Ah, jelly donuts! What a classic. Growing up, I never wanted to have a jelly donut because I always was craving chocolate. But now that I have had one (okay I've had more than one) I can say they are WAY underrated. These jelly donuts are pillowy soft, perfectly sweet, lightly crisp on the outside and filled to the brim with jelly.
Jelly donuts
These donuts are fried, not baked, which means they require a little more TLC. But when I tell you these donuts are the lightest, fluffiest, most delicious donuts of all time, I mean it. There are three main components of these donuts:
- The dough: this is a yeast dough, so while the process is a little longer than a baked donut, it is 110% worth it. Since it's a yeast dough, it requires a bit of kneading, but it makes the fluffiest of donuts. Additionally, it also requires frying the donut. Frying the donut can be tough because you have to keep the oil roughly between 360-375 degrees Fahrenheit. I HIGHLY suggest using a thermometer.
- The coating: the sugar coating is simply just granulated sugar, but that's what makes it amazing. It also adds a nice texture to the donut.
- The jelly filling: the best part in my opinion is the jelly filling! I provide a homemade raspberry jam in this recipe, but feel free to use any of your favorite jams/jellies/curds to fill the donuts.
Ingredients
If you need to run to the grocery store, here is your shopping list:
- All purpose flour
- Granulated sugar
- Instant yeast
- Ground nutmeg
- Salt
- Water
- Whole milk
- Unsalted butter
- Eggs
- Vegetable oil (for frying)
- Raspberries (optional)
- Balsamic vinegar/lemon juice (optional)
Steps
- Make the dough and knead for 5 minutes. Cover and let the dough rise in a warm environment for one hour.
- Prepare the raspberry filling and set aside to cool and thicken (optional). Feel free to fill with your favorite store-bought jelly instead!
- Roll out the dough and divide into 16 equals pieces. Shape them into balls. Place them spaced out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and lightly floured. Cover and let rise for another 35-40 minutes.
- Heat up vegetable oil in a wide sauce pan on the stove to 365 degrees Fahrenheit - fry the donuts in the oil for one minute on each side until golden brown.
- Once cool enough to handle, toss in the granulated sugar then fill with the jelly. Enjoy!
Yeast tips for beginners
Don't get me wrong, working with yeast can be intimidating! Here are some tips that helped me a bunch as a novice yeast user:
- Make sure your yeast is fresh. This is a simple one, but yeast can be dead. I once tried making cinnamon rolls over and over and over again but the dough was just NOT rising. I thought I wasn't activating it correctly, but turns out the yeast was just dead.
- Allow the dough to rise for the entire instructed time. Don't rush the rise process! Interrupting the rise can cause your bread to be dense and just not good.
- Sometimes the gluten needs to relax. If you are rolling out the dough and it just keeps shrinking as you roll it, stop what you're doing, cover it lightly, and let it sit for 10 minutes to relax the gluten.
How to properly fill a donut
- Make sure you have the sugar coating on first. We coat the donuts right after they are cool enough to handle from the oil.
- Poke a hole. Poke a hole in the side of the donut using either a chopstick or a knife, then widen it with your finger. This will be the perfect little hole for you to put your filling.
- Use a piping bag. I suggest putting the filling in a piping bag or a ziplock bag with the corner cut off and piping the jelly into the donut. You could use a spoon but that will get a little messy.
- Filling the donuts. Fill the donuts using the piping bag until the donut puffs a bit and starts to feel a little heavy, or until the filling begins to ooze out of the hole you made. You may need to use one donut as a test to see the preferred amount of filling.
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Jelly Donuts
These jelly donuts are pillowy soft, perfectly sweet, lightly crisp on the outside and filled to the brim with jelly.
Equipment
- Mixer with paddle/hook attachment
Ingredients
Dough
- 5 ¼ cups (650 grams) all purpose flour divided in half
- ¼ cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
- 2 packages instant yeast must be instant! 1 standard package of yeast is 2 ¼ teaspoons.
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- ⅓ cup (80 mL) water
- 1 ½ cups (360 mL) whole milk
- 5 tablespoons (71 grams) unsalted butter
- 2 eggs lightly beaten, room temperature
For Frying
- 3-4 cups (600-800 mL) vegetable oil
Coating
- 1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar
Raspberry Jelly Filling (Optional)
- 6 cups (800 grams) fresh raspberries
- 1 ⅓ cups (266 grams) granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar OR lemon juice
Instructions
Dough
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together about half of the flour (about 2 ½ cups, or 325 grams), granulated sugar, instant yeast, ground nutmeg and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the water. Set aside.
