Old Fashioned Sour Cream Donuts Recipe

old fashioned sour cream donuts on a beige cloth.

5 from 2 votes

Old Fashioned Sour Cream Donuts Recipe

Old Fashioned Sour Cream Donuts are a soft, pillowy donut, fried to perfect and coated with a velvety vanilla glaze.

Prep Time15

Cook Time20

Chill Time1 20

Total Time1 35

Course: desserts, Donuts

Cuisine: American

Servings: servings

Calories: 433kcal

Author: Britney

Equipment

Large Pot
Mixing Bowls
Candy Thermometer

Ingredients

2 ¾ cups + 2 tbsps Cake Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
¼ tsp Nutmeg
1 tsp Kosher Salt
3 tbsps Unsalted Butter (room temperature)
¾ cup Sugar
2 Egg Yolks
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 cup Sour Cream
4 cups Vegetable Oil

Vanilla Glaze

2 ½ cups Powdered Sugar
1 tbsp Corn Syrup
4 tbsps Warm Milk
½ tsp Vanilla Extract

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

In a medium bowl, sift the dry ingredients - cake flour, baking powder, nutmeg, and kosher salt.
In a separate large mixing bowl, use a hand mixer to beat together room temperature butter. Beat butter for 2 minutes, then add the sugar and continue to mix for 3 minutes. Add egg yolks and vanilla extract mix until combined, about 2 minutes.
Add half of the sour cream, then add half of the flour mixture. Use a flat spatula to mix the flour into the dough. Then add remaining sour cream and flour. Dough should be slightly firm, mix until all of the flour and sour cream are fully incorporated.
Cover with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for one hour up to overnight, until firm.
Add fry oil to a large pot or dutch oven. Heat the oil to 350 degrees F. Roll donut dough out onto a generously floured surface. Use a rolling pin to roll dough out until it's a ½ inch thickness. Use 3 inch biscuit cutters or donut cutters to cut donuts into the dough. Then cut a small circle in the center of the donut (Pro tip: I use the cap of a soda bottle, it's the perfect size) Re-roll the dough and repeat until all of the dough is used.
Place donuts onto a baking sheet and refrigerator uncovered for 20 minutes. Then add to hot oil, 2-3 donuts at a time, frying on each side for about 2-3 minutes each side until deep golden brown. Remove donuts from the frying oil and place onto a wire rack or paper towel to remove any excess oil.
While the donuts are cooling, make the glaze by combining powdered sugar, corn syrup, warm milk, and vanilla extract in a large bowl. Whisk together.
Once the donuts have cooled, dip both sides of the donut into the glaze and place on the cooling rack so that the glaze can set.

Notes

Tips

Skip out on the stand mixer! I don't recommend using a stand mixer for this recipe. It's REALLY easy to overwork the dough in a stand mixer so I use a hand mixer to mix together the wet ingredients and then a flat spatula to incorporate the dry ingredients. Trust me on this one!
Use a candy thermometer to measure the temperature of the oil! One of the things that can make or break this recipe is the temperature being too hot or not hot enough. It's suuuper important to getting these homemade doughnuts just right!
Measure ingredients with a kitchen scale! This prevents excess flour being added to the doughnut dough, which can skew the results.
Use room temperature ingredients! This includes the butter, sour cream, and egg yolks. All of these ingredients should sit at room temperature at least 30 minutes to an hour (depending on the temperature of your house/kitchen) prior to baking.
Add more flour to your work surface as needed.

Nutrition