Glazed Raspberry-Filled Jelly Donuts (2024)

Jelly donut lovers, your ship has come in. If the raspberry-filled and glazed jelly donut is your Ultimate (like it is mine), I have the recipe for you.

Made with a super slack enriched dough for lightness and an intense raspberry filling for maximum raspberry goodness, you’ll want to make these at your earliest possible convenience!

You may also want to give my plain glazed donut recipe a try. For ease of browsing, you can find all my sweet yeast dough recipes in one place. Now, let’s get into it.

Watch my glazed jelly donut web story here.

Glazed Jelly Donuts, At a Glance

Tasting Notes

Let’s just get straight to the chase and look at the inside of these bad boys.

These doughnuts are really pretty excellent, y’all.

The filling, which you can strain to make it seedless if you want, is not too sweet and intensely raspberry-y. Any leftovers make a pretty excellent jam, too!

The doughnuts themselves are light and airy and puff up beautifully in the hot oil.

Making Filled Donuts

Making filled donuts is quite the process. If you’re familiar with it, you can jump straight to the recipe.

For those of you who’d like some step-by-step instructions, stick with me. We’ll go over ingredients, how to make each component, and how to put them all together into delicious, raspberry jelly-filled treats.

First up, ingredients:

For the Donut Dough

Here’s what you’ll need to make your dough.

It’s worth noting that you can use this dough to make any donut you want, from plain glazed to chocolate-dipped to maple-bacon or whatever you can think of.

If you need an egg-free version, use my dough for regular glazed donuts. That dough doesn’t contain eggs.

• flour: This provides the bulk and the gluten structure of the donuts. I recommend all-purpose. If you use bread flour, you’ll have a somewhat stiffer dough (though still slack) and your donuts will be a bit chewier
• sugar: provides some sweetness (but not too much), retains moisture, and assists in browning
• malted milk powder: Adds that delicious malty-donut flavor. If you don’t have malted milk powder, you can substitute dried or instant milk.
• yeast: either active dry or instant will work. If you are using active dry yeast and you’re not sure if it’s still alive, proof the yeast in the water called for along with a little bit of the sugar. Once it gets foamy, add everything to the mixer bowl.
• salt: I use Morton’s kosher. You can use fine salt as well, but decrease the amount by about 1/3.
• water: makes up part of the liquid in the dough. You could use all water, but then the donuts might not brown as much since it’ll have fewer milk solids in it to brown well
• milk: I use whole milk. You may substitute 2% if you like. Don’t use all milk. Keep the liquid 1/2 milk and 1/2 water so the donuts don’t overbrown (again, because of the milk solids)
• egg yolks: for added richness and color as well as flavor and emulsification of a very wet dough
• vegetable oil: you can substitute with melted butter if you prefer. Either helps to carry flavor and tenderize the dough

For the Filling

• raspberries: Substitute strawberries if you prefer
• sugar: The main sweetener in the filling. I kept it a bit on the tart side to balance out the sweet glaze
• kosher salt: Rounds out flavors and counteracts and bitterness
• lemon juice: Balances the berry sweetness and brings some brightness to the filling. You can substitute lime juice or even a little vinegar if that’s all you have
• cornstarch: Since this is a quick-cook filling as opposed to a jam, the cornstarch provides thickening
• white grape juice: Used for the cornstarch slurry. You can certainly use water, but using a fruit juice adds a bit of flavor

It is also possible to make the filling without the white grape juice. Just allow the sugar, berries, lemon juice, salt, and cornstarch to hang out together in a pan for about 30 minutes before putting it over heat.

The main issue is making sure the cornstarch doesn’t get clumpy before cooking. If you do choose to cook everything together rather than adding a slurry once it comes to a boil, you can reduce the cornstarch by 1 Tablespoon.

Jenni Says: This is a filling rather than a jam, so the sugar content is a bit lower than in jam. If you’d like to make a jam filling, follow the instructions in my French-style strawberry preserves recipe, or for a quicker version, use my mixed berry jam recipe.

