Homemade Jelly Donuts (Berliners)

Light as air, these homemade jelly donuts, also known as Berliners, are pure magic! They’re so fluffy, so light and not too sweet! Let me show how to make these treats, step by step. 

Oh my goodness, I’m so excited to finally share with you these treats!! 

If you love donuts, you’re in for a treat! And I’m not talking about the baked cake donuts.

No, no. I’m talking about the yeast-based, deep-fried real donuts here!!!

(Doughnuts, perhaps? 😉 )

But before you run away, hear me out. While we’re working with yeast here, there is absolutely nothing to be intimidated about. I’m about to walk you through the entire process with lots of step by step photos. 

So hang in there… We can get through this together, and I promise you, at the end of this process, you’ll be rewarded. Oh yes, the reward is unreal! Just look at this!! 

Ok, without further ado, let’s get started!

HOW TO MAKE HOMEMADE JELLY DONUTS

Step 1. Make the dough

For this donut recipe, I highly recommend using a stand mixer to make the dough, as it makes the job so much easier. You’ll be kneading the dough for at least 20 minutes total in the mixer. But don’t let this step discourage you. Stand mixer does the job beautifully.

Whisk the dry ingredients with a whisk attachment. In another bowl, mix the wet ingredients. Then combine dry and wet ingredients together using a dough hook attachment.

Once the dough is formed, add salt and unsalted butter and mix again until the dough is smooth and shiny.

Don’t panic at this stage as the dough will look too soft, too sticky. Just a mess! But it’s totally normal. Let the mixer do its job. It’ll be at least 10 minutes, so go ahead and have a cup of tea.

And in about 10-15 minutes, your sticky soft dough magically will turn into a beautiful shiny dough like this. It’ll still be soft, but it won’t be as sticky. See? It easily unsticks from my fingers.

Cover the dough with a kitchen towel and place it in a warm place to rise for about 1 hour.

Step 2. Shape the donuts

Once the dough is doubled in size, turn it onto a lightly floured surface and divide it into 2 equal parts.

Then roll each dough into ¼-inch thick rectangle and cut out 3-inch circles. I use this pastry cutter, but you can use anything, a cookie cutter, a drinking glass, etc.

Arrange the cut donuts on a lightly floured baking sheet, lined with parchment paper. Cover the donuts and let them rise for another hour or so.

Step 3. Fry the donuts

You can use any kind of oil for deep frying. I usually use canola oil.

Make sure to use nice heavy-bottomed pot for deep-frying. My handy Dutch oven works perfectly.

We need to heat the oil until 350°F (180°C).

TIP: If you don’t have a thermometer, here’s an easy way to test the oil. Insert back of a wooden spoon into the hot oil. If the oil shimmers and bubbles around the edges of the wooden stick (see image below), then oil is hot enough for frying.

Don’t fry too many donuts at once. 2 reasons:

1. Overcrowding the pan with too many donuts will drop the oil temperature down. Therefore, your donuts won’t cook through in the middle.
2. Donuts puff up quickly, and some donuts don’t like to turn. So you may need to hold it down to cook it evenly on both sides. If you have too many donuts, some of your donuts will be too brown on one side.

Step 4. Fill the donuts

Transfer the cooked donuts onto a baking sheet, lined with paper towel.

Quite honestly, we prefer to dig into these donuts without filling. While my husband (and sons) loves to roll them in ton of powdered sugar and eat them plain without jelly, I like it with just a little dusting of powdered sugar.

But since we’re here for jelly donuts, let me show you how to fill them with jelly. 🙂

Fill a pastry bag, fitted with small round tip, with seedless jelly. It’s important that you use smooth seedless jelly, or you may plug the pastry tip and won’t be able to fill the donuts. 

If your jelly is too thick, you may add a teaspoon or so water and mix it really well to thin it slightly. My seedless raspberry jelly works beautifully in this jelly donuts, making it a classic Berliner!

But don’t limit your filling options to jellies only! Any kind of filling works great: Nutella, pastry cream, chocolate ganache, lemon curd, anything! 

CAN I BAKE JELLY DONUTS?

And because I know there will be someone curious if you can bake these jelly donuts, I experimented. And I was quite disappointed. Ok, I knew the baked donuts won’t be the best, but I just didn’t expect them to be so subpar next to fried ones.

