Blueberry & Raspberry Jelly Doughnuts for a Happy Chanukah
Chanukah is a celebration not only of lights and tradition, but also of scrumptious foods fried in oil. Potato latkes smothered in fresh applesauce, jelly-filled doughnuts called sufganiyot – both these foods are as much a part of Chanukah as lighting the candles of the chanukkiyah. Not bad as far as religious observances go eh? 
I wrote about Chanukah a couple years ago when I shared a recipe for beignets, so I won’t go into too much detail here. But in a nutshell: Chanukah is an eight day holiday that commemorates when the Jews revolted against Emperor Antiochus IV after he outlawed the practice of Judaism. Eventually they regained control of the Temple in Jerusalem, but before it could be used the Temple had to be purified by burning holy oil for eight days. There was only enough oil for one day, but in a leap of faith the Jews began the ritual, and that small quantity of oil burned for the full eight days. This is why Chanukah is celebrated for eight days, and why foods fried in oil are traditional fare during the holiday. If there’s one thing you can say for certain, it’s that there’s no such thing as a Jewish holiday or gathering where food doesn’t play a significant role! (You can learn more about Chanukah in my post about beignets here.)
Last night (Sunday) was the first night of Chanukah and we decided to celebrate with sufganiyot and hot chocolate. Sufganiyot are ball-shaped doughnuts that are first fried, then pierced and injected with jelly and sprinkled with powdered sugar. They can also be made by pressing two rounds of dough together with a dollop of jam in between them. The first method is easier, but I prefer the second because you get a more even distrubution of filling inside the doughnut. Sufganiyot are best eaten fresh, while the aroma of warm dough and jelly is at its most intoxicating – I dare you to resist! No, I double dog dare you. We served our sufganyiot with hot chocolate topped with marshmallows, whipped cream and cocoa nibs. It was a comforting combination that could only have been made better by the company of family. But thank goodness that even though we live some 3,000 miles apart we have webcams to keep in touch. I can’t imagine living a century ago, when the distance between us would have been an insurmountable one indeed.
I hope that love and light fill your home and heart this holiday season. 
Don’t forget about the monthly book giveaway! December’s books include one copy each of “Jamie at Home: Cook Your Way to the Good Life,” by Jamie Oliver (donated by Hyperion Books) and “The Weekend Baker: Irresistible Recipes, Simple Techniques, and Stress-Free Strategies for Busy People”, by Abigail Johnson Dodge.
Also, I need your help picking January’s books! Although one slot has already been filled I’m looking for 1-2 more books to give away next month. Would you help me pick them by sharing your top picks from the books listed in my Amazon store? (It can be any book in the store, not just on the front page.) I own all of those books and would rather add a cookbook I’m familiar with to the giveaway. Please share your choices in the comments section of this post & I’ll keep a running tally. Thank you!
Sufganiyot
Adapted from this Epicurious.com recipe.
- Ingredients: Makes about 20 doughnuts
- 1 cup whole milk
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 package active dry yeast (2 1/2 teaspoons)
- 2 tablespoons warm water
- 3 1/2 to 3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour plus additional for dusting
- About 10 cups vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 cup fruit preserves or jam, such as blueberry, raspberry or strawberry (Some ingenious readers have suggested other fillings like nutella, apple butter and pumpkin butter in the comments. All good ideas if you ask me!)
- Confectioners sugar for dusting
Special equipment: 1 (2-inch) and 1 (2 1/2-inch) round cookie cutter; a deep-fat thermometer.
Heat the milk in the microwave until warm, about 40-50 seconds. Set aside to cool. In a large bowl dissolve the yeast in 2 tablespoon of warm water. Allow to stand for 5 minutes until foamy. (If the yeast doesn’t foam, discard and start over with fresh yeast.)
Add the lukewarm milk to the yeast, then the sugar, spices, salt, 2 tablespoons of oil and eggs. Add flour 1 cup at a time, mixing with a wooden spoon between additions, until the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl and is too stiff to stir.
