The kids like yeast donuts, but to me, there is something so delicious about a soft cake donut. These old-fashioned donuts have always been my preference when it comes to a fresh donut.
We use lard as our frying oil because of the natural properties of the product. Lard is also the traditional oil used for frying food. Lard is great for frying donuts. It has a high smoke point of 375°F. Lard creates a delicious crispy outside of the donut.
Donuts are a fun Saturday morning treat, that everyone seems to love being a part of the preparation. Everyone wants to use the cute little donut cutter, have a chance at rolling the dough, or dunking the fresh fried treat in the icing. Their mouths water while they wait for me to say “okay- you can eat it now!” What a fun way to get the family together in the kitchen right away in the morning!
Print Recipe
Old Fashioned Donuts
Equipment
- Large mixing bowl
- Rolling Pin
- donut cutter
- Large stock pot
- medium sized mixing bowl
- slotted spoon
Ingredients
Donut ingredients
- 2 tbsp Butter
- 1/2 cup Sugar
- 2 Egg yolks
- 1/2 cup Sour cream
- 2¼ cups Flour
- 1½ tsp Baking powder
- 1 tsp Sea salt
- 1/2 tsp Nutmeg
- 2 lbs Lard (for frying)
Glaze ingredients
- 3 tbsp Butter, melted
- 1 tbsp Milk
- 3 tbsp Heavy Cream
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- 1½ cups Powdered sugar
- 1/8 tsp Sea salt
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.
- Add egg yolks and sour cream. Stir to combine.
- Add flour, baking powder, sea salt, and nutmeg. Gently stir to form a batter.
- Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least one hour.
- Remove the dough from the refrigerator and place it on a lightly floured surface.
- Roll the dough out to a 1/2 inch thick circle.
- Using the donut cutter, cut as many donuts out as possible, cutting close to each other so there is less to re-roll and cut.
- Re-roll the left-over dough to 1/2 inch thickness and cut out more donuts. There should be a dozen donuts and a dozen donut holes cut total.
- Place the cut donuts on a parchment paper lined sheet pan, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate while heating the lard and making the glaze.
- Begin melting the lard in a large stock pot over medium heat.
- Monitor the temperature of the oil, it should maintain a temperature around 375℉.
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine melted butter, milk, heavy cream, vanilla extract, powdered sugar, and sea salt.
- Microwave the glaze for 20-30 seconds and stir. The glaze should be warm and slightly liquidy when glazing the donuts.
- Once the oil is hot, gently drop 4 full size donuts into the oil.
- Fry each side for about 2-3 minutes. Use the slotted spoon to flip the donuts halfway through frying and also to remove from the oil.
- Place donuts on a paper towel lined plate after removing from the oil to cool slightly.
- Continue frying the next batch.
- While the second batch is frying, dip one donut at a time into the glaze. Flip the donut to glaze both sides.
- Place the glazed donuts on a cooling rack to allow glaze to dry for at least 5 minutes before serving.
- These donuts are best fresh but are still good one day after preparing.
