Raspberry Jelly Doughnuts

Happy Wednesday!

Mom and I are now a few days into our trip and it’s going so great….because of you guys! Thank you for showing up and just being overall awesome. I have tons of photos to share, but not the best Internet connection to share them with right now. I promise, soon!

In the meantime, I do have photos of these doughnuts. And they are a whole lot prettier than any photo of me holding my book, let me tell you that. I don’t know about y’all, but I’d much rather see photos of doughnuts than of myself any day. These are perfect plump, golden doughnuts filled with sweet raspberry jam…just like your favorite Dunkin Donut flavor {but better—and I love me some Dunkin Donuts!}. They are for the days when you just need a doughnut and nothing else will do. Or the days when you feel like a doughnut. Although on days that you feel like an actual doughnut, you are probably better off eating a salad. On days that you feel like a lettuce leaf, eat a doughnut! That’s my bit of wisdom for the day…take it or leave it.

Really though? Sometimes you just gotta eat the doughnut. Life’s too short not to.

The doughnut dough is a very easy pastry dough that can either be made in your KitchenAid or by hand. It’s one of the easiest doughs I’ve worked with because it’s not sticky at all! Instead, it’s smooth and elastic and incredibly easy to work with. You’ll see.

Then, the real fun part! Smooshing together the dough with the raspberry jam in the middle. You’ll want to smoosh extra good so they don’t come apart in the sizzling hot oil.

Mmmmm watching a homemade doughnut puff up and turn perfectly golden brown in a huge vat of oil has to be one of life’s greatest pleasures.

And then, there you go! Hot raspberry jelly doughnuts with a sprinkle of powered sugar. They are what dreams are made of.

For the ultimate breakfast of champions, consume while sipping a Dunkin Donuts coffee with cream and sugar, because try as I might, I can NEVER get my coffee at home to taste that good. It was a spiritual experience the other morning when I took my first sip of Dunkin Donuts coffee in Atlanta after just coming off my red-eye flight. I hadn’t had it in SO LONG and at that moment {that moment that still felt like 3am to my fuzzy California brain}, nothing…nothing! had ever tasted so good.

Love, love, love you guys!! See some of y’all in Birmingham tomorrow evening at 7pm! If anyone has a great Birmingham restaurant recommendation, we’d love to hear it.

Raspberry Jelly Doughnuts

adapted from Gourmet

Print this Recipe!

yields about 2 dozen doughnuts

Ingredients:

1 cup milk

3 tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1 (1/4th oz) package dry active yeast

2 tbsp warm water

3 1/2 cups flour {I used bread flour but you could use all purpose, too}

2 tbsp vegetable oil + 10 cups for frying

2 eggs

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

raspberry jam for filling

powdered sugar for dusting

special tools: candy thermometer, rolling pin, biscuit cutter OR glass jar

Directions:

Place milk in a small saucepan on the stove and heat until bubbles appear all around the sides of the pan. Remove milk and let cool until it’s lukewarm.

While the milk is cooling, combine the yeast with the warm water and a pinch of sugar in a small bowl or glass measuring cup. Stir and let sit for five minutes — after five minutes, it should look almost creamy. That’s a sign the yeast works!

Place the yeast/water, flour, warm milk, salt, sugar, nutmeg, eggs and 2 tbsp oil in a large bowl of a Kitchen Aid mixer. Beat with a paddle attachment until dough forms and then switch to the dough attachment and continue mixing on high speed for five minutes. If you don’t have a dough attachment, stick with the paddle. And if you don’t have a KitchenAid mixer, knead by hand for 8-10 minutes until a smooth dough forms.

The dough should be very smooth and not sticky. Place dough in an oiled bowl, cover with a cloth and let rise in a warm spot for an hour and a half.

After rising, remove dough from the bowl and roll out on a lightly floured surface to 1/4″ thick. Cut circles of dough using the bottom of a glass jar or a biscuit cutter.

Place two teaspoons of raspberry jam in the center of one circle of dough. Place another circle of dough on top and FIRMLY SEAL EDGES TOGETHER! If you don’t crimp the edges to seal well enough, they will open up while frying!

Now, heat up the rest of the vegetable oil in a large heavy pot over medium/high heat. Use a candy thermometer to check the temperature of the oil — it should register at about 375 degrees F when ready for frying. If it’s too hot it will burn the doughnuts and if it’s too cool, the dough will absorb extra oil and take a longer time to fry.

When the oil is ready, carefully and gently drop in two doughnuts at a time. They should sizzle and little bubbles should instantly appear all around the edges of the doughnut. Fry for about five minutes per side. Flip doughnuts carefully in the oil using a spatula or big spoon.

Doughnuts are done when they are a deep golden brown color. You want the color to be brown — too light and they won’t be cooked through on the inside. Remove the doughnuts with a slotted spoon or spatula and place on paper towels to drain.

Repeat with remaining doughnuts until all doughnuts are fried and on paper towels.

Let doughnuts cool briefly, then sift powdered sugar over tops. Enjoy warm!

Time:

2 1/2 hours