For the Glaze

• butter: Salted or unsalted. Even if using salted butter, you may need an extra pinch of salt
• neutral oil: Use an oil that doesn’t have a lot of flavor like avocado oil, sunflower oil, or canola
• powdered sugar: This glaze calls for a pound of powdered sugar. You will not need all of it, not even close. But you do need enough glaze to make it easy to dunk your donuts in it to make sure they’re thoroughly coated. Then you can just let the excess run off.
• kosher salt: Brings all the flavors into focus. If you’ve used salted butter, taste the glaze, and then add additional salt if you think it needs it
• boiling water: Using hot water ensures the butter stays melted and the glaze stays nice and thin while you’re glazing.

Jenni Says: If your glaze begins to thicken, microwave it for a few seconds until it thins out. You can also whisk in a bit more hot/boiling water to keep the texture nice and loose.

How To Make the Components

Making the Dough

Note that this is a very slack dough. It is almost a batter. Don’t be intimidated, though. While I do not advise adding extra flour to the dough, in order to roll it out to make your cuts, you will need to liberally flour the counter and the dough itself.

Here’s how to make the dough:

1. Whisk all the dry ingredients together in the mixing bowl. Add wet ingredients, including egg yolks, to a pitcher and pour the wet ingredients in over the dry ones.
2. Mix on low, scraping the bowl as necessary, until a thick batter forms.
3. Knead on medium speed for 15 minutes. Note the texture of the dough in photos 2-3. The dough isn’t really ever going to come together around the dough hook, so look for “pull back” as the dough hook orbits inside the bowl. The batter/dough will begin to pull back in strands, and that will let you know your gluten is nicely developed.
4. Again, note the texture of the dough. It is Super Soft and very sticky.

1. Scrape the dough into the bottom of the mixing bowl and brush it with oil/spray it with pan spray.
2. Cover the bowl with a lint-free towel. Heat a mug of water on high power for 3 minutes. Carefully move the mug to the side, and put your dough in next to it. Close the microwave, making sure to turn on the surface light (if your microwave is over your stove), and allow the dough to rise.
3. Dough will double in size.
4. Liberally flour your clean work surface, scrape the soft dough out into the flour, and liberally dust the top of the dough with flour.

Shaping and Frying

Since the dough is so soft, it pays to prepare to work with it.

1. Fold a piece of parchment into 12 squares.
2. Unfold it, and then cut along the lines. Spread them out on a half-sheet pan.
3. Grab a round cutter. My favorite size is the 3″ one, which in my set of Ateco cutters is the 3rd from the largest.
4. Gently roll out the dough, then cut straight down, twisting the cutter on the counter to make sure you cut all the way through the dough.

1. Use a bench knife or spatula to pick up each round of dough and place each on one of the pieces of parchment. Cover and let rise for about 45 minutes.
2. Donuts should be noticeably “puffy.” See note, below.
3. Carefully slide each donut on its little piece of parchment into the hot oil.
4. Use a pair of tongs to pull each piece out from under the donut.

NOTE: To check that your donuts are ready to fry, put one in the hot oil after the second rise. It should bob high in the oil. Only about 1/3 of the doughnut should be below the oil. If the donut rides too low in the oil, take it out, and let the whole tray rest for an additional 15 minutes or so.

Making the Filling

The filling is pretty straightforward to make, friends.

1. Place the berries, sugar, salt, and lemon juice in a large pan. Have your cornstarch/white grape juice slurry ready.
2. Mash the berries as they heat.
3. Once the mixture comes to a boil, pour in the slurry and cook to thicken and reduce.
4. Straining is an optional step. You can certainly leave the seeds in if you prefer. If you do decide to strain it, be sure to scrape the back of the strainer after pushing the filling through. You don’t want to lose any of that goodness.

I strained half of my filling so you could see what it looks like both with seeds and without:

And now you’re ready!

Jump back up to the recipe.

Putting It All Together: Making Jelly Donuts

Here’s how you turn 3 components into one excellent treat.

1. Make sure your donuts are completely cool.
2. Cut a slit in the end of each one with a small, sharp knife. Wiggle the knife gently back and forth opening a pocket inside the donut. Be careful that you don’t stab through to the other side and open up more holes!
3. Load your filling in a piping back fitted with a larger round tip, like a #10, and then squeeze a healthy amount into each donut.

