Learn how to make sour cream donuts just like grandma made. Homemade dough is fried and then topped with a delicious glaze. Making homemade donuts is a thing of childhood memories. These are great to make with the entire family on a lazy weekend.
To make the process easier, you can make the dough the day or night before and refrigerate it until the next morning. You could even go as far as rolling out and cutting the dough. Place the cut-out raw donuts on a parchment-lined baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap until the morning.
Frying can seem intimidating, but it’s really not hard and it makes for really delicious donuts. Make sure to use a high-temperature oil for the frying. We love coconut oil for making fried food. It’s super light, healthy, and makes for really crispy outside.
How to Make Sour Cream Donuts
This sour cream donut recipe calls for cake flour. Combined with the sour cream, the cake flour makes the donuts lighter. You definitely want to use cake flour.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
Cream together the butter and sugar until combined using a stand mixer or a hand mixer. Add the eggs and blend well.
Alternate adding the sour cream and flour mixture into the sugar/butter mixture. Mix after each addition until the flour is completely incorporated. The dough will be very sticky. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour or longer.
When you are ready to make the donuts, remove the dough from the fridge. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and dust the top with flour. Dust a rolling pin with flour.
Using the rolling pin, roll the dough to ½ inch thickness. Cut dough into circles using a round cookie cutter or a glass. Use a smaller circle cutter to cut out the center hole. Knead any scrap pieces of dough into a mound of dough and continue rolling out and cutting the doughnuts until all of the dough is used.
Pour frying oil in a dutch oven or deep fryer. Coconut oil is a great oil to use for frying foods. Heat the oil to between 325 and 350 degrees. Use a candy thermometer on the side of the pan to keep tack of the temperature.
Once the oil is hot, carefully place doughnuts in oil a few at a time. Do not crowd the oil or the donuts won’t cook well. Cook until golden brown, about 2 minutes on each side. Remove donuts and place on a wire cooling rack or paper towel.
Make the glaze for the donuts. This is a basic glaze recipe. You can doctor it up by adding almond extract along with vanilla for some fun flavoring. Adding some brewed coffee, maple syrup and melted butter makes for a delicious glaze!
Mix all ingredients together until smooth. Add additional milk if a thinner consistency is desired.
Invert the doughnut and dip in the glaze. Place on a wire rack. Allow the glaze to run over the doughnut.
Sour Cream Doughnuts
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups cake flour sifted, spooned, and leveled
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ cup sugar
- 3 tablespoons butter at room temperature
- 2 large egg yolks
- ½ cup sour cream
- 8 cups vegetable oil for frying
For the Glaze:
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 to 4 tablespoons evaporated milk
Instructions
- In a bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- With a mixer, beat butter and sugar until combined. Add the eggs and blend well.
- Alternate adding the sour cream and flour mixture until the flour is completely incorporated. The dough will be very sticky. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour or longer.
- Place dough on a lightly floured surface and dust the top with flour. Also dust the rolling pin with flour.
- Using the rolling pin, roll the dough to ½ inch thickness. Using a round cookie cutter, cut dough into circles and use a smaller cutter to create the center holw. Knead any scrap pieces of dough into a mound of dough and continue rolling out and cutting the doughnuts until all of the dough is used.
- Heat oil in a dutch oven or deep fryer between 325 and 350 degrees.
- Carefully place doughnuts in oil a few at a time. Do not crowd the oil. Cook until golden brown, about 2 minutes on each side.
- Remove doughnuts and place on a wire cooling rack or paper towel.
For the Glaze:
- Mix all ingredients together until smooth. Add additional milk if a thinner consistency is desired.
- Invert the doughnut and dip in the glaze. Place on a wire rack. Allow the glaze to run over the doughnut.