• All the ingredients have to be at room temperature. Milk lukewarm.

Yeast Starter:

• Pour 200 ml lukewarm milk into a bowl, add the yeast, a tablespoon of sugar and a teaspoon of flour, and gently stir. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and leave in a warm place for 10 - 15 minutes.

Dough:

• Cream the soft butter with sugar until pale and fluffy.
• One by one, mix in yolks and vanilla essence. Add rum in small drips.
• Sift flour and salt into the creamed butter/yolk mixture and pour in the yeast starter. Combine ingredients and knead a bit to create a soft dough.

  Leave the dough in a bowl, dust a small amount of flour over the top, cover the bowl with a kitchen towel (to prevent skin from forming) and let the dough rise for 1 hour (or until double the volume) in a warm place.
• De-gas the dough, tip it onto a countertop dusted with flour and roll it to a 1cm thickness.
• Cut out as many circles as possible using a 7 cm cookie cutter (it should make 14 - 15 pcs).
• Space the cut-out dough onto baking paper, leaving gaps between the pieces and cover them with cling film. Let the doughnuts rise for another 30 minutes.
• Heat the oil to medium heat (the doughnuts need enough oil to float in it).

  Tip: The temperature should reach 170 - 180C (or 338 - 356F). It ensures the doughnuts cook evenly and develop a golden brown colour while maintaining a fluffy interior. To test the oil drop a small piece of dough into the hot oil. If it doesn’t start frying, the oil is not hot enough; if it turns brown immediately, it is too hot.
• Fry the doughnuts on one side until golden brown; then flip them over. Remove them from the oil once golden brown on both sides and place them onto a paper towel.

  Let them cool down.
• You can fill the doughnuts with jam, but we usually only coat them with caster sugar.