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead in remaining flour. You can use additional flour as needed to prevent sticking, sprinkling 1 tablespoon of flour on the dough at a time. Knead dough for 5 to 8 minutes, until the dough is smooth and bounces back when you press your thumb into it. Grease a large bowl with about 1 teaspoon of oil, then transfer the dough to the bowl and turn once to coat. Allow to rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours.
** See alternate instructions below if you want to make jelly doughnuts by piercing the finished doughnuts. **
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll out with a floured rolling pin until 1/2 inch thick. Cutout rounds with 2-inch round cookie cutter. Stretch one round to 2 1/2 inches and put one teaspoon jam in center, then stretch another round to 2 1/2 inches and use it to cover jam, pinching edges of rounds firmly together. (Pinching will stretch doughnuts to about 3 inches in diameter.) Make more jelly doughnuts in same manner. Cut through filled doughnuts with a floured 2 1/2-inch round cookie cutter, rotating the cutter several times to help seal edges. Transfer doughnuts to a sheet of parchment paper. Put a small amount of oil in your hands, rub your palms together, then lightly touch the tops of the doughnuts to coat with oil. Allow the doughnuts to rise for 30 minutes.
While doughnuts rise, heat about 4 inches of oil (about 10 cups) in a deep 4-quart pot until it registers 375°F on your thermometer. Fry doughnuts 2 at a time, turning occasionally, until puffed and golden brown. The first two doughnuts will brown VERY quickly, so keep an eye on them. Fry doughnuts about 30 seconds on each side, turning them with a metal skimmer once they’ve browned on the bottom. Transfer to a cooling rack over paper towels to drain. Serve warm, dusted with confectioners sugar.
* Alternate instructions: After the dough has risen in the bowl, turn out onto lightly floured surface. Tear off pieces of dough and roll into balls using the palms of your hands. The size of the dough balls depends on how big you want the doughnuts to be, but don’t go too big or the dough in the center of the ball won’t cook through. Set aside on parchment paper to rise for 30 minutes.
Fry balls of dough in oil as above, remove to cooling rack to drain. Add about 1/2 cup of jelly or preserves to a small ziploc bag. Using scissors, cut off the tip of one of the bottom corners of the bag. Close the bag. Repeat for other ziploc bags if using more than one flavor. Using a knife, make a small hole in each doughnut. Carefully pick up your ziploc bag and push the jelly over towards the open tip. Insert tip into the doughnut hole and squeeze to fill it with jelly. Dust with powdered sugar and enjoy!
Hot Chocolate
- Ingredients: Makes 4 servings
- 4 cups whole milk
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- Possible garnishes: whipped cream, marshmallows, cocoa nibs, cinnamon sticks, extra sugar, freshly grated nutmeg
In a medium saucepan combine milk and sugar over medium-low heat, whisking gently. Add cocoa powder 1 tablespoon at a time, whisking between additions. If small clumps of cocoa powder form use the whisk to break them apart. When the mixture is hot transfer to mugs and garnish according to taste.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE:- Blueberry-Raspberry Honey-Butter Glazed Scones
- Chanukah Beignets!
- Vetekrans (and Happy New Year!)
- Hazelnut Raspberry Cake
- Whole Wheat Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes
- Alton Brown’s Blueberry Muffins
- Spur of the Moment Blueberry Zucchini Bread
- Banana Blueberry Quick Bread
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106 Responses to “Blueberry & Raspberry Jelly Doughnuts for a Happy Chanukah”
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thank you!! I’d like to attempt these this year. I did order some from the bakery as a back-up tho! LOL PS someone on Twitter mentioned nutella sufganyot & I just about died!
nancy´s last blog post -> Galette: I made this zucchini-lemon-ricotta galette for Sunday…
nancy » Sounds amazing! You could totally fill the doughnuts here with nutella.
Oh my gosh, those are perfect and gorgeous! I’ve always wanted to try making jelly filled doughnuts, but it seems so tricky, lol. Happy Chanukah!
