Old Fashioned Doughnuts with Salted Caramel Glaze
 
 
Author:
Serves: 8-10
Ingredients
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 1 + ½ cups (225g) plain flour
  • ⅓ cup (65g) caster sugar
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
  • pinch of salt
  • ⅓ cup (85ml) buttermilk
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
  • Flavourless oil, for frying (I like grapeseed oil, but peanut, vegetable, or canola would do)
For the glaze:
  • 1 cup (200g) caster sugar
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • ⅓ cup (85ml) thickened cream (aka heavy cream)
  • sea salt
  • ½ cup (50g) icing sugar
Instructions
  1. Melt the butter in a small pan and set aside to cool.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg and salt.
  3. In a separate jug, whisk together the buttermilk, egg, vanilla bean paste and melted butter.
  4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix together with a wooden spoon until a sticky dough forms. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place into the fridge for 20 minutes.
  5. When the dough has chilled turn it out onto a well-floured surface and knead it briefly. Roll the dough out to about ½ inch / 1 cm thick and then use an 7-8cm/3 inch cutter to stamp out rounds. Use a 1 inch / 2cm cutter to stamp out the middle (I use an old coke bottle lid). Re-roll the scraps and doughnut holes to make as many as you can. I got 9.
  6. Heat about 2 inches of oil in a large, heavy based pan, making sure the oil doesn't come up more than halfway. Heat the oil to 350F/180C.
  7. Fry the doughnuts for about 1 minute per side or until golden brown. Don't overcrowd the pan, and be sure to keep the oil at the correct temperature as you go. Place on a rack to cool.
  8. To make the glaze, place the caster sugar in a medium-sized heavy based saucepan. Add 3 tbsp of water to the sugar, and then place over a medium-high heat.
  9. Cook, without stirring (you can gently tilt the pan, but be careful), until the sugar dissolves and the mixture boils. Keep cooking until the sugar turns a dark amber colour and just a few tiny whisps of smoke begin to appear.
  10. Remove the pan from the heat and carefully stir in the butter - it will bubble up and steam. Then stir in the cream - expect more bubbling and steaming.
  11. At this point, you may have a hard lump of caramel floating in a sea of cream; that's ok. Place the pan back on the heat, and stir until the mixture melts and comes together. Bring back to a boil, and cook, stirring, for a further 30 seconds.
  12. Remove from the heat and add a big pinch of sea salt. Then sift in the icing sugar and stir until smooth.
  13. Pour the glaze into a shallow bowl, and use tongs to dip the donuts into the glaze one by one. Leave them to cool, then eat!
Recipe by The Sugar Hit at http://www.thesugarhit.com/2016/09/old-fashioned-doughnuts-salted-caramel-glaze.html