Baked and Filled Donuts!

Don’t let your imagination stop at just jelly filled or pastry cream, the fillings and toppings for these amazing BAKED donuts are endless! Like fried donuts, these are better eaten on the same day they are baked, but that won’t be a problem.... they aren’t greasy or heavy feeling like a fried donut... yes they are slightly bread-like, lets be honest here, it’s a baked donut! But the dough is light and just sweet enough and best of all the dough yields perfectly to whatever filling you decide to use And if your filling is sturdy enough, like the guava paste filled ones I made, they can be pre-filled before baking!

Now let’s make the dough!

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups of flour plus more for dusting

1/4 cup of white granulated sugar

1/2-1 teaspoon of salt (I use 1 teaspoon!)

2 1/4 teaspoons instant or fast acting yeast (the size of one little packet) *you can use regular active yeast as well which I have done, just adjust your rising time a little bit as with all rising times, it all depends on the temperature of your ingredients and of your room!

3/4 cup whole milk- yes whole! Heated to 110-120 degrees

3 tablespoons of melted butter for the dough plus 3 more tablespoons of melted butter for brushing the donuts as soon as they get out of the oven (You will brush them with butter no matter what topping or filling you choose-do NOT skip that last step!)

2 large egg yolks at room temp

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Filling of choice, about 1/2 cup

topping of choice: sugar, powdered sugar, icing etc... up to you!

1. In a large bowl mix together the flour, sugar, salt, and yeast and make a well

in the middle.

2. whisk together your warmed milk with 3 tablespoons of melted butter, vanilla and egg yolks and add this mixture to the dry ingredients.

3. Mix as much as you can by hand until the dough comes together by kneading it in the bowl.

4. When you have the dough in a rough ball dump out onto a lightly floured surface and knead by hand for about 8-10 minutes. Lightly dust with flour as needed to be able to knead it into a uniform ball of dough. 5. Wipe out the bowl and lightly oil it, it’s ok if there are bits of flour etc left from making the dough. Put the dough in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap.

6. Let rise at room temp until doubled. It took the dough about 45 minutes to an hour in my kitchen which is about 70-75 degrees. 7. When the dough is doubled, dump out onto a floured surface and roll out to about 1/2 an inch thick. 8. Using a 2-2 1/2 inch cookie or biscuit cutter (I found better results with the biscuit cutter that has a handle) cut out circles and place them on a parchment lined baking sheet. You can re-roll scraps once to cut more circles out. You may need to knead for a minute or two and then let the dough rest 5-10 minutes before cutting out the circles. If you want to fill them at this point with something like guava paste cut a small square of guava paste and put it in the center of the dough circle. Closed the dough around the filling and pinch the dough until it is well sealed and place pinched side down on the baking sheet. You should get 10-13 donuts depending on your cutter.

9. Cover the baking sheet with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel and let rise for 30-45 minutes. You want the dough circles to look puffy and not quite doubled in height. 10. While the dough rises again preheat oven to 375 and melt the other 3 tablespoons of butter in a small saucepan and have that ready with a pastry brush.

11. When the dough is puffy and slightly risen place the baking sheet in the oven and bake 10-12 minutes. My first batch of 10 took 10 minutes and my second batch of 13 took 12 minutes. What you are looking for is a light brown top.

12. As soon as they come out of the oven brush the tops and bottoms with melted butter. Be careful bc they are hot!!!

13. If you plan to roll them in white sugar or cinnamon sugar do it now. If you plan to frost them or sprinkle with powdered sugar let them cool before doing so.

14. With a thin knife or something like the thicker end of a chopstick poke a hole into the side of the donut but don’t go all the way through. Wiggle the knife or chopstick around in every direction lightly to open up the space for the filling. 15. If using jelly or jam you can fill them while warm. For other fillings wait until cooled a bit. 16. Using a pastry bag with a donut filler tip or a circle tip fill the donuts slowly with as much filling as your donut will hold. Go slow! They are easy to overfill! If you don’t have a pastry bag or a special tip you can use a ziplock back holding your filling, just cut a small corner off and fill that way or also paper cones made from parchment work like a charm!

I have made jelly filled with white sugar topping, jelly filled with powdered sugar topping, buttercream filled with powdered sugar icing and sprinkles as well as a pre-filled version using guava paste and then topped with a cream cheese frosting. They all work beautifully and taste amazing! Enjoy!

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