Chanukah Donut Paloozah Part 2: Jelly Donuts (cheating recipe), Mexican Churros (with spicy Chocolate Sauce) & so much more …

Yay  – Finally Chanukah is officially here! Tonight we light the first candles and the fun begins with Classic Potato Latkes, a couple of gifts for the little one, and of course – DONUTS!  But not just any Donuts, my favorite Jelly ones  -am I the only one that sucks out the jelly first and then eats the doughy shell?

I admit it – I am bit of a picky eater when it comes to donuts. Don’t get me wrong, I love a great donut, but it has to be the right kind. I love the custard ones, but just the filling, so I tend to eat only the middle. The same goes for the jelly ones. Then there are those that are heavily covered with colored icing and sprinkles. For me, they don’t make the cut – usually too doughy and sugary

Well which ever way you eat your Chanukah Donuts – Here are my all time Favorite Recipes that are tried and true and are pretty simple and easy to do!

Happy Chanukah All!

Jelly Donuts

Ok – I can give you a recipe that takes a lot of time and effort, and is delicious – but  for some reason I feel like I would rather cheat with this fantastic recipe than spend my Chanukah nights making jelly donuts from scratch -who really wants to be bothered with yeast doughs and the such!

So here is my little dirty Chanukah secret – My Hanukah CHEAT JELLY DOUNUT Recipe!

This is what I do every Chanukah – I go down to my favorite local Pizza Shop and I buy myself some FRESH pizza dough ( about $1-$2) and I use that as my Donut Base – they make fantastic tasting donuts and literally take 1/2 the time and are SOOO GOOD!

Ingredients:

Pizza dough

Favorite Jelly

confectioner’s sugar

Directions:

Using a round cookie cutter, cut some donut rounds. Heat up some vegetable oil and pop those things in for about 5-6 minutes (turning them in the middle) and frying them until they are golden brown and fully cooked in the middle.

Let them cool down for about 5-8 minutes on a wire rack, as you spoon your favorite seedless strawberry jelly into a piping bag. Then pipe in the jelly into the middle of the donut and roll entire donut in confectioners sugar.

Tip: You can make these with any filling – custard, chocolate, hazelnut – the sky’s the limit. You can also, instead of confectioners sugar, glaze the top of these donuts with any flavored icing,  – garnish with sprinkles or chocolate chips.

Mexican Churros

These Mexican Churros are really the best things ever. Super easy and simple to make (you can make a huge batch in a matter of minutes), these traditional Mexican “donuts”, are surprisingly light and airy -as far as fried desserts go.

But because they are so light and airy, you need to keep count of how many your eating, lets just say, (my personal experience), you will find yourself eating the ENTIRE platter full before your friends and family even get to try one!

I especially love the addition of dipping these puffy sticks of delights into some melted milk chocolate that has been sprinkled with a little cayenne pepper for that extra WOW taste!

Ingredients:

For the topping:

1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp. cinnamon

For the Churros:

1/2 stick butter

1 cup water

2 tsp. sugar

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1 orange, zested

4 eggs

Vegetable oil for frying

Directions:

Mix the cinnamon and sugar and set aside. Combine the butter, water and sugar in a large saucepan over medium high heat. Bring to a boil.

Lower the heat, to med-high and add the flour, orange zest and nutmeg. Stir constantly dough forms a ball and comes away from the sides of the pan.

Transfer dough to bowl and use an electric mixer to break it up a little and cool off the dough. Mix in the eggs, 1 at a time, until it becomes a smooth batter.

Transfer mixture to large piping bag. Heat up oil and and pipe batter into hot oil (about 4 inch long ribbons). Cut off with knife and let them cook about 2-3 minutes, until golden on all sides.

Drain on paper towels and toss with cinnamon and sugar – serve war, with some hot spicy chocolate for dipping.

French Crullers

When I discovered these French crullers recipe on the food network, I found my perfect Chanukah treat: a melt-in-your-mouth, just-the-right-amount-of-sweet fried donut treat.

But I warn you, these take time and patience to make, certainly more than worth the effort, but are not as simple and easy as the recipes above. If you decide to take on this baking project, all the more power to you, and please send me a BATCH!!!

Ingredients

1 cup water

8 Tbsp unsalted butter (1 stick)

1½ tsp sugar

½ tsp salt

1 cup all-purpose flour

4 eggs

Vegetable oil, for frying

Glaze

2 cups powdered sugar

¼ cup milk

Directions

Combine the water, butter, sugar, and salt in a large saucepan and bring to a rolling boil over medium-high heat. Immediately remove from the heat, add all the flour at once, and stir hard with a wooden spoon until all the flour is incorporated, about 30 to 60 seconds. Return the pan to the heat and cook, stirring, to evaporate some of the moisture, about 2 minutes.

Scrape the mixture into a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, and mix at medium speed. With the mixer running, and adding 1 egg at a time, add 3 of the eggs, stopping after each addition to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Mix until the dough is smooth and glossy and the eggs are completely incorporated. The dough should be thick, but should fall slowly and steadily from the beaters when you lift them out of the bowl. If the dough is still clinging to the beaters, add another egg and mix until completely incorporated.

Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Using a pastry bag fitted with a star tip (use a large size, like #12), pipe the dough onto the sheet pan in rows of 2½-inch rings. Freeze the rings for 30 minutes to make them easier to pick up.

Meanwhile, make the glaze. In a small bowl, stir the powdered sugar and milk together.

Pour the vegetable oil into a large dairy pot to a depth of 2 inches and heat to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Working in batches, lift the dough circles off the sheet pan and carefully slip them into the oil. Fry, turning once, until lightly browned. Drain the crullers on paper towels; then dip them completely in the glaze. Let the crullers cool and set before serving.

cruller Pic from www.glutenfreebaking.com

Show Stopper Donut Ideas:

I love this idea of making small round zeppole donuts – just take the pizza dough and fry the round balls – cover in raw sugar – Stick them through a straw – and serve with some hot chocolate!

Or try with a glazed mini donut and some ice coffee!

Here is a recipe that I would love to make  – seems like so much fun – even if it is a little over kill!

Coffee Cupcakes with Coffee Cream & Glazed Donuts – great recipe at www.alwayswithbutter.com