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.

Jelly donuts, jelly doughnuts, jam donuts, or Sufganiyot, 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, How to Make 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.

Why do You Eat Jelly Filled Donuts on Hanukkah? Based on my research, at Hanukkah, Jewish people enjoy fried foods in commemoration of the miracle associated with the Temple oil that lasted for 8 days instead of 1. I am not sure how accurate this is but that’s my understanding right now.

What do You Call a Filled Donut? They are called “Sufganiyot” and it’s an Israeli jelly donut/traditional Hanukkah donut. The doughnut is deep-fried, filled with jam or custard, and then topped with sugar.

How much yeast is in a single 1/4 oz. packet or envelope? 1 yeast packet equals 2- 1/4 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 1/2 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

Fridge– They can be stored in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 2 days.

Freeze– Both, filled and unfilled doughnuts can be frozen in tightly sealed freezer bags for up to 1 month. Thaw to room temperature to enjoy again.

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)

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Easy Jelly Filled Donuts (Sufagniyot)

Prep Time: 15 mins

Cook Time: 20 mins

Resting time: 2 hrs 30 mins

Total Time: 3 hrs 5 mins

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.

Yield: 40 Donuts

Ingredients

Doughnuts

• 1/4 cup Water, 100-110 degrees F
• 4.5 tsp Dry yeast, 2 packets (1/4 oz. each)
• 1.5 cup Milk, Whole, 100-110 degrees
• 3/4 cup Granulated sugar
• 2 Eggs, Large
• 2 tsp Vanilla extract
• 6 tbsp Butter, Unsalted
• 5 cups All-purpose flour, +Additional flour for kneading
• Oil, For frying

Filling

• 3 cups Strawberry jam , Homemade or store-bought

Toppings

• 3 cups Granulated sugar, For rolling doughnuts
• 2 cups Coconut cream chocolate frosting, Optional
• 2 cups Fresh strawberries, Washed, Sliced, Patted dry, Optional

Instructions 

• In a small bowl, add water and sprinkle yeast. Keep aside for about 10 minutes until it becomes foamy.
• In another mixing bowl, add the yeast mixture, milk, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, butter and mix everything together.
• Add flour gradually while mixing until the dough no longer sticks to the bowl. 
  
  
• Dump the dough onto your floured countertop and start kneading until it’s smooth and elastic (5-7 minutes). 
  
• Place this dough in a greased bowl. Cover with saran wrap and keep it in a warm area until it doubles in size (1.5-2 hours). 
  
• Now, flour your countertop again and roll out the dough at a thickness of 1/2 inches. Use a round cutter to cut out circular pieces.

  Cover these circles with saran wrap and allow them to rise again for about 30 minutes.
• Heat oil in a large saucepan and gently, add 3-4 the circle pieces into the oil and fry them on both sides until they are golden (about 30-40 seconds on each side).
• Use a slotted spoon to remove the doughnuts from the oil and place them on a tray lined with paper towels.
  
• Then quickly roll the doughnuts in sugar while they are still warm.
  
• Now, attach the round tip to a piping bag and fill it with strawberry jam.
  
• On the side of the doughnut, make 2 holes with a wooden skewer about 1 inch apart. Push your piping bag into the holes and fill the inside of the doughnut with jam. Do this for all the doughnuts.
  
• This is optional: When the doughnuts have cooled down, spread fudgy coconut cream chocolate frosting on top of them and place a few sliced strawberries on top. Enjoy!
  

Notes

• Read all my tips above.
• These taste the best when they are served fresh but leftovers can be stored in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 2 days but after that, they start tasting stale. 

Nutrition

Calories: 228kcal, Carbohydrates: 49g, Protein: 2g, Fat: 2g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 13mg, Sodium: 31mg, Potassium: 66mg, Sugar: 31g, Vitamin A: 80IU, Vitamin C: 6.5mg, Calcium: 21mg, Iron: 0.9mg

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Calories: 228

Author: Abeer Rizvi