Elle´s last blog post -> Holiday Baking, Week 5: The EASIEST Chocolate Truffles you’ll ever make
It looks delicious! definitely worth a try!
These look absolutely amazing!!
The jelly donuts look absolutely gorgeous!!and delicious!
Man, I don’t even have a menorah this year! If I didn’t have a general disdain for grating potatoes, though, I’d probably have latkes.
As for my favourites of your top pick Amazon books, definitely Bittman’s new vegetarian book is the one I most want, followed by the Sweet Melissa Baking Book.
Judith´s last blog post -> Well You’re Just Plum Crazy!
What gorgeous doughnuts! A delightful treat! Yummy!
Happy Hannukkah!
Cheers,
Rosa
STUNNING!!
Wishing you a Happy Hanukkah!!
VeggieGirl´s last blog post -> 5 Announcements – 4.5 Minutes
Thanks for sharing this. I love reading about others’ holiday traditions.
sprite´s last blog post -> my d.c.: holiday market
Damn, now I’m going to have to have jelly doughnuts asap.
And hot chocolate, too!
P.S. Thank you for this informative post. Happy Chanukah, Ari!
These look amazing! Thanks for sharing the recipe – bookmarking immediately!
I love that you share your traditional recipes with us! As I am not Jewish, i am not extremely familiar with the customs and traditions, but I am so happy to learn and share in the good food! I definitely think that the Bread Baker’s Apprentice looks fabulous and should be on your January giveaway.
These look amazing! I considered making jelly doughnuts last night, but I have to admit the deep frying part is a little intimidating. I saw a recipe for baked jelly doughnuts in a recent issue of Cooking Light – I’m sure they’re not as good, but I might try them.
Wow, these look absolutely scrumptious! I’ve loved jelly-filled doughnuts since I was a kid, especially raspberry ones. =)
Happy Hanukah!
My boyfriend would die for these. I’ve never tried doughnuts because I’m scared that if I know how to make them, I’ll never stop eating them. Deadly, they are. Yours look incredible! Happy Hanukah!
DD´s last blog post -> me want honeycomb
Happy Chanukah! I’ve been wanting to make doughnuts for ages but am still scared by the boiling oil bit! K x
kristina´s last blog post -> holiday greetings
These look great! Happy Chanukah Ari!
Wow your doughnut looks so appetizing. I bet they’d be great with some Nutella. Yumm.
Nice easy recipe for hot chocolate too.
I can’t wait to make these.
For January – I’d say ‘the weekend baker’ of ‘baking with julie’ would be great. And though I couldn’t see it in your store, I have to suggest Baking from my home to yours by Dorie Greenspan. I wouldn’t be able to live without my copy, for sure.
The doughnuts looked super!
I think that the book giveaway for January should include the Big Book of Breakfast.I made some muffins today so I have breakfast on my mind!
Delicious. And it would probably work with non-jelly fillings (like pumpkin or apple butter) too. I will have to make some for the holiday brunch this week!
l like your page so much,recipes so delicios..
Who doesn’t like a good donut! Breakfast or dessert, just perfect! Yours look absolutely delicious. Oh and I would love to see the Neiman Marcus cookbook. I always love looking through their amazing catalog of dishes and treats.
Culinarywannabe´s last blog post -> The Wifesaver
As always, another delicious looking recipe. I may have to ask hubby if we can try these one day. Of course we have not made our own latkes since the boys were born (no time).
Happy Chanukah to you and your family
TheAngelForever´s last blog post -> Happy Chanukah 2008
These sound great. I wonder how close they are to the Polish paczki we have around here. My pick for a book recommendation is Hot Sour Salty Sweet by Jeffery Alford. I’m reading his and Naomi’s Beyond The Great Wall book right now – one of the most fascinating cookbooks I have ever read.
Janel´s last blog post -> Round Two
Oh these look amazingly delicious. I saw something like these on a french website, but there was no translation. I was so upset. But here is something just like them! Thank You!
