Blackberry Jam filled Donuts

When I was growing up as a child, in Portugal, I remember that one of my favorite things to eat were the Bolas de Berlim.  These wonderful donuts filled with vanilla cream inside, I mean, anytime we would go to a Pastelaria, that is what I would order, or the Piramides....OH my, haven't had one of those in about 20 years.

But since moving to South Africa and then here to the States, I haven't had any, other than jam or custard filled donuts, which I adore just as much.

With all things baking wise, I usually shy away, I am more of a cook and have never been much of a good baker, for some reason dough and stuff like that just scares the bejeebers out of me, but over the past few years I've been trying to conquer that fear and just get my hands in the dough, so to speak.



These are actually pretty easy to make and though there are many recipes out there, I went with one from What's Cookin, Chicago, which is actually a recipe for Paczki which is a Polish Jam filled Donut.  It's basically the same thing.  The reason I am using this recipe today is because the one I usually make is in Portuguese and in grams, liters etc and I am being super lazy today and don't feel like converting stuff.  There I said it LOL

Anyway, here it is, go make yourself some of these and then make sure you hide one at least before they disappear off the plate.

Blackberry Jam Filled Donuts

recipe from What's Cookin, Chicago?

4 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons nonfat dry milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 large egg
1/2 cup water
3 tablespoons shortening
2 1/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour
6 cups vegetable oil for frying
1 cup raspberry jam or jelly, for filling
Granulated or confectioner's sugar, for dusting

In a medium sized mixing bowl or bowl of your stand mixer, combine the yeast, sugar, dry milk, salt, baking powder, egg, water, shortening and flour. Knead the dough with the dough hook attachment until it's smooth and supple, adding additional flour as needed. Cover the dough and allow it to rise for 1 hour; it won't rise much, if at all. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased work surface.

Divide the dough into 8 pieces. Round each piece into a ball, then flatten each ball slightly. Place the balls on a lightly greased or parchment lined cookie sheet, cover them with creased plastic wrap, and allow them to rest for 2-2 1/2 hours. Again, they won't rise much.



About 10 minutes before the end of the rising time, heat the oil in a deep fryer or in a deep saucepan and heat slowly to 375 degrees.

Fry the donuts, two to four at a time (depending on the capacity of your pan) for 3 minutes on each side or until they're a deep brown, but not burned. Transfer them to a paper towel lined cooling rack to drain.



When the cool enough to handle, fill them with about 2 tablespoons of blackberry jam or jelly each. An easy way to do this is with a cookie press pr pastry bag equipped with a filling tube. Or you can use a thin spoon and make a hole in the doughnut and spoon the jam/jelly in the middle. After filling, roll in sugar.