I am writing this during what recently is very rare occurrence: a midday break. Our new kids have been with us a few months now (as of writing). I can say it is rewarding, energising, exhausting, and tear inducing all in the span of 5 min or less.
To be fair, our situation is slightly different, given that we have adopted two toddlers at the same time. So, we’ve skipped the not being able to walk stage entirely. However, we are very lucky that both sleep soundly through the night. Therefore, by the time it is 6:30/7, we are able to spend our time cleaning/organising/crashing on the sofa. What I haven’t had time for, has been keeping up on my reading and writing. A shame, as I was on a good role there for awhile. So, for those of you who follow me on instagram, I posted a photo of my sour cream doughnuts ages ago, but am only now getting around to writing it up.
In many ways, this is rather fitting. Growing up in Nova Scotia, and frankly like most Canadians in the 90s, I loved going to Tim Hortons. Not for the coffee, which I still contend is not very good, but for the timbits (or doughnut holes for the ill informed). I loved (love?) them. Especially when you got a variety pack. All the different flavours. Frankly, as a kid it was all about the sugar high! My absolute favourites though were the sour cream doughnuts. Slightly denser, a better crust and a great glaze.
Despite my love of them, it was only very recently I bothered to try making my own. Good reason for this, I don’t own a deep fryer. But, back when I made these I was feeling a bit homesick/nostalgic for Nova Scotia. So, I decided to give them a go. I found a great little recipe here, and made some of my own adjustments after the first batch.
What really affected them was my skill with stovetop deep frying, with various levels of success. In many ways, my attempts at doughnuts are very much like my adventures so far in fatherhood. Some were OK, some were a bit bad, but some were absolutely perfect. My kids, however, will have to wait until we get to Nova Scotia before having any. I love them, but they need the original first.
Drinks
Yes, I may be in the UK, but even in the land of tea doughnuts are best with a good coffee.
Music
I’m totally in a bit of Canadian nostalgia at the moment, so the perfect music pairing would be Rush’s ‘In the Mood’. Relax, and enjoy.
Sour Cream Doughnuts
Ingredients
Doughnuts
- 120 g White sugar
- 30 g Butter
- 3 Egg yolks
- 190 g Sour cream
- 300 g Plain flour
- 2 tsp Baking Powder
- 1 tbsp Salt
- 1/2 tsp Nutmeg
- Vegetable Oil for frying
Glaze
- 400 g Powdered sugar
- 1 tsp Golden syrup
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 2 tsp Vanilla extract
- 85 ml Hot water
Instructions
Doughnuts
- Unless you have amazing forearms, use a mixer to cream the butter with the sugar, and then add the egg yolks one at a time.
- Sift the dry ingredients, and gradually add with the sour cream until they are both incorporated into the eggy-sugar-butter mix. Cover your bowl with cling film, and let rest for an hour in the fridge.
- When you are ready to fry, take your dough out, and roll on a floured surface. It should be between ½ - ¾ of an inch thick. Use your dough cutter of choice to create your shapes, doughnuts, doughnut bits etc.
- Now, carefully (seriously) heat the oil in a heavy bottomed pan. I suggest cast iron. You want a temp of 350F. In while this is heating, prepare a wire rack with some paper towel underneath. After frying, you want to use the paper to try and catch all excess oil.
- When oil is hot, place a few doughnuts in at a time, don’t over crowd. They should spend apx 2min per side, or until a nice golden brown. Test a few to start, make sure that the insides are cooked. If it is browning before cooking inside than your oil is too hot. Repeat until all are done. Try not to eat them yet.
Glaze
- Once they are finished, get that glaze a glazing. Mix all the ingredients together, and dip your warm doughnuts in. Completely cover those little morsels, and then place back on the wire rack to completely cool.
- Get a great cup of coffee, find a spare moment to sit down and enjoy.
Sour cream doughnuts are so delicious! At my favorite bakery, they’re always the first to sell out. You have to get there pretty early to be sure of getting one. Or two. Or three. Yours look marvelous. Perhaps it’s because you friend them without a deep fryer that they’re sort of oval shaped – but they’re beautiful! And they look homemade, which, in my book, is a wonderful, wonderful thing! Any kid (or two) who’s dad fries him up doughnuts has not got it bad by any measure!
Oh, you’ve described fatherhood perfectly with that first (well, second) sentence there, Matt. It’s exhausting beyond the point you even though possible…but it’s so incredible rewarding, too. I often have the feeling that I can’t wait for the little guy to go to bed, but then about an hour later I miss him something fierce. Sound familiar? Anyways, I love these sour cream doughnuts! I’m pretty sure I could help you polish off a batch of these bad boys. But good for you for making the kids wait until Nova Scotia to taste the real thing! Hang in there, my friend, and I hope you get the chance to write some more soon!
Well, I even cannot fully imagine how different (and challenging) your life is now. I trust you and David here. But at least I can clearly see these donuts are delicious. I rarely buy donuts in Tim Hortons (and even more rarely, timbits) – this normally happens when travelling. But if I get a chance to grab some donuts, the sour cream ones woud be my first (and sometimes the only one) pick. Well done. P.S. You can start working on a Christmas recipe to be able to post it on time 🙂