A couple weeks ago I had Christiann from Portland Fresh over to make some old fashioned buttermilk donuts. We’d met through instagram (yay instagram friends!) a couple months ago and have quickly bonded since then over our love of food and the northwest. Once we started in the kitchen, though, our culinary curiosity got the better of us and we went from plain old buttermilk donuts to rosemary donuts with a balsamic pomegranate glaze, salted honey donut holes, and cinnamon + sugar ones, too. Whew! What we thought would take a couple hours ended up taking all day due to our chattiness and all the fun we were having (we may have launched some of the donut holes into bowls of powdered sugar to see what happened/take photos of them), and we were still shooting as the sun went down.
I’d never made actual fried donuts before this, sure I’ve baked them a few times, but I’ve always been slightly intimidated by the idea of deep-frying food. The idea of having all that hot oil on my stove always scared me a little, to be honest; but I am here to tell you that there is no need to be frightened, and you don’t even need a deep fryer. There are a few things you do need, though, and that is a vegetable oil with a low smoking point (like canola oil) that’s good for frying, a candy thermometer, tongs, and a large pot that can handle high heat to fry the donuts in. Trying to deep fry something without one of those things will be extremely, extremely difficult and probably kind of dangerous. And after you’re done frying and the oil has completely cooled, you can pour it back into its container and reuse it two or three times (depending on how long it’s at a high temperature) to fry other foods. Hurray recycling!
I am so glad I decided to try my hand at frying them myself, because there is nothing in the world that will make your kitchen smell as good as a freshly fried rosemary donut. It’s sweet, floral, herbal, and bread-like…basically everything you would want your kitchen to smell like. And the taste is even better. I had some of the donut holes fresh from the fryer without any glaze whatsoever and they were glorious. Add in the sweet and sour tang of the pomegranate balsamic glaze, and they created pretty much the best donuts we’d ever had…but then we coated half the donut holes in cinnamon & sugar and the other half in honey and sea salt and it became very difficult to determine which we liked best. A good problem to have, indeed.
So please don’t let the large pot of hot oil on your stovetop intimidate you, I assure you that a homemade donut is worth every moment of effort. I hope you enjoy looking through this donut photo essay as much as we enjoyed shooting it, and a very special thanks to Christiann for sharing some of her photos with me for this post! You can take a look at her post here, too!
Buttermilk Rosemary Donuts + Balsamic Pomegranate Glaze + Salted Honey & Cinnamon Sugar Donut Holes & Baking with Portland Fresh
Ingredients
Buttermilk Rosemary Donuts
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup sour cream
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon dried rosemary
- 1/4 cardamom
- 5 cups flour
- canola oil for frying
Pomegranate Balsamic Concentrate
- 1 cup pomegranate juice
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon aged balsamic vinegar
- Pomegranate Balsamic Glaze
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 4 tablespoons pomegranate balsamic concentrate
- 4 teaspoons pomegranate juice
Honey Glaze
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 tablespoon water
- about 1 tablespoon sea salt for garnish
Cinnamon + Sugar
- 1 cup powdered sugar mixed with 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
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First, make the Pomegranate Balsamic Concentrate. Simmer the pomegranate juice and sugar over low heat for 20-30 minutes until reduced by about half. Stir in 2 teaspoon thick aged balsamic and set aside to cool completely.
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To prepare the donuts, beat the eggs and sugar together until smooth. Mix in the sour cream, buttermilk, and vanilla extract. Add all the remaining ingredients except the flour, mixing until completely combined. Add the flour about 1 cup at a time, mixing until it is just incorporated into the dough. Set aside and cover for 1 hour to proof.
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Roll the dough out until it is about ½ inch thick. Cut the donut shapes out of the dough using a donut cutter. Seperate the donut and donut hole shapes. Heat a deep fryer with canola oil to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. The oil should be at least 3 inches deep in the pan, but should be at least 5 inches away from the top of the pan. Fry donuts until golden brown and puffy on each side, about 3-4 minutes. Remove and set aside on a plate lined with paper towels to absorb any excess oil. Repeat with the donut holes.
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Allow to cool to room temperature on wire racks with paper towels lined underneath them. While they are cooling prepare the glaze.
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To make the Pomegranate Balsamic Glaze, whisk together all ingredients until a thin glaze forms. To thin out the glaze, add a teaspoon or two more pomegranate juice. To thicken the glaze, add a bit more powdered sugar.
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Using tongs, take each donut and dip one side of it in the bowl of pomegranate balsamic glaze, placing it back on the rack glazed-side up. Repeat with all the remaining donuts. Serve immediately.
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To make the honey glaze, pour the honey and water into a heat-proof bowl and warm in the microwave on high for about 30 seconds. The mixture should appear watery and less syrupy in texture.
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Take half of the donut holes and dip them in the warm honey, placing them back on the rack glazed-side up. Sprinkle each with a pinch of sea salt.
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Roll the remaining half of the donut holes in the cinnamon and sugar mixture until coated. Serve all donuts immediately.
This looks amazing. Your pictures are sooo beautiful and kind of dark and moody. Complete love.
Thank you so much!!
I think the action shot of the donut hole being thrown into the powdered sugar is my favourite. If this is what happens when two great food photographers get together, I've got no complaints 😉
Hahaha, why thank you!! Throwing those into the powdered sugar was so much fun!
Total photo journalism here…I felt like I was baking along with you! And boy, do I wish I was. Both donuts look perfect girl! xx
Thank you so much my dear!! I wish so too!
It sounds like the two of you had a fun day resulting in beautiful shots that tell the story and capture the memories perfectly. The donuts look beautiful and I love the idea of including rosemary as a unique surprise.
http://www.theroadtohoney.com
Thank you Lynn! It was quite tasty indeed 🙂
Lovely moody shots… what camera /lighting set-up do you use? I'm studying photography and any pointers would be hugely appreciated x
Thanks!! I use natural light and shoot pretty wide open aperture-wise to get a shallow DOF 🙂
Donuts have never looked so good! Thanks for sharing these beauties.
Thank you Libby!!
So in love with all of this, Eva!!!! Those donuts look and sound to DIE for and your kitchen is too beautiful for words. This looks like it was so much fun. Yay for awesome collabs and donuts!
Awwww thank you so so much Cynthia!! One of these days I will get back to NY and we can do a collaboration 🙂
Wish I was there to dive into that sugary, fried goodness!
Me too, my dear!!
Eva, the action shots of you in your freaking gorgeous kitchen are everything! I feel like I could just take a donut off of the cooling rack in your photo and eat it right now they look so good! (Also side tangent, McCormick is a client at my new job, they send us all their marketing data and I keep seeing your blog on the spreadsheets I've been working with!)
Thanks so much, Summer!! And ha! That is too funny! Yeah I love working with them, their spices are soooo crazy tasty and the bottles the McCormick Gourmet spices come in are beautiful <3
Simply sublime! What is that cloth you rolled out your pastry dough on to? I've always pulled out the cumbersome and fragile marble board which just broke in half the other day. This looks like an easier solution. Thanks Eva 🙂
Awww thanks Yvonne! I rolled it out onto linen, just make sure to lightly flour the fabric before you roll the dough onto it 🙂
These photographs are stunning, Eva, and that beautiful pomegranate glaze!!! I love everything about this post. <3
Thank you so very much!!
I agree with Katrina, I felt like I was baking these with you in your kitchen! I am so intrigued by these donuts!
I'm so glad you liked it! 🙂
super super deliziosi!!!
Thank you my dear!
making donuts has become the bane of my existence, so i commend your efforts here!
Hahaha, thanks Grace!
a 1/4 what for cardamom? Teaspoon, tablespoon?
These donuts are hotly anticipated at my house!
Oops, teaspoon! Thank you for catching that!
Fried foods normally aren't my thing BUT that doesn't mean I can't appreciate the beauty of these stunning looking donuts. I also love how we got a glimpse into your home (beautiful kitchen!) and got to see you in front of the camera (you're as short as I am :)).
I am SO hoping to come to Sweden for your workshop, family commitments allowing. It sounds amazing so fingers crossed.
Kimberly
Hahaha, yep! I am very short indeed! Only 5 feet tall 🙂 I hope you are able to come to the Sweden workshop!! It is going to be so incredibly beautiful out there in the summertime, so much green and sunshine everywhere!
It sounds like you two had a fun day! Photos are beautiful and the donuts look so tempting!
Thank you Lili! We had a great time, indeed!
You guys should open up a donuts shop! I would for sure go there to get your deliciously original donuts flavors!
Hahaha, thank you Kristie! Perhaps someday!!
they look amazing! i want to try making but i dont have the donuts cutter what else can I use to cut them? -SAL
Delicious photos!
http://beautyfollower.blogspot.gr
Mmm, the donuts look amazing! The pictures are great too.
Pomegranate and balsamic?? That sounds amazing. i need to try that combination. The new strawberry + balsamic! 🙂
This simply looks AMAZING!! I'll (try to) cook that soon for sure…Thank you for the inspiration!
https://acrazybunch.wordpress.com/
Oooohhh loving that last picture!!! And well, every picture as usual. But this looks so fun that you make me want to deep fry something now…still don't know if I'll ever deep fry anything though hehe, but I enjoyed this post so much 😀 And I really love the lighter photos in this post! It's so different to see a non-moody photo on your blog, I have to admit.
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