- In a medium-sized sauce pan over medium heat, combine the whole milk and butter. Stir the two together until the butter has completely melted. Set the pan aside so the mixture cools a little.
- Add the milk/butter mixture to the water and whisk until combined.
- Add the lightly beaten eggs to the water/milk/butter mixture and whisk until combined.
- Add the flour mixture you set aside to the wet ingredients. Using the paddle attachment, mix all of the ingredients together on low speed for 15 seconds. Turn the mixer up to medium speed and mix until well combined.
- Add the remaining flour and mix together on low speed for 15 seconds, then turn the mixer up to medium speed and mix until combined. Switch out the paddle attachment for the hook attachment, and beat the dough for 4 minutes. The dough will slightly pull away from the sides of the bowl, however it WILL be a wet and sticky dough. Do not add more flour - I promise!!! You will want to, but don't.
- Transfer the dough to a well oiled bowl, cover it with a towel, and let the dough rise in a warm environment (oven or microwave turned OFF are always good choices) for one hour. It will double in size.
Raspberry Jelly Filling (Optional)
- Feel free to use your favorite store-bought jelly to fill these donuts, but if you want to make the homemade raspberry jelly, follow the steps below.
- While the dough is rising, make the filling. Combine the raspberries, granulated sugar and balsamic vinegar or lemon juice on a pan over the stove on medium heat.
- Continuously stir until combined. Once the berries are soft, gently press on them with the back of a wooden spoon so they release their juices.
- Let the mixture simmer while occasionally stirring until thickened. This can take about 10 minutes.
- Run the filling through a fine mesh strainer to discard of the pulp and the seeds. Gently press the filling against the fine mesh strainer with a rubber spatula or the back of a spoon so you get the most out of the jam. Set aside to cool and thicken.
Rolling Out/Shaping the Dough
- Once the dough has doubled in size, gently move it to a lightly floured surface. Make sure your hands are lightly floured as well. Roll the dough out slightly until it is about ½ inch thick. Divide the dough into 16 equal pieces and shape them into balls.
- Place the donuts on a pan lined with parchment paper and lightly floured. Cover it with a towel and let the dough rise for an additional 35-40 minutes. They should puff up.
Frying
- In the last 15 minutes of the dough's second rise, begin to heat up your oil. Pour the oil into a large pot so there is at least 2-3 inches of oil. Using a thermometer, heat the oil to about 365 degrees Fahrenheit and monitor the temperature the entire time (the oil temperature should ideally stay between 360 and 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Make sure the thermometer is submerged in the middle of the oil and not touching the bottom of the pan (it will read hotter if the thermometer is touching the pan).
- Once the dough is done with the second rise, fry them. Place 2-3 donuts in the pot at once (do not overcrowd) and fry them for one minute to one minute and 15 seconds on each side until golden brown. Remove the donuts from the oil and place them on a pan lined with paper towels to soak up the excess oil. Repeat this process with all of the donuts.
Coating
- Place the granulated sugar in a wide bowl. Once the donuts are cool enough to handle, toss them in the sugar until they are evenly coated and set aside.
Filling the Donuts
- Whether you are using the homemade raspberry filling from this recipe or your favorite store-bought jelly, use a chopstick or a sharp knife to poke a hole in the side of the donut. Put the filling in a piping bag (or ziplock bag with the corner cut off) and carefully pipe the filling into the donuts until they puff up and start to feel heavy. You may need to do a test with one donut to check the preferred amount of filling in each donut.
- These donuts are best enjoyed when made fresh - but can be kept covered and in the fridge for a few days. Enjoy!
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
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Dani
So so sad - this recipe looked awesome but 15 seconds on each side is just not long enough to cook these. Only discovered they were raw on the inside after I had sugar coated them and stuck a knife in to fill - it came out with dough on it. Oil was hot enough… just extremely sad dumping these into the trash.
Jess Italiano
Hi Dani - the recipe says to fry them for one minute to one minute and 15 seconds on each side until golden brown. Not just 15 seconds on each side. Hope you'll try again & thanks for making it!