Good, in-season summer corn is so incredibly sweet, I love to come up with creative ways to highlight it as a dessert. These easy doughnuts (read: no yeast required) come together quickly and are such a delicious bite of summer. Toss them in confectioners’ sugar or cinnamon sugar for a classic finish, or dunk them in whipped cream or a sauce made from fresh summer berries—blueberries make a particularly perfect pairing!
| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 30 min |
| Active: | 30 min |
| Yield: | 35 doughnut holes |
Ingredients
- Vegetable oil, peanut oil or canola oil, for frying
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup cornmeal
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 1 1/4 cups buttermilk
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2/3 cup sweet corn kernels, optional
- Confectioners’ sugar, for finishing
Instructions
- Heat 3 to 4 inches of oil in a medium pot until the oil registers 350 degrees F on a deep-fry thermometer. Line a baking sheet with paper towels.
- Whisk the flour, cornmeal, granulated sugar, baking powder, salt and nutmeg together in a medium bowl. Add the buttermilk, butter, eggs, honey and vanilla and mix first with a whisk, then with a silicone spatula as the mixture combines and becomes thicker. Fold in the corn kernels if using.
- Place a generous amount of confectioners’ sugar in a shallow bowl. Working in batches, drop 1 heaping tablespoon of batter into the hot oil (a small cookie scoop makes a rounder doughnut, but you can also use 2 spoons to drop in the batter). Drop in 3 to 5 doughnuts at a time, depending on the exact size of your pot. Fry until they are deeply golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes.
- Remove the doughnuts from the oil using a slotted spoon and drain on the paper towels. While they’re still hot, toss them in the confectioners’ sugar to coat and transfer to a serving bowl or platter. Repeat with the remaining batter—frying, draining and dredging in confectioners’ sugar—until you’ve fried all of the dough. Serve immediately.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 14 servings |
| Calories | 278 |
| Total Fat | 17 g |
| Saturated Fat | 4 g |
| Carbohydrates | 28 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Sugar | 8 g |
| Protein | 4 g |
| Cholesterol | 41 mg |
| Sodium | 198 mg |