Jelly Filled Donuts {Sufganiyot}

Easy jelly filled donuts recipe, homemade with simple ingredients. These light, fluffy Jewish Sufganiyot are filled with strawberry jam and rolled in sugar and perfect for Hanukkah.

These homemade breakfast treats go by many names and they were something I was very intimidated to make until a couple of years ago. My Mom learnt how to make them from her best friend and then, she taught me. I went a step further and topped some of them with fudgy coconut cream chocolate frosting and fresh strawberries and they were heavenly! They tasted even better than the ones I get at bakeries and coffee shops. These Easy Pumpkin Donuts {With Cake Mix} and Baked Apple Cider Donuts are also great beginner recipes to start your doughnut baking journey.

How to Make Easy Homemade Jelly Filled Donuts Recipe (Sufganiyot) From Scratch?

1. Prepare the yeast mixture- Let the yeast and water foam.
2. Mix ingredients- Including yeast mixture, eggs, milk butter, and vanilla extract.
3. Gradually, add flour- Knead into a dough.
4. Cover- Let it rise.
5. Cut donuts- Roll out dough, cut circle, and let them rise again.
6. Fry- In oil.
7. Cover- In granulated sugar.
8. Fill them- With strawberry jam and enjoy!

Key Ingredients For Jelly Donuts

• Flour- You will need 5+ cups of all-purpose flour for this recipe.
• Yeast- This allows the donuts to rise and become light and chewy.
• Water- To activate the yeast.
• Oil- For frying.

What is the Difference Between Jelly Donuts and Paczki?

While these donuts are quite similar, the biggest difference is that paczkis require more eggs in the recipe than jelly donuts.

What is the Filling in Stuffed Donuts? How to Fill Them? 

It can be filled with a number of things ranging from jams and custard to whipped cream and frostings. Fill a piping bag with jam and attach a long narrow tip and squeeze the filling into the donut from the side. You can also make a hole on the side of the donut with a wooden skewer and use the same tip and piping bag to squeeze jam into each one.

Variations for Jewish Hanukkah Jam Doughnuts

Make mini jelly donuts- Just cut out smaller circles and the rest of the steps would be the same.

Add a glaze- Such as this Powdered Sugar Glaze {Vanilla Cake Glaze} instead of granulated sugar.

Use a different jam- Such as blueberry, blackberry, raspberry, or apricot.

Top with another frosting- Such as Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting, White Chocolate Buttercream Frosting, or Strawberry Frosting {With Fresh Strawberries) as a topping.

Try another filling- Such as custard, Homemade Stabilized Whipped Cream, Chocolate Whipped Cream {3 Ingredients}, or Lemon Frosting (Lemon Buttercream).

Tips and Techniques

Temperature matters- Eggs and butter must be at room temperature but milk and water must be between 100-110 degrees (just heat in the microwave for a few seconds). That's the temperature that activates the yeast. If it's too hot, the yeast dies and does not help with rising.

Filling consistency should be thick- Make sure the jam, jelly or preserve you are using is thick so as to prevent the donuts from becoming soggy and to also avoid leaking.

Only use all-purpose flour- Don't replace all-purpose flour with any other flour because the results will be very different.

Don't skip any steps! There are numerous steps and they must all be followed for best results.

Oil should not be too hot- If the oil becomes too hot, the donuts will either burn or become very dark and the texture will change. Use a thermometer if you can. The best frying temperature is 350 degrees F.

Powdered sugar vs. Granulated sugar for coating- Either can be used. I like granulated sugar because I like the subtle crunchiness. Traditionally, powdered sugar is used.

How much yeast is in a single ¼ oz. packet or envelope? 1 yeast packet equals 2- ¼ teaspoons.

How to know when the yeast is activated and ready to use? After it is mixed with water and rests for 10 minutes, it will become foamy. This tells you it is ready to be mixed with the other ingredients.

How to know when the dough has been kneaded enough? It will become smooth and elastic. This usually takes about 5-7 minutes.

How long to fry donuts? It should take about 30-40 seconds of frying on each side of the donut.

How thick to roll out dough? Roll it out to a ½ inch thickness.

Make sure to allow the dough to rise in a warm area- Because if the room or location is too cold, the dough will not rise properly.

Storage

Refrigerate- These can be stored in a sealed container for 1- 2 days.

Room temperature- These can be stored in a covered box for about 12 hours. After that, they start to taste slightly stale.

Freeze- I don't recommend freezing them because they don't taste as good upon thawing as freshly made.

More Easy Breakfast Recipes

• Healthy Double Chocolate Muffins 
• Easy Strawberry Strudels
• Date Bars or Squares (No Bake)
• Christmas Donuts (Snowman, Reindeer, Wreath, Grinch)
• Halloween Donuts (Spider and Monster)
• Pikachu Donuts (Pokemon Donuts)

Recipe