Why you’ll love them
Who doesn’t love jam doughnuts. Such a classic indulgent treat, they’re perfectly soft and fluffy with a sweet jam filling and they’re incredible served still warm from the oven, That’s right – the oven – because these baked donuts are baked not fried making them even easier to make and healthier than regular fried donuts too.
- Easy yeasted dough
- Thick, light and fluffy
- Pick your favourite jam for filling
Ever since I created my lemon donuts, I’m convinced these baked doughnuts are the best ever! All the flavour without the hassle of working with hot oil and they’re quicker to make too. They have the perfect chewy yet soft texture and they’re not greasy in the slightest.
I turned these into strawberry jam donuts. Perfect for any occasion and any time of year, you can fill your donuts with so many fillings from passionfruit curd to marmalade to any flavour jam you love and even chocolate pastry cream.
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Ingredients you’ll need
The ingredients list is fairly short and simple. The jam doughnuts are made from an enriched dough (meaning it has fat from eggs and butter to make it richer).
Jump to the recipe for full ingredients and instructions.
- Bread flour: Bread flour is the best option to get that perfect chewy texture but plain flour / all-purpose flour will work too.
- Yeast: I use instant dry yeast but active dry yeast will also work.
- Sugar: I use caster sugar (superfine sugar) for both the dough and the coating. Granulated sugar will work for the dough though and if you can’t find superfine for the coating, you can either use icing sugar (powdered sugar) or grind some granulated sugar finer in a food processor.
- Milk: Use whole milk (full cream milk) for best results but other types of milk will work.
- Egg yolks: I use large eggs in my baking but you’ll only need the yolks for this jam doughnuts recipe.
- Butter: Stick to unsalted butter. You’ll use some in the dough and a little for brushing the outside of the baked donuts.
- Cinnamon: I add just a touch of cinnamon to my sugar coating but you can leave it out if you like.
- Jam: I use strawberry jam but raspberry jam or, for that matter any flavour is wonderful.
How to make jam donuts (step-by-step)
Freshly cooked donuts, served still warm are the best and, if you’ve ever made cinnamon rolls, these are even easier to make. These baked donuts are a classic yeasted donut and each of the steps are very simple.
I truly believe this baked version is so much better than fried (no oily mess to deal with, quicker to cook since you don’t have to fry in batches and healthier too), but if you want to fry them, just make them the same way but fry them as per this recipe.
Jump to the recipe for full ingredients and instructions.
- Activate the yeast: Technically you don’t need to do this part if using instant yeast, however you do if using active dry yeast and either way, it will tell you if your yeast is good before wasting all the other ingredients. Just mix the yeast with some sugar and warm milk and let it sit for 5-10 minutes to get all puffy.
- Turn it into donut dough: Now, mix the yeast mixture with all the other dough ingredients and mix until it comes together. Knead it (I find a stand mixer best but you can do it by hand) until smooth.
- Rise: Let the dough rest and rise until doubled in size. If you have a proving drawer or a dough rising setting on the oven, use that, otherwise just a warm, draft-free spot.
- Shape the doughnuts: Now roll the dough out and use a cookie cutter to cut out 7cm / 2 ½ to 3 inch rounds.
- Second rise: Place the doughnut rounds onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper and let them rise a second time until almost doubled and puffy.
- Bake: Now just place the baking sheet into the oven and bake until puffed up and golden.
- Coating them: Brush the baked donuts with melted butter then roll in cinnamon sugar or plain sugar.
- Fill the donuts: Finally, make little holes in the top or sides of the donuts and use a piping bag to pipe the jam into the donuts.
Tips and tricks
- Activating yeast: Keep in mind that yeast needs warmth to grow so you need to add it to a warm liquid. If it’s a cold day, you may find it doesn’t froth up as much as it might on a warm day too but as long as you see it even starting to get puffy, it’s good to use.
- Kneading the dough: I use a stand mixer with a dough hook to make my dough but you can certainly do it by hand, it will just be a bit sticky for a while – try not to add too much flour if you knead it by hand.
- No cookie cutter? No worries. You can just roll small balls of dough then flatten them out slightly. I find the cookie cutter method results in a fluffier donut but they’ll still be gorgeous, rolled into balls first – give them a little longer to rise and puff up.
- Re-rolling the dough: You can re-roll the dough but try to keep that to just once. When you re-roll it, you’ll need to let the dough rest for about 15-20 minutes to relax again otherwise it will be too springy for you to cut your doughnut rounds.
- Piping nozzle: I like to use a piping nozzle with an opening of about 6-7mm (¼ inch) – it’s pointy enough to get right inside without being so big that it makes a mess of the donut.
Variations
Donuts with jam are amazing and you can use any jam you like in your jam filled donuts but also try fruit curds like lemon curd or orange curd. Pastry cream is also lovely.
Or fill them with this luscious chocolate cremeux.
You can use powdered sugar on the outside in place of the caster sugar.
FAQs
The jam in homemade jam donuts can be any type of jam or preserve, but most often jam donuts contain raspberry jam or sometimes strawberry jam. Commercially though, here’s the kicker, Donut King has actually said the jam in their donuts is a combination of apple sauce, colouring and flavouring!
