Jelly doughnuts or donuts are my husband’s ultimate guilty pleasure. And who doesn’t love a warm, sticky, fried, sweet, jam-filled pastry every now and again? Yesterday my husband asked me for a jelly donut for dessert. So I set out to give him a baker’s dozen of the best ones he has ever had! This includes homemade berry jam filling that will make you throw your sticky fingers up in delight. Just like Tilly!
Jelly Doughnuts Are My Jam!
There is not much cuter than a baby covered in jam!
This recipe is a long one and definitely takes effort that is well worth it in the end. I would save these doughnuts for a special occasion where you actually need and want a whole bunch of treats or you will be gorging on these babies all night long!
As you may have seen, jelly doughnut pictures and recipes are in abundance this time of the year. During Hanukkah, a Jewish tradition includes eating fried foods like donuts (or the Israeli version, sufganiyah.
All of the photos floating around got me in the doughnut spirit, so I gave it a whirl! The result was airy, tender, and dare I say, the best doughnuts I’ve ever sunk my teeth into.
I made a variety that included glazed, jelly-filled, and of course, sweet doughnut holes for my two sweethearts. I have never seen Bea so excited for a sweet treat. She ate every single doughnut hole, and did this so quickly that I couldn’t even get a photo of her or the glazed holes!
Let’s Do This!
To begin, note that you will start the dough well ahead of the time you plan to fry and eat them. This is due to the dough needing to chill and proof in the fridge for about 6-12 hours. Doughnut dough is like brioche. It has sweetness, airy fluff, and needs proper time to chill.
The Dough in Doughnut
For this recipe you will start by activating your yeast. Check out How to Proof Yeast VIDEO if you want a quick tutorial. The mixture of yeast, sugar, and milk will sit and foam for about 5-10 minutes.
In the meantime you will get your melted then cooled butter, eggs, and salt mixed together in your stand mixture. For this part use the paddle attachment. Or you can mix everything in a separate bowl beforehand.
My mother-in-law travels often and she kindly brings us back gourmet rubs, extracts, oils, and more. From her most recent trip to Mexico, she brought me a bottle of pure Mexican vanilla. This extract was definitely going to be incorporated into these donuts! So I added it to both the dough and the glaze to give these doughnuts a hint of vanilla that was subtle and lovely.
Another key ingredient is bread flour. I find bread flour gives a better texture to any dough that involves a yeast mixture.
After your paddle attachment has mixed the yeast mixture and the egg/butter blend, you will switch to the dough hook of your stand mixer and add in your flour.
Remember to scrape down the sides of the bowl intermittently so everything gets incorporated. Let the dough hook do it’s kneading magic for about 7 minutes.
Your dough will be very sticky. You are going to have a well-buttered bowl ready. And then you will chill this dough for about 6 hours or overnight.
Shaping Those Doughnuts
After it is chilled it will be easier to roll out and cut. I let my dough rest at room temperature for about an hour after coming out of the fridge. Put your dough onto a floured surface.
Then roll it to 1/2 inch thickness. And cut it however you would like. You can use biscuit or cookie cutters or even the mouth of a jar. I used a tumbler and for the donut holes, I used the mouth of a glass water bottle I have. I had parchment lined cookie sheets ready for the cutouts.
Now put your sheets of dough in a warm, draft-free place to rise for another hour. While your dough is rising start preparing your jam and get your station ready. You can also use any store-bought jam of your choosing. Check later in the post for the jam and glaze recipes. You will want trays of paper towel layers to drain the fat, your glaze, and your jam ready, as after the frying things move quickly.
It’s Fry Time!
About 15-20 minutes before you plan on frying you will get 6-8 cups of oil (I used vegetable) heating on medium heat. I used my dutch oven. An important note– use a long candy thermometer! You want this to stay around 375 degrees. Oil has a flash point. No fires from frying! To find the flash or smoking points of all oils, go to this post from The Spruce, Smoking Points of Fats & Oils.
Since Grant wanted the doughnuts, he got to hold the thermometer while I fried. That just seemed fair! For hot oil splash security, he wore a heat resistant glove. And if you don’t have a fry helper then another idea is to use a clip on thermometer!
Once your oil is ready you will take a spatula and get your dough into the oil in batches. Doughnut holes only take about 45 seconds while the other doughnuts took one minute of frying on each side. Note that even if you deflate your dough while moving into oil, they will puff up again during frying. Se below how they rise in that hour of rest time after cutting!
I had my layers of paper towels ready. After removing from the oil, you just flip them every few seconds on the paper towels to get rid of excess oil. Then I put them on a cooling rack.
Let’s Jam!
After everything was fried I began filling them. The best way to fill doughnuts and cupcakes is using the proper piping tip. My gadget for decorating and filling is the OXO Good Grips Baker’s Decorating Tool Kit.
After filling you get to make the decision of glazing or dusting them in powdered or granulated sugar. I chose glaze.
If you have never made your own doughnuts, you really should! They are fun to make and just beyond delicious!
Here’s your jam filling recipe, as promised!
I had about a cup each of raspberries and blueberries that I put in a large saucepan on medium heat with 3/4 cup of granulated sugar and 1/4 teaspoon of lemon juice.
The boiled and I stirred for 15 minutes until the berries were burst, smashed, and sticky. The mixture will thicken as it cooks.
And then transfer to a jar or container for use later in the doughnuts. I ate about half of this jam while standing around, so many doughnuts suffered the empty consequence of my greed!
You get a cup of jam. It’s very good though, so be prepared to eat this by the spoonful!
And your glaze:
This glaze, if you choose to glaze them, is a simple mixture of powdered sugar, milk, vanilla extract, and a sprinkle of salt.
Glazed Jelly Doughnuts with a Blueberry & Raspberry Jam Filling
Ingredients:
- 1 cup of whole milk
- 1 tablespoon yeast
- 7 tablespoons of melted then cooled butter
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 egg and 1 egg yolk
- 2 3/4 c Bread Flour
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
- Warm milk to 120 degrees, add sugar, and sprinkle on yeast. Let sit for 10 minutes to activate. Need help? Check out my video tutorial – How to proof yeast
- In a separate bowl, mix your egg, egg yolk, vanilla, salt, and butter. Add this to the bowl of your stand mixer. With a paddle attachment, mix this mixture with the yeast mixture.
- Add bread flour, scraping down sides to fully incorporate.
- Put dough into well buttered pan. Let proof in fridge for 6 hours or overnight.
- Then take out and let sit at room temp for 30-60 minutes. Then roll to 1/2 inch thick and cut out dough.
- Transfer to parchment lined cookie sheets and let rise for 1 hour.
- 15-20 minutes before frying heat your oil on medium. Use a thermometer and when oil is at 375 degrees, begin frying. Fry 1 minute per side. If frying doughnut holes, fry for 20-25 seconds a side. Use a slotted spoon to turn doughnuts and put onto layers of paper towels. Turn frequently to remove excess oil.
- Fill with Jam-
Jam Recipe
Ingredients:
- 1 cup of raspberries
- 1 cup of blueberries
- 1/4 teaspoon lemon juice
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
Directions:
- In a large saucepan (use large because it bubbles and needs room), heat all ingredients on medium heat. Stir and cook for 15-20 minutes until thickened and sticky and well, jam-like!
- Then Glaze-
Vanilla Glaze
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- pinch of sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup whole milk
Directions:
- Mix everything together until a glaze forms.
Note: Alternatively, you may roll these in powdered or granulated sugar.
Interested in the equipment for this post?
https://ritzymom.com/2017/11/29/cinnamon-rolls-with-cream-cheese-frosting-video/
You must be logged in to post a comment.