Happy and crazy carnival! It’s time for pillow-soft jelly doughnuts! They make a wonderful treat when topped with icing sugar and filled with jam. They are simply irresistible! Since everyone can make them, there’s no need to run to the bakery anymore.
In Slovenia, there’s no Carnival without doughnuts. Like everywhere else, people dress up as funny characters and enjoy themselves. Also, during this time the production of fried sweet dough treats triple around the country. In other words, it’s all about jelly doughnuts. In fact, you see jam-filled fluffy jelly doughnuts everywhere, the whole week long and especially on Shrove or Fat Tuesday.
That being said, can you believe this was my first attempt making jam-filled doughnuts? The result surprised even me. Because they really look like from a bakery or doughnut shop! And they taste just like they look. Wink. I don’t know exactly why I haven’t made them before, but maybe because I’ve heard so many unsuccessful stories about yeast not reacting, dough not rising, oil too hot, doughnuts falling back together and not being fluffy. There were too many factors, where I could go wrong.
The best jelly doughnuts
However, then I found a forum where everyone is praising these filled doughnuts. There are no pictures, just the ingredients and a short description of how to make the jam-filled doughnuts. After reading all of the exciting comments, I knew they were “the ones” and I simply needed to make them.
Usually, yeast scares people. But, there’s nothing to be scared about. Working with yeast, either dry or fresh, is easy and simple. All you need to know are the right “tricks”. Number one, mix it with room-temperature milk and sugar and number two, put it in the oven with only the light turned on.
Furthermore, in this recipe, I used fresh yeast. But you can easily use dry yeast, too. Having said that, amounts of both vary. In other words, 1 gram of dry yeast is not equal to 1 gram of fresh yeast. In addition, a fun fact, one package of dry yeast (7g) equals half a cube of fresh yeast (21g). Also, yeast mixed with sugar will have a guaranteed and quick reaction.
For a fluffy doughnut let the dough rise twice; before and during frying
Moreover, the great thing about these jelly doughnuts is, they rise two times: once before frying and once during frying. As a result, they get really soft, airy and mouth-watering delicious. The fluffy dough goes really good with some rum as well. Wink. The lovely rum aroma is just incredible and combined with some sweet fruity jam makes it the ultimate comfort food.
Moreover, you can use any filling you like, from jams, chocolate, vanilla cream or any other cream. The easiest way to fill them is by using a long nozzle tip. Also, some jelly doughnuts have toppings as well. You can cover them with chocolate and coconut or nuts. You may even combine icing sugar and cinnamon to dust them. Simply delicious!
Attention: you’ll need a deeper frying pan, in order to be able to pour in three fingers of sunflower oil. Also, I can assure you it’s going to be a little messy. Therefore, be careful with the lava-hot oil. Wink. Also, a very important fact: after the first batch, the oil is already hot enough. Therefore, reduce the heat and as a result, all of the jelly doughnuts will turn puffy and golden-brown. And what is more important, they will all have that signature golden ring. Wink.
The great thing about making too many jelly doughnuts is, you can either give them to your friends or freeze them. Yes, they freeze wonderfully. And after defrosting them, they are still as fluffy as just fresh made. Next time you fancy a doughnut, simply take it out of the freezer an hour before and when soft, dust it with icing sugar.
Ingredients for 12-14 fluffy jelly doughnuts:
- 250 g flour type 405 (sieved)
- 250 g flour type 550 (sieved)
- 45 g fresh yeast
- 250 ml milk (room temperature)
- 4 egg yolks
- 30 sugar
- 4 g vanilla sugar
- 50 ml sunflower oil
- 1 Tbsp of rum (optional)
- half a teaspoon of salt
- 1 lemon (juice)
- 1,5 l sunflower oil for frying
- 300-400 g strawberry jam (or any other jam)
- icing sugar
Start with combining 50 ml of milk, a spoon of sugar and yeast in a cup. Then, place the cup in a draft-free place (I usually put it in the oven with the light turned on) until frothy.
In a larger bowl, mix the egg yolks, sugar and vanilla sugar until fluffy and pale. Next, add oil and rum. Continue to mix with slowly adding the lemon juice, the frothy yeast mixture and the rest of the milk. In the end, sieve in both flours and mix (with dough hooks) for additional 10-15 minutes until well combined. The dough will feel a bit sticky, but that’s how it should be. Try not to add any more flour.
Furthermore, lay a clean table cloth on your table (where should be space for all of the doughnuts) and dust it with some flour. Now, without waiting for the dough to rise, start forming small dough balls (each 60-70 g). Take the dough using a spoon and then with your hands form a ball. Even though the dough will feel sticky, keep rolling it until a ball is formed. You can also use a scale to help to make them more or less of the same size.
Then, place each ball on the dusted table cloth at least 5 cm apart. After you have used all of the dough, cover all of the formed balls with another clean table cloth and leave to rest for 30 minutes or until the balls doubled in size.
The face-up while rising should go face-down in the oil
Once they got big, heat the pan with sunflower oil. There should be around three fingers of oil in the pan. To do the oil temperature check, dip a wooden spoon or a wooden skewer in the oil. When you see small bubbles forming on the edge of it, the oil has reached the right temperature. At this point, add three to four balls into the pan by flipping them over. In other words, the side that was touching the table is now facing up.
As a result, they will rise even more and become even fluffier. So once you placed them carefully into the hot oil, cover with a lid for 2-3 minutes and then turn them around. This time leave the pan uncovered and fry for another 2 minutes. At this point, you can reduce the heat a bit, to prevent the oil of getting too hot.
Furthermore, remove the jelly doughnuts from the pot and drain them, first on a metal rack and then on a paper towel. Continue frying them in batches of 3 or maximum 4 until all are baked.
Moreover, fill them when still warm but cold enough to hold in your hand. Place a long nozzle tip in a piping bag or simply in a plastic bag used for freezing, then put in the jam, confiture or any cream you like and fill it in the jelly doughnuts. At this point, you can either eat them right away or freeze them for later.
In conclusion, dust the delicious fluffy jelly doughnuts with some icing sugar and you are ready for your first bite. Wink. However, they taste delicious either plain, sugared or frosted. Share them with your family or bring them to your friends. They are a wonderful sweet puffy treat, either warm or cold.
Enjoy!
PS
If you like the recipe, if you make the recipe or if you have any new ideas how to improve or change it, let me know in the comments section below or alternatively share your photos and reactions with me on Instagram (@Passionspoon), Facebook or Twitter (@PassionSpoon1). Simply use the hashtag #passionspoonrecipes in your posts. I would love to see them! (wink)
