and salt. Gradually add the flour mixture to the mixing bowl and gently stir until just combined. Do not overmix. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour. After chilling, place dough on a lightly floured area. Roll out to about 1/2 inch thick and use a biscuit or doughnut cutter to cut out doughnuts. Re-roll scraps and cut out more doughnuts. Lay out on a parchment-lined pan, and heat oil in a heavy-bottomed pan to 350 degrees F. Cook doughnuts 4-5 at a time. Allow to cook for 1-2 minutes, until one side is golden brown. Flip and cook the other side for 1-2 minutes, then remove doughnuts and place on paper-towel lined plate drain. Once slightly cooled, move to a separate parchment-lined cookie sheet. If possible, place remaining uncooked doughnuts in the fridge to keep the dough chilled before frying. Continue cooking doughnuts in batches until all doughnuts and doughnut holes are cooked. Once doughnuts are mostly cooled, make the glaze by mixing the powdered sugar and water. Dip each side of the doughnuts into the glaze to coat.

adapted from sour cream doughnuts