Melissa » Glad I could be of assistance! Hope you have fun making these, they’re super yummy.
Janel » I love all the Jeffery Alford books too! Their books are part cookbook, part travelogue, part armchair adventure.
How yummy!
Wishing you and yours a Happy Chanukah!
Happy Chanukah!
For January I vote for The Good Enough to Eat Breakfast Cookbook or
Baking with Julia.
I hope that love and light fill your home and heart this holiday season too, Ari
Amazing. I could eat dozens. I’d love them with nutella too. Happy Chanukah!
Syrie » Thank you! And yes, nutella sufganiyot would be awesome. I may have to make another batch just to indulge in that variation… shucks.
Ann » Thank you for the well wishes! Have a beautiful holiday. (And The Good Enough to Eat book is AMAZING… good pick.)
Denise » Thank you! Happy Chanukah to you too, or Happy Holidays, whichever works.
TheAngelForever » Maybe you can make a date night of it? Just you and the hubby, making doughnuts after the kiddos are asleep. Sounds romantic to me!
Culinarywannabe » The Neiman Marcus cookbook is great! Good choice.
Seanna Lea » You are a genius! For sure those butters would be an amazing filling (may have to edit the post to reflect all these incredible suggestions)
OMG – I totally love this…and with hot chocolate…such a winner!
-DTW
http://www.everydaycookin.blogspot.com
Darius T. Williams´s last blog post -> No Real Post…
You are so right. Eating them fresh while still warm and their aroma is in the air is the best.They look truly amazing!
Oooh, these sound good. Hope I have some time to make them.
Chanuka Sameach!
Oh, if only I could reach into the photo and get a donut
They look and sound amazing. Thank you also for the background, I always love to learn a bit more of different customs. You have a knack for making history very interesting.
My book choice is The Top of Spaghetti.
Happy Chanukah!
Beautiful! Happy Chanukah!
Martha Stewart’s Cookies: The Very Best Tre…
by Martha Stewart Living Magazine
Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Herme
by Dorie Greenspan
These 2 books would make super giveaways!
Happy Chanukah
Happy Holday to you!!
My vote would be for vegetarian planet. Thanks for being so generous with the giveaways.
Happy Chanukah Ari to you and yours. I loved reading about the explanation of the 8 days of celebration. My daughter’s best friends from school is Jewish and we were recently introduced Mondel Bread. I don’t think I could resist the doughnuts, I wouldn’t even try!
I see you like ×¡×•×¤×’× ×™×•×ª better than לביבות… So do I.
Strawberry jam as the filling is my all time favorite!
Happy Hanukkah!
frankly, if i’m gonna splurge and eat a donut or 12, i want them to be jelly-filled. happy holidays to you and yours, ari!
ohhh these look so yummy! i’m going to have to try these out! if only i had seen them a bit earlier, i would’ve made them for my brother in law for Hanukkah!
I think we will make these tomorrow morning! YUM!
I would love to have Arabesque It’s been in my Amazon cart for awhile now.
Happy Holidays
These look absolutely delicious! Your blog is great!
Happy holidays Ari
Whoa. These look amazing! Hope you have a wonderful holiday.
+Jessie
a.k.a. The Hungry Mouse
Happy Chanakah to you too. I was unable to get any this year. I may have to go to Dunkin Donuts this year.
I love these! I didn’t get to make any this year, but I may cheat and make some once vacation is over and I’m back home!
MMMmmm I have a batch of homemade blueberry marmelade waiting for this recipe!! thanks!
Oh WOW – those look amazing!! Happy Chanukkah!!
CookiePie – Happy Chanukah! Hope your holidays are shweet.
Your picture sounds yummy! It is so appetizing that I feel like I need to have one NOW!
Thanks for sharing the recipe with us.
I vote for baking from my home to yours by Dorie Greenspan
Cookingehtnusiast – Dorie is always a great way to go, she’s awesome! Thank you for your feedback and happy holidays.
