I have many friends who enjoy a little indulgence during the holidays, but would prefer their indulgence came in the form of bite-size treats to avoid calorie overload. So I thought I should create a sweet treat to cater to that desire. Sea salt caramel doughnuts are a simple treat. They are so yummy, sticky, and indulgent. You’ll love them, and they will go over really well during the holidays.
This is definitely a sweet treat, a dense dough ball doused in super rich caramel sauce, you will only need a few to satisfy your sweet tooth.
I adapted this recipe from Williams-Sonoma. Williams-Sanoma share some really great recipes, if you haven’t already, you should check out their site.
I kept some caramel sauce in reserve for dipping. I first tasted doughnuts with dipping sauce when I ate a Stanton Social, in New York, and thought, what a good idea! I’ve always wanted to make my own, but never got round to it, until today.
These sweet balls of fun, are just that, a lot of fun, and will work so well at a holiday party. You can stick toothpicks in each one to make them easier to grab when sharing at a cocktail party, or you could place a few in a small bowl and pour the caramel sauce on top. I doubt you will get any complaints no matter how you decide to share them.
My friend Corrine, who owns an event planning company, Absolute Events by Corrine, gave me a vat of coconut oil. All I can say is, thank goodness. The all over golden color of these sea salt caramel doughnuts were made possible by deep frying them in coconut oil. You can use any oil that can tolerate high temperatures though, so no need to go shopping for coconut oil if you don’t want to.
I really enjoyed making these sea salt caramel doughnuts, and I think you will too, they’re relatively easy to create, and the final result makes getting our dishes dirty worth it.
Sea Salt Caramel Doughnuts
Ingredients
Doughnuts
- 2 1/2 cups plain flour plus more to shape doughnuts
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp melted butter
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
- Cooking oil that can stand high heat canola, vegetable, coconut
Sea Salt Caramel Sauce
- 1 cup soft brown sugar
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1/4 tsp fleur de sel or sea salt
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Equipment & Utensils
- Electric hand mixer
- Cast Iron skillet or deep fryer
- Skimmer or deep fryer scoop
- Small saucepan
Instructions
Doughnuts
- Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside.
- Place sugar and egg in a bowl and whisk on low until creamy.
- Add melted butter then whisk on low, and buttermilk, then whisk on low.
- Fold in flour in small portions mixing thoroughly before adding more flour.
- Once all the flour is added you should arrive at a sticky dough.
- Sprinkle then spread some flour on a clean and dry counter and pat your hands down with some flour too.
- Form small balls with the dough and place them on the floured counter.
- Once you have your dough balls, heat oil in a fryer or skillet.
- You should have enough oil in your pan or fryer to completely cover your dough balls.
- Once oil is very hot, carefully drop dough balls in.
- Do not overcrowd your pan, you will likely have to fry your doughnuts in batches.
- Use your skimmer or deep fryer scoop to remove your doughnuts from the oil and place on paper towels to drain the oil.
Sea Salt Caramel Sauce
- Once doughnuts are cooked, place sugar, butter and salt in a small saucepan and place on high heat.
- Stir ingredients until they form a sauce.
- Once the sauce begins to bubble lower heat to medium then add vanilla.
- Stir sauce and allow to reduce and thicken.
- Drizzle half of sauce over doughnuts and serve with balance of the sauce on the side.
Notes
