Raspberry Jelly Heart-Shaped Doughnuts
The perfect heart
Homemade Raspberry Jelly Heart Shaped Doughnuts for Valentine’s breakfast!! Do I need to say more? I still will say these are yeasted and FRIED, exactly how doughnuts are intended to be made!! They’re super soft and tender but still with a chewy bite thanks to both all-purpose and bread flour. They will also be fresh