These look incredible! My husband loves filled dounuts, he would go crazy for these. Thank you for explaining Chanukah, I enjoyed it. I hope your holidays are filled with love and family.
Bunny – Thank you! Hope you get a chance to make these for your husband, he will love them.
hey ariela! love the sufganiyot – tried your recipe and they were delicious! we also made sephardic (bimuelos) with orange zest in the dough and drizzled with a honey-orange glaze. chag chanukah same’ach!!
Alix – Hey you! So glad you enjoyed the recipe and your bimuelos sound delicious! Hope you and your family have a very happy chanukah.
Happy Chanukah Ari! Another wonderful looking recipe to try.
If I were to pick some books I would choose Olive Trees & Honey ( or even if you could recommend a great vegetarian book since you have them and know more now) or Any of your great bread books. I like the ones with pictures and such, makes it so much more fun
Bread baker’s Apprentice maybe? I know the Artisan in 5 was just done (sadly I didn’t win 
but fun waiting to see who does each month)
though i haven’t made “fried” treats at home these certainly have me tempted. they look delicious.
what about one of the moosewood cook books – perhaps the desset one?
happy holidays.
Oh yum these look wonderful. I want to reach into the screen and eat them! Have a wonderful Christmas.
Katie – Thanks, hope you have a Merry Christmas too.
Wow – amazing how delicious it looks! One would be so good with my coffee right now!
Happy Holidays to you and yours!!
As you know, we are not making our own sufganyot this year, because of my sister (yes, excellent excuse). I don’t even know why I’m back on this page, because I came to look for the molasses-spice cookies but now that I’m back, I really want to make these donuts, dammit. Anyway, it was really hard but I picked two books from your store for your next give-away: The Bread Bible and the Deborah Madison book, Vegetarian Cooking For Everyone.
Now let’s hope I win. (again. selfish, I know!!)
Nancy – You should make them then! They don’t require THAT much work.
Ari – your donuts look scrumptious as your baking always does! I always love reading your blog. I hope you don’t mind if I correct you on part of the Chanukah story. You wrote: “Eventually they regained control of the Temple in Jerusalem, but before it could be used the Temple had to be purified by burning holy oil for eight days.” Actually, the oil was needed for lighting the menorah in the Beit HaMikdash (Temple). As you wrote, they only found enough pure oil (sealed by the Kohen Gadol (High Priest) in a jar) to last one day. Miraculously, it lasted 8 days which gave them enough time to produce more pure olive oil so that they could continue lighting the Menorah on a daily basis.
Happy Chanukah to you!
Talia – Yes…. that’s pretty much what I wrote. If you are correcting that fact that I didn’t specifically mention the menorah or the fact that more oil took 8 days to produce, those aspects are mentioned in the longer Chanukah write up in the beignets post (linked above). This version was, as I said, very much abbreviated! I can’t rewrite the Chanukah story every year, after all. Also don’t think it’s worth going into that much detail since many folks are quickly passing through here this time of year and just want the “gist” of the holiday, not the historical overview. (In which case, we could also argue that Judah was working against the many assimilated Jews who were happily Hellenized and didn’t want to practice Judaism the way he believed they should… and in that case, the holiday isn’t completely about religious freedom is it? But that much detail ruins the aura of the story.)
These are amazing!
Happy Chanukah!
We don’t eat many fried foods (bad stomachs around my house) but these do sound and look delicious. You always take such great pictures of your food!
Happy Chanukah!
Ari – you’re right that the Chanukah story is too long to post each year and that most pple probably don’t have time to read about it anyway. The point I was making (I read your longer Chanukah post that you linked to) was that the burning of the oil in the Menorah wasn’t to purify the Temple after the defilements. Rather, it was a resumption of the daily service of lighting the Menorah in the Temple that took place all year long, not just on Chanukah.