Baked ones were way denser, more like a bread, while fried donuts were puffy, fluffy, airy and just gorgeous and delightful to eat. See it for yourself!

HOW TO STORE JELLY DONUTS

So truth be told, the freshly made donuts are best when consumed within a few hours. But that doesn’t mean you have to eat more than dozen donuts in one sitting! You can store cooled unfilled donuts at room temperature, covered, for up to 24 hours.

You can also freeze unfilled, unglazed donuts. To freeze, arrange the cooled donuts on a baking sheet, lined with parchment paper, and freeze for 2-3 hours, or until solid. Then transfer into a freezer-safe container, or freezer bag, and freeze for up to 3 months. To thaw, remove from the container/freezer bag and let it defrost at room temperature, or microwave in 15-20-second increments.

In Germany, jelly donuts, or Berliners, are a classic New Year’s Eve treat. And if you’re planning to make it this holiday season, you can also dress them up with festive decorations. 

I glazed the donuts with simple glaze (powdered sugar + lemon juice) and covered with festive sprinkles! Perfect holiday treat indeed!

Hope you’ll enjoy these amazing treats. And if you do, please let me know in the comments below, or share it on social media and tag me @shineshka on Instagram.

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Homemade Jelly Donuts (Berliners)

Light as air, these homemade jelly donuts, also known as Berliners, are pure magic! They’re so fluffy, so light and not too sweet! Let me show how to make these treats, step by step.

Yield: 18-22 donuts

Prep Time:25 minutes

Cook Time:30 minutes

Total Time:3.5 hours (includes dough rising times)

Ingredients:

• 4 cups (500gr) all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup (50gr) sugar
• 1 packet instant yeast
• ¾ cup (180ml) buttermilk
• 2 large eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick (115gr) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• Oil for frying (vegetable or canola oil)
• Powdered sugar for dusting

Directions:

1. To make the dough, in a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar and yeast.
2. In a 2-cup measuring cup, mix together buttermilk, eggs and yolks.
3. Add wet ingredients into the dry.
4. Using a dough hook attachment, mix the dough on low speed until combined, about 3 minutes.
5. Add salt and mix for another minute.
6. Stir in butter and continue to mix until the dough is smooth and shiny and forms into a ball, about 10-15 minutes.
7. Cover the bowl with dough with a kitchen towel and rest in a warm place for about 1 hour.
8. To shape the donuts, turn the dough onto a lightly floured countertop and divide into 2 equal parts.
9. Form each dough into a smooth ball and roll into ¼-inch thick rectangle.
10. Using a 3-inch pastry cutter, cut our 3-inch circles. Arrange the cut circles on a lightly floured baking sheet, lined with parchment paper. Gather the dough scraps into a smooth ball and roll it again to cut out more donuts. Continue until you’re left with small amount of dough, roll it into small donut holes.
11. Cover the shaped donuts with kitchen towel (or plastic wrap) and let the donuts rise for 1 hour.
12. To fry the donuts, in a large Dutch oven, heat 1-inch deep vegetable oil until 350°F (180°C). (TIP: If you don’t have a thermometer, here’s an easy way to test the oil. Insert back of a wooden spoon into the hot oil, if the oil shimmers and bubbles around the edges of the wooden stick (see image in the post above), then oil is hot enough for frying.)
13. Carefully drop 2-3 donuts into the hot oil and fry for 3-4 minutes, turning once half way through. Donuts puff up quickly and some may be stubborn and keep turning onto the same side, so you may need to hold it down with a spider strainer to cook evenly on each side. That’s why it’s important to cook no more than 3 donuts at a time.
14. Remove the cooked donuts onto a baking sheet, lined with paper towel.
15. Once cooled completely, you may fill the donuts with your favorite jelly and dust with powdered sugar.
16. To fill the donuts, place the jelly in a pastry bag fitted with a small round tip. Insert the tip into the side of a donut and squeeze about teaspoon or so jelly into the middle.

All images and text ©Shinee D. for Sweet & Savory

All photographs and content on Sweet & Savory by Shinee is copyright protected, unless otherwise noted. Please do not use any of my photos without my authorization. If you would like to share my recipe, you may re-write the recipe in your own words, or simply link back to this post for the full directions. Thank you for your cooperation!