Homemade Jelly Donuts

Did you have one of those About Me books when you were a little kid? You know what I’m talking about if you ever counted the forks in your kitchen or doorways in your house. If you ever wrote down your hair color, your siblings’ names, and what you wanted to be when you grew up then you’ll understand what I’m about to say.

I had a few of these books when I was little and on the blank line next to “What I Want to be when I Grow Up” I wrote a donut maker.

I decided to make my childhood dream come true. Jelly donuts are actually a traditional Hanukah food because they’re fried in oil and Hanukah is all about the miracle of the oil that burned for eight nights instead of one. It’s a tradition to eat fried foods. Usually potato latkes, but also jelly donuts. Tonight is the first night of Hanukah and I deemed it the perfect time to make jelly donuts for the first time.

I followed the recipe from Instructables for Jelly Donuts. I really like the recipes on Instructables because they go step by step and have several photographs to illustrate each step. You should check them out if you feel like making jelly donuts too, or just about anything else. The recipe was fairly easy. I had trouble keeping the oil at 350 degrees; it definitely fluctuated throughout my frying. I still think my donuts came out pretty good though!

I used a pasta scoop to toss the donuts in powdered sugar.

And a pastry bag to inject them with strawberry jelly.  I considered making my own jelly briefly while I was at the store and then thought better to keep things simple for my first time, and picked up a jar of Smuckers.

I played around with different shapes and sizes.

I wished I had a smaller tip to pierce my donuts, but I was really pleased with how they looked!

If you expect homemade donuts to taste like Dunkins, prepare yourself for a different outcome. These donuts are more like fried dough than bakery donuts. I love fried dough so this is fine for me. I loved the slightly crispy donut crust, doughy middle and burst of sweet strawberry jelly. I stored the donuts in tupperware overnight and the powdered sugar mixed with the remaining oil and formed a glaze that, in my opinion, made the donuts even better.

I had fun playing donut maker for one night and I’m glad I grew out of that career goal!

When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?