Talia – I think we’re both right. Part of re-dedicating the Temple was relighting the Ner Tamid (which did not involve a Menorah) and another part was resuming the daily services (which did). The holy oil did play a part in purifying the Temple after the defilements – but really, if I went into detail about the Ner Tamid vs. a Menorah vs. a Chanukiah, I think only a small segment of people would be interested in that much detail. However, having Masters degrees in Jewish Studies and Jewish Education, I certainly appreciate where you’re coming from in wanting to nail down the nitty gritty bits of Chanukah history.
Happy Holidays….These look delish and I’m thinking that any of the books would make a great giveaway, but as a non vegetarian I would be interested to learn more about vegetarian cooking so any of those would be my top pick.
Jan – Happy Holidays to you too!
Thanks for the recipe. It might just be enough to encourage me to get over my fear of frying! In the meantime, it’s Dunkin Donuts for my family.
Barbara – There are 2 things to keep in mind when frying: 1, monitor the temperature of your oil with a fat oil or candy thermometer; 2, be very careful about adding anything to the oil that has a lot of liquid. If the temperature is too hot your food will quickly burn to a crisp, and if you, for instance, let a drop of water fall into the oil it would sputter a lot – nothing horrible, but a little scary if you don’t know to expect it. Otherwise you’re good! Give it a try.
Looks really good. I’d like to try this.
Best wishes,
Paz
Oh my. How I would love these for breakfast tomorrow!
Those jelly donuts look so yummy. I think I might like to try the blueberry donuts with fresh blueberry jam.
Merry Christmas!
What is most appealing about your donut recipe is the obvious lightness of the dough (air pockets). The recipe seems easy enough for the beginner. My plan is to switch out traditional berries and use lingonberries and huckleberries.
Other creative fillings that you mentioned, Nutella, etc, also sound appealing and have me thinking marzipan and chocolate.
Thanks for the posting.
Those doughnuts look sooooo good! Count another vote for The Good Enough to Eat Breakfast Cookbook, which looks interesting and tempting.
Oh boy, those look so delicious, must add to the try list before I start my new year’s resolutions!
oh my gosh, these look so good! my friend wanted me to make them for hanukkah, but I totally chickened out
a wonderful blog no doubt.
ur blog has enough for the treat of my eyes.
mouthwatering indeed.
YUM! these are definitely going in my must try file!
Boy, those would be delicious filled with homemade strawberry jam. Mmmm….I can practically taste them!
These donuts have been on my mind all week, I am going to try to make them this weekend! I’m going to try for a raspberry filling, yummm!
PS, without a thermometer, isn’t there a method that uses a bread cube to let you know when the oil is just right?
Lanelle – Honestly, I wouldn’t recommend making these without a thermometer (it only costs about $10-$15). It’s not just that the oil needs to be hot, it’s that it needs to be at that specific temperature in order to prevent over-frying or under-frying the doughnuts. True, you could just put the doughnuts into the oil and hope it’s hot enough – but if it’s too hot they will burn, and if it’s not hot enough then they’ll have to cook longer, which will lead to oily doughnuts. (When cooked at the right temperature doughnuts do not come out oily.) Sorry I don’t have a work around for you!
Oh my gosh! Those look SO good!
I wanted to wish you a Happy Chanakah. I wrote to you on my wrong blog site. I have a secular and a Jewish books( not religious). I love your blog. I am going to try making the jelly doughnuts ( Sugivignout I think) next year with your recipe.
I would love to see Essence of Chocolate or Bakewise in the giveaway!
I could get fat just READING your blog. You keep me drooling and reading. Thank you!
Barb – No, thank you for reading my site! It’s really a pleasure to have you here.
amazing !! I could eat tons of them
Aw, it’s too bad that I’m seeing these after Chanukah is over. I’m bookmarking them for next year, though! Thank you for the recipe!
3,000 miles apart? Who lives so far away? And sorry that I missed it – hope you had a lovely hannukah
Yummmm. Yum. Yum. Yummmmmmmmmm. (: izazbz at yahoo dot com
One of my favorite parts of Hanukkah is the donuts! I usually go to a German bakery near my house to get some but maybe this year I will make them myself. Great recipe!