Jelly Donuts
I don’t make donuts very often, but when I do I always realize how fun they are! No word of a lie, they are a bit fussy to make…with 10 minutes of kneading (I always knead by hand), 2 rising times, deep frying and sometimes filling and finishing, they are not a task you want to take on if you only have a couple of hours. I made jelly donuts for this video with the intention of painting a picture of them, and they turned out so delicious I had to share with you how I made them!
First of all, there are 2 kinds of donuts: cake and yeast. The former are much less time consuming because they are leavened with baking powder, so you don’t have to let the dough rise. Once made, you can roll it out, cut them and they fry in minutes. Ta-dah! With yeast donuts however they require not one, but two risings—or proofings, if we want to speak professionally.
The first proofing occurs after the dough has been made and kneaded for 8-10 minutes until the gluten has developed. This rise time is usually about 2 hours or until it has doubled in bulk, depending on how warm your house is. The dough is then punched down, donut shapes are cut and then are risen a second time. This is normally an additional hour or until they are almost doubled in size.
Perhaps the most challenging part about making donuts at home is frying them. If you have a thermometer, you can fry donuts anywhere between 360-375 degrees F. If you are frying them whole for filling, I suggest staying in the neighbourhood of 360 degrees F. They will only take a minute or two on each side and if you are making donuts for the first time without any tools or equipment to properly read temperatures, experience will be your only guide and you will have to break one open to check for doneness. They should be well browned but clearly not overdone.
Be cautious about coating the donuts with powdered sugar. Donut shops use a special product that holds up without dissolving in any length of time but the confectioner’s sugar we grab from the baking aisle will melt within a few hours. Coating them after they cool will extend their integrity a little longer but not much, so make sure to serve them at once. Granulated sugar may be the best way to go because it won’t dissolve, and they are best coated in this while they are still hot.
This dough is not only great for making jelly donuts; it’s a generic dough for any style of yeast donut. If you can’t be bothered with filling, don’t fill—but be sure to cut a hole out of the middles first. Not only will they be much easier to fry, you will have donut holes to nibble on also. Even though I didn’t do it in the video, sometimes I add nutmeg to the dough for added flavor, especially if I am keeping them plain.
Once made, holes or no holes, you can finish them however you’d like. Dip the tops in chocolate or honey glaze, dunk them in sprinkles or chopped nuts. They can be filled with vanilla pudding and dipped in chocolate for Boston cream donuts, or filled with applesauce and rolled in cinnamon sugar for a tempting apple filled donut…the sky’s the limit!
Check out a video demo here!
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup butter
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup warm water
- 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 2 eggs
- 31/2 - 4 cups all purpose flour
- 1/1/2 cups jelly or jam
- 1 1/2 cups granulated or confectioner's sugar
Instructions
- In a small saucepan over low heat, combine butter, sugar, milk and salt. Heat until butter is completely melted and remove from heat. Cool completely.
- In a large mixing bowl add water and sprinkle in yeast. Allow to stand for 10 minutes until yeast is foamy. Whisk down foam and add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Add cooled butter/milk mixture.
- Add in 2 cups of the flour and stir well to make a stiff batter.
- Continue adding in remaining flour to form a soft dough, then knead for 8-10 minutes until smooth & elastic.
- Place dough in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic and allow to rise in a warm place for 2 hours or until doubled in bulk.
- Punch down dough and roll to half inch thickness. Cut with donut cutter or glass to desired size (mine was 2 1/2 inches in diameter). Place donuts on wax paper lined cookie sheets, cover and let rise another hour or until almost doubled.
- Fry donuts in preheated oil at 360 degrees F about 1 - 1 1/2 minutes on each side until golden.
- Drain on paper towels. If using granulated sugar for coating, do so while donuts are still hot. If using confectioner's sugar, wait until they are cooled.
- Poke a hole on the side of each donut with a chopstick and move it around to create a cavity inside.
- Fill piping bag with jam or jelly and fill each donut. Do not over fill.