Mini Jelly Donuts (Sufganiyot)

Name: Mini Jelly Donuts (Sufganiyot)
Prep time: 210 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 220 min
Ingredients: ¾ cup 2% milk; 1 envelope active dry yeast; ⅓ cup +2 tbsp granulated sugar; 2 eggs; 6 tbsp unsalted butter (softened); zest of 1 lemon; 1 tbsp brandy; 1½ tsp vanilla extract; ¼ tsp salt; 3 cup flour; 1½ cup jelly/jam/filling; ⅓ cup powdered sugar; vegetable oil for frying (enough to fill the saucepan about 3 inches deep)

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Soft and pillowy on the inside, and deep fried to perfection, these doughnuts are filled with strawberry jam, and just small enough that you can have seconds or thirds without feeling guilty! If you’re ready to take a break from Christmas cookie baking, you won’t regret making these traditional Hanukkah doughnuts.

What You’ll Need. . .

Yeast

Milk

Sugar

Butter

Lemon Zest

Egg

Salt

Vanilla Extract

Brandy

Flour

Strawberry Jelly (or filling of your choice, I offer more suggestions below)

Vegetable Oil

Powdered Sugar

First you’ll want to microwave your milk for about 30-40 seconds. Next pour the milk into the bowl of your stand mixer and add your yeast into the milk. Let it sit for 10 minutes until foamy. Next add in the sugar, softened butter, zest, eggs, salt, vanilla, and brandy. Mix with the paddle attachment until combined. Switch to the dough hook and add in 2.5 cups of the flour while mixing on low. Continue adding flour up to 3 cups, until it begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl and climb up the dough hook. If it appears that parts are not mixing in, or it’s not picking up some of the flour, don’t be afraid to turn off the mixer and get your hand in to mix it together a bit, then remove your hands and turn it back on to let it knead some more. Next you’ll remove from the bowl and prepare a large bowl that you have lightly oiled with vegetable oil. Roll your dough in the oiled bowl a bit before covering with plastic wrap, and then a towel. Keep in a warm area of your kitchen for two hours for the dough to rise – until it doubles in size.

Once doubled, remove the dough, roll it into a long cylinder, about 2 inched in diameter, and cut into 24 parts, about 3/4 inch thick each. Roll each piece into a ball, and place onto a lightly oiled baking pan to rise again. I did this the night before so the next day I could just drop the donuts quickly in to fry up. If you’d like to do this too, cover the pan with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator. Once ready to fry, remove from refrigerator, still covered, and cover with a towel, to warm up and rise a bit for about an hour. (If you want to make them right then, skip the refrigeration and just cover and let rise an hour). To fry, you’ll need a heavy saucepan and about 3 inches of vegetable oil. Heat on medium until 350F. If you don’t have a thermometer, you can check by putting a wooden spoon in and see if the oil bubbles a bit – then it’s ready. You can also throw in a small piece of dough to see if it is ready. Once ready, fry a few doughnuts at a time, about 40 seconds per side. Remove and place onto paper towels to drain and cool. Once cool (about 20 minutes), you’ll be filling them up! I like the classic strawberry jelly for this. Make sure there are no pieces of fruit so it is easier to fill. You can also use lemon curd (the recipe from my lemon meringue tart is great!), or my vanilla custard cream (the one from my fruit tarts is yummmmy). Use a knife to make a small hole in the side of the doughnut. Using a piping bag filled with the jelly and round tip, fill until jelly pokes out of the hole. Dust with powdered sugar. Enjoy!

Some Notes. . .

If the dough is still sticky in your stand mixer and not pulling away from the bowl, add a tbsp of flour at a time until it does, and keep mixing.
If you are prepping these the night before, you can refrigerate your dough before or after you make the doughnut shapes. If you’d like to refrigerate before, let it rise on the counter for as long as you can, then (covered tightly with plastic wrap) place in refrigerator overnight, and let it rise again an hour or so before you are ready to cut out the doughnuts. Then cut the doughnuts, let them rise as described above, etc. If you would like to do the first rise, and then cut the donuts, and refrigerate, follow instructions above.

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