Dunkin’ Donuts and Krispy Kreme are the places to go for doughnuts in the USA. In Canada, it’s Tim Horton’s (or Timmies, as it’s better known) all the way. Back in the day, each Timmies’ location baked its own doughnuts, tailoring the flavour selections to local tastes. The Grimsby store, just before the border on the way to Cape Cod, was one of the few stores featuring my all-time favourite, cherry-filled doughnuts. Sadly for us cherry doughnut fans, Tim Horton’s was acquired by Wendy’s and each store began to carry the same selection, prepared offsite and “finished” at the store. ‘Nuff said…
Fresh out of the oven.
Baked doughnuts were among my first forays into yeast bread. I was delighted to discover how easy they were—just zap some Bon Maman Cherry Preserves with the immersion blender, mix up the yeast dough and a couple of steps later you’ve got a puffy, cloud-like confection that rivals the best commercially-prepared doughnut. As they’re baked, rather than fried, they verge on virtuous.
Brushed with melted butter.
Don’t let the rising time put you off— just set a timer and get on with your day. If you spend the waiting time catching up on household chores, you’ll have a wonderful reward waiting for you. Manifold virtues!
Dusted with confectioners’ sugar.
Besides, you can finally use that weird nozzle thing that came with your piping tip kit.
Oozing with cherry goodness.
Cherry Filled Baked Donuts
Light, puffy and sublimely delicious, these baked doughnuts are as good as doughnuts get. They’re borderline healthy!
Ingredients
- 300 g or 2 ½ c all-purpose flour, divided
- 50 g or ¼ c granulated sugar
- ¼ tsp salt
- 7 g or 2 ¼ g instant yeast quick acting
- 163 g or 2/3 cup warm milk (110˚F)
- 57 g or 4 tbsp unsalted butter melted, divided
- 2 egg yolks
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 100 g or 1/3 c cup jelly or jam (zip any chunks with an immersion blender)
- 62 g or ½ c confectioners’ sugar (for dusting)
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk 120 g or 1 c flour, ¼ c sugar, 7 g (2 ¼) instant yeast and ¼ tsp salt. Add the warm milk, 40 g or 3 tbsp melted butter, 2 egg yolks and ½ tsp vanilla extract. Whisk vigorously to combine well. Cover with plastic wrap and rest at room temperature until bubbles form on the surface (10 minutes).
- Switch to the dough hook. Add the remaining 180 g or 1 ½ c flour. Knead until elastic and no longer sticking to the sides (5 minutes). Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in bulk (1 ½ hour at room temperature).
- Centre a rack in the oven and preheat to 375°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough to just under ½” thick. Using a 2 ½” biscuit cutter, cut out 12 circles, rerolling scraps as needed. Place the doughnuts on the prepared baking sheet, cover with a tea towel and let rise until puffed (45 minutes).
- Bake until lightly golden on top (10-12 minutes).
- Melt the remaining 1 tbsp butter. As the doughnuts come out of the oven, brush them with butter and dust with confectioners’ sugar.
- Once the doughnuts are cool, fit a piping bag with the Bismark piping tip and add the jam or jelly to the bag. Gently thrust the piping tip into the side of each doughnut and squeeze in a dollop of jam or jelly.
- Told you it was fun and easy!
Notes
Adapted from Natasha’s Kitchen.
Dear Helen,
Hello from cool Basque Country!
Bismarks, Berliners, krapfen; this puff has many names. We used to get them on the way to school. Yours look lovely, but some time do yourself a favour and get your hands on some Darbo jam. If you’ve done all that work, why not use the best? I don’t find Bonne Maman quite complements the effort that yeast-dough making presents. It has only 50% fruit; Darbo has 80%, and they’ve been making it since 1879 in Tirol.. I wonder about filling these with Cointreau-scented creme anglaise? Yum,
I have procured some Darbo jam! Thanks for the tip, Beatrice. Now I have a perfect excuse to make another batch of doughnuts and comparison taste test it. Hehehe.
And while we are at it, we shall certainly try some Cointreau-scented creme Anglaise. In for a penny….
OMG. I have a baseball playing athlete nephew who has one favorite: fruit jam donuts. I sent this recipe on to him Mom.
Cherry & also cranberry jams, wines and dried fruits all very plentiful in Door County Wisconsin. Lucky us!
My business partner has a place in Door County, and we’ve very much enjoyed the abundance of all things cherry when we visited. Beautiful part of the world!