Jenni Says: This can be a bit of a messy process. If you have a helper, you might be less messy. Teamwork makes the dream work!

4. Once your donuts are filled, it’s best to let them rest for 30 minutes or so to sort of let the jelly become one with the donuts.

This makes it a bit less precarious when you’re glazing them. If some raspberry does get in the glaze, you can spoon it out, or just whisk it in and keep going.

1. Melt butter together with oil and salt, then whisk in the powdered sugar as evenly as you can. It will be very lumpy and sad looking.
2. Drizzle in hot or boiling water, a little at a time, until you like the consistency.
3. See the thin texture of the glaze?
4. Use a fork to lower each donut into the bowl of glaze and then spoon additional glaze over the donut until it is completely covered. Allow as much of the glaze to run back off into the bowl as possible before placing each donut on a rack for the glaze to set up. You can also just flip each donut onto its other side to completely glaze them. Whichever works best for you.

Since donuts are kind of a specialty baked (fried) good, it does help to have some special equipment to help you make them.

This section contains affiliate links. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Before we make these fried donuts, I do have some recommendations for some products that will make your glazed donuts project go smoothly.

A stand mixer is vital for success. A lot of times you can get away with using a hand mixer for cakes, cookies and cheesecakes.

But for breads, especially ones made with very slack, enriched dough, you’ll just get frustrated trying to make them by hand.

I recommend a good, solid stand mixer with direct drive and all metal gearing for years of service.

If you’re going to spend a boatload of cash, you want your investment to last more than a year or two.

And as much as I don’t love having a tool that only does one thing, a donut cutter is actually a really nice tool to own if you’re going to make a lot of yeast doughnuts or even cake donuts.

You can also get a set of graduated cutters. I use the third from the largest cutter to cut out the dough for filled donuts.

A Bismarck pastry tip makes filling doughnuts, eclairs and cream puffs a snap. You’ll want a good instant-read thermometer to check the temperature of your oil, and some cooling racks for both cooling and letting the glaze dry.

Tips for Filled Donuts Success

While doughnuts aren’t hard to make, you do have to follow some Rules to help ensure success.

Make sure you allow at least 30 minutes for the second rise–more if it’s cold in your kitchen. Your doughnuts should look puffy and should bob along on top of the oil and not be submerged.

What you’re looking for is a doughnut where 1/3 is submerged and the rest is bobbing above the oil.

When you turn it, another third will get golden brown and delicious, and the middle third will stay pale.

Jenni Says: A perfectly risen donut should have a nice wide, pale stripe around the center after frying.

What To Do with the Scrap Dough

Second-roll donuts will be a bit more dense than the first rolls, mostly because extra flour will be worked in as you gather the scraps into a ball.

Gather them up anyway, let the dough rest for about 15 minutes, and then roll it out.

Cut little shapes with straight edges using a pizza cutter or bench knife. Cover them and let them rise until nice and puffy.

Fry them up and toss them in powdered sugar. Add some cinnamon to it if you’d like. Or just toss them in cinnamon sugar and call it a day. Yum!

Yeast-Raised Doughnut Q & A

Questions?

If you have any questions about this post or recipe, I am happy to help.

Simply leave a comment here and I will get back to you soon. I also invite you to ask question in my Facebook group, Fearless Kitchen Fun.

If your question is more pressing, please feel free to email me. I should be back in touch ASAP, as long as I’m not asleep.

A Note About Measurements

My recipes are almost all written by weight, including liquids, unless otherwise specified.

For accuracy and consistency of results, I encourage you to buy–and use–a kitchen scale.

I promise that baking and cleanup will be so much quicker and easier.

This is the scale that I recommend for home use. I have owned and used one for years.

Love This? Please Consider Rating and Reviewing

It will help me and other readers so much if you take a moment to rate and leave a review for this recipe.

You can use the stars to rate 1-5 (5 is best), and leave a review in the comments. It helps me make adjustments if any are needed, and comments help others decide whether the recipe is worth making.

See Also

Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich Cookies

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Thanks for spending some time with me today, friends. Enjoy your doughnuts!