Whisk together flour, ¼ cup of sugar and salt in a bowl. Warm milk in the microwave for about 45 seconds or until a thermometer reads 100 to 110 degrees. Add the milk and 1 teaspoon sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fit with a dough hook. Sprinkle the yeast over the milk and stir to combine. Let stand for about 5 minutes until the yeast starts to foam. If the yeast doesn’t foam, then start over with new yeast.

Add the eggs, vanilla, and then flour mixture to the yeast mixture. Mix on low speed until combined and then increase speed to medium low and mix for about 5 minutes until the dough is smooth.

Add the softened butter cubes one at a time and mix on medium low about 4 minutes until butter is incorporated and dough comes together but is sticky. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 1 to 1 ½ hours until the dough is about doubled (or let rise in the refrigerator overnight). Punch down the dough and scrape out onto a lightly floured surface.

Roll out the dough to about ½ thick. Using a 3 inch round cookie cutter, cut the dough into the doughnuts. Combine scraps, re-roll and cut the remaining dough. You should get about 12-13 doughnuts.

Pour the oil into a large pot and heat it to 350 to 360 degrees using a thermometer. You can test the oil with a small piece of dough to make sure it’s not too cold or hot.

Gently place 2-3 doughnuts at a time in the oil and fry for 2-3 minutes per side until golden brown. Place the doughnuts on a wire rack set over a sheet pan or paper towels to cool.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, cornstarch, sugar and salt until smooth.

Pour the egg mixture through a sieve and into the remaining milk in the saucepan, whisking constantly until combined.

Heat the mixture over medium heat and bring to a slow boil, stirring constantly. Continue whisking, being careful to scrap the bottom and sides of the pan until the mixture becomes thick, about 5-6 minutes in total.

Stir and cook for an additional 30 seconds after it thickens and then remove from the heat.

Stir in the butter until smooth.

Pour the cream into a medium bowl, place plastic wrap directly onto the top of the cream and then refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours.

Once the pastry cream is chilled, remove from the refrigerator and whisk it to loosen it up. Whip the whipping cream until stiff peaks form. Stir in about ⅓ of the whipped cream into the pastry cream to lighten it up and then carefully fold in the rest of the whipped cream until combined.

Puree the sliced and peeled peaches in a blender until smooth. It should yield about ½ cup of puree. If it’s not enough, add additional peaches to the blender to yield ½ cup. If it’s too much, just measure out ½ cup and discard the rest or use it for something else.

In a medium bowl, combine the peach puree, powdered sugar, vanilla extract and lemon juice until smooth. If the mixture is too thick, add milk 1 tablespoon at a time until you reach the desired consistency. If it’s too thin, add powdered sugar 1 tablespoon at a time until thickened.

Using the back of a wooden spoon or another thin long item, punch a hold into the side of each cooled donut without going all the way through and push the dough aside slightly to form a hole for the cream filling.

Place the cream filling in a pastry bag fit with a large round tip or with the end of the bag cut. Pipe the filling into each doughnut.

Dip the top of each doughnut into the peach glaze, allowing excess to drop off. The doughnuts are best eaten the same day they are made.