Maple Glazed Sour Cream Doughnut Holes

No milk and cookies in our house for Santa. Nope. He's going to receive hot chocolate and doughnuts from here on out as our new family tradition. As I shared with you yesterday, I want to create new and bring into our home traditions both Mr. Sideline Chef and I grew up enjoying. One of our new traditions is leaving hot chocolate and doughnuts out for Santa. It's unique and I think it's something fun for itty bitty to have a tradition that sets his family apart from the others.

Luckily my skin is still intact and so is the house. Making doughnuts was such an overwhelming experience because I had no prior hands on experience of frying and let alone making doughnuts. My cooking anxiety was at Level 3 Meltdown Mode. The dough was sticky which I found out was the way it was supposed to be. The candy thermometer kept climbing above 375° and I didn't know how to keep the temperature constant since we don't have controls on our stove in our apartment, just low-high. I was panicked with having to drop the dough balls, which I made larger because the suggested portion sizes seemed too small and I didn't realize they were going to expand. Yea... I know. I ended up using two spoons to lower the dough balls into the vat of oil and luckily no oil splatters or skin burns! Go me! At one point when transferring the cooked doughnut holes to the plate of paper towels a tiny bit of grease hit the burner and flamed up. Not bad but enough to scare me and having Mr. Sideline Chef race in to make sure my eyebrows were still there for aesthetically reasons. I was in panic mode from start to finish of the frying part. Once all of the doughnut holes were cooked I was finally excited and feeling like I could breath easy again. Glazing was the easiest part next to eating.

We had invited the neighbors over to enjoy the doughnut holes and the Peppermint Stick Cocoa with us. After it was all said and done I feel a little more confident with a redo for next year's "Christmas Eve". The Maple Glazed Sour Cream Doughnut Holes were incredible! You get the crispness when you bite into them with the pillowy insides and the sweet maple glaze was out of this world. Eating these in combination with the Peppermint Stick Cocoa easily put us all into food coma.

Maple Glazed Sour Cream Doughnut Holes

MyRecipes.com and Cooking Light, April 2010

Makes 12 servings (Serving size = 3 doughnut holes)

I ended up with 15 doughnut holes because I didn't think the size of the dough balls was correct and when I make these again I will be sure to do it my way again. I just made a ball that fit comfortably in the inside of my palm. I have teeny tiny hands though.

Stars of the Show:

• 6 tbsp warm water (100° to 110°)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/8 tsp dry yeast
• about 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp sour cream
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• cooking spray
• 6 cups peanut oil
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 2 tbsp water

And Action:

Combine the first 3 ingredients in a large bowl. Let stand 5 minutes or until bubbly. Lightly spoon 1 1/4 cups flour into dry measuring cups. Combine the flour and salt in another bowl. Add sour cream and egg to yeast mixture, stir until smooth. Add flour mixture and stir to form the dough.

Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead for about 3 minutes until smooth and elastic. Add 1 tbsp at a time to prevent hands from sticking to the dough. Place dough in a bowl coated with cooking spray. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, 1 hour or until doubled in size.

Punch dough down. Divide dough into 36 equal portions. Roll each into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap coated with cooking spray and let stand for 30 minutes.

Clip a candy thermometer on the inside of a dutch oven and add the oil to the pan. Heat oil to 375°. Combine powdered sugar, maple syrup, and 2 tbsp water into a bowl and stir until smooth to create the glaze. Place 9 dough balls in the hot oil, fry 2 minutes (mine cooked a lot quicker and I just eyeballed the doneness by color) and turn them as necessary. Make sure the oil remains at 375°. Remove the doughnut holes from the pan and lay them on a plate lined with paper towels to drain. Dip doughnut holes in the glaze and remove with a slotted spoon. Place them on a cooling rack with a baking sheet placed underneath. Repeat with the remaining doughnut holes.

Nutritional Information:
Calories: 178
Fat: 5.9g (sat 1.4g,mono 2.5g,poly 1.6g)
Protein: 2.4g
Carbohydrate: 29.3g
Fiber: 0.5g
Cholesterol: 19mg
Iron: 0.9mg
Sodium: 33mg
Calcium: 11mg