Hot jam donuts are an enriched yeasted dough made of flour, yeast, sugar, milk, eggs and butter. They’re filled with a jam-like filling and dusted with icing sugar or caster sugar.
Jam donuts are known in some places as jelly donuts. Also, donuts can also be spelled doughnuts.
Filled doughnuts can be filled with any type of jam or preserve (from raspberry jam to marmalade), with fruit curds (like lemon curd) and also with other spreadable treats like peanut butter, Nutella or Lotus Biscoff. They’re also often filled with pastry cream.
Yield and storage
This jam doughnuts recipe makes around 10 doughnuts.
The doughnuts are best eaten fresh but if you have leftovers you can freeze them for best results. It actually stops them from going stale any further. Make sure they’re stored in an airtight container.
Did you try this recipe for jam doughnuts?
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Ingredients
FOR THE DOUGHNUTS
- ¾ cup whole milk
- 50 g white sugar (¼ cup / 1.8oz)
- 2 ½ teaspoons instant yeast (or active dry yeast)
- 325 g bread flour (2 ½ cups / 11.5oz)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 3 egg yolks from large eggs, room temperature
- 42 g unsalted butter, melted (3 tablespoons / 1 ½ oz)
COATING AND FILLING
- ½ cup caster sugar (superfine sugar) (100g/3.5oz)
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon, optional
- ¾ cup strawberry jam (180ml)
For best results, always weigh ingredients where a weight is provided
Equipment
- 7cm / 3inch circle cookie cutter
- large baking sheet
- squares of baking paper or parchment paper
Instructions
- MAKE THE DOUGH:Warm the milk for 25-30 seconds in the microwave (if cold, or 15 seconds if room temp). You don’t want it to be hot, just slightly warmer to the touch.
- Pour the milk into the bowl of a stand mixer with the sugar then sprinkle the yeast on top and stir it around. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes until frothy (this is so you know the yeast is active and not expired).
- Add the flour, salt, egg yolks and melted butter and use the dough hook to give it a stir together.
- Attach the dough hook and knead on the low setting for about 7-10 minutes until it looks elastic and quite smooth. You can also knead by hand for 12-15 minutes but try not to add too much flour or you’ll end up with dry donuts.
- Grease a large bowl with a little oil. Place the doughnut dough into the bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let it sit in a warm (not hot) spot for 1 – 1 ½ hours until doubled in size.
- SHAPE THE DOUGHNUTS:Line a large baking sheet with baking paper.
- On a lightly floured surface, gently roll out the dough to about 1.5cm thick (just over ½ inch). Dip a 7.5cm (3 inch) round cookie cutter into flour then cut rounds from the dough – try to get as many from the first roll as possible. Lay each one onto the baking sheet. Cover with a tea towel and put in a warm spot to rise until puffy and nearly doubled in size (45-60 minutes).
- You can re-knead any remaining dough to a small, smooth ball and let it rest for 15 minutes before rolling and cutting more doughnuts. Place them with the others to rise.
- COOKING THE DOUGHNUTS:Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan forced) / 350F. See notes for deep frying.
- Bake donuts right on the baking sheet they proved on for 10 minutes. They will just be starting to turn golden. You can test they’re done but inserting a thermometer – it should read 88C / 190F for a properly cooked donut.
- Transfer to a cooling rack and cool slightly before filling. If they’re too hot, the filling may become runny.
- FOR THE CINNAMON SUGAR:Place the sugar and cinnamon into a medium bowl and mix it together.
- Brush the donuts liberally with the melted butter, using your hand to help coat them all over.
- Use your dry hand to roll and dust the donuts, one at a time, through the sugar, tossing and rolling it around to coat well.
- Press the handle end of a teaspoon into the side or top of your donuts and wiggle it around a little to create some space for the jam.
- FILLING THE DONUTS:Transfer the jam to a piping bag with a round or long piping nozzle.
- Push the nozzle into the hole made in the donut and gently squeeze to fill with jam. Let the resistance from the jam tell you when to remove it.
- Best eaten while fresh.
- Please take a moment to leave a comment & rating. It's appreciated and so helpful.
Notes
- For best results, you should always weigh ingredients like flour and sugar. Kitchen scales are relatively cheap but if you can’t weigh the ingredients, use the spoon and level method (don’t scoop).
- YIELD: You’ll get 10-12 donuts from this batch depending on the exact size of your cookie cutter.
- DEEP FRYING METHOD: If you prefer to deep fry your donuts, heat 2 litres (quarts) oil (use a vegetable oil like canola oil or sunflower oil) in a large saucepan to between 170C-180C (340F-350F). Try to keep it at that temperature the entire time. Place 2-3 donuts into the hot oil using a slotted spoon. Don’t overcrowd the pan. Cook for 1 ½ – 2 minutes each side. Transfer to a wire rack over a baking sheet lined with paper towel to drain for a few minutes. You can test the temperature after removing them from the oil – it should reach 88C / 190F for a properly cooked donut. Proceed with the coating and filling from there.
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2 Comments on “Jam Doughnuts”
I just made these and they were a hits So easy to make and even better that they’re not fried. My boys absolutely love them and are asking for more!
So happy you love them, Misha. Thanks for making my recipe 🙂