Soured cream sage doughnuts

Technical make.

Soured cream sage doughnuts

Makes 8-10, plus the doughnut holes Hands-on time 40 min, plus chilling and setting Specialist kit Doughnut cutter (or 1 large and 1 small round cutter); digital thermometer

Cornflour absorbs moisture, helping create a crisper crust and a fluffy texture within. Next time you make your favourite bread or cookie dough, replace 1 tbsp plain flour with cornflour to give it a denser, fluffier crumb.

Make sure your doughnut or ring cutters are sharp – if the cut isn’t clean it can create a craggy, cracked doughnut.

This recipe is a great base for diverse flavours – if you don’t like sage try a different herb or leave it out.

• 300g plain flour, plus extra to dust

• 1 tbsp cornflour

• 2 tsp baking powder

• ½ tsp salt

• 120g caster sugar

• 16 sage leaves, finely chopped • 3 medium free-range egg yolks

• 20g unsalted butter, softened

• 150g soured cream

• 1 litre vegetable oil to deep-fry

For the glaze

• 250g icing sugar

• 50ml whole milk, plus extra if needed

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

1 Mix the flour, cornflour, baking powder and salt together in a small bowl and set aside.

2 Put the sugar and sage in a large bowl and use your fingertips to rub the sage into the sugar until fragrant. Add the yolks and butter and whisk until pale and smooth. Pour in the soured cream and beat for another minute to combine.

3 Add the flour mixture in 3 batches, stirring gently after each addition so it comes together into a dough. Once all the flour has been added, tip out the dough – it’ll be quite soft and a little sticky – wrap well and chill for 1-2 hours (or overnight) until it has firmed up.

4 Once chilled, generously dust the worktop with flour. Roll out the dough to 1cm thick. Dip a doughnut cutter in flour and cut out as many doughnuts as you can (keeping the little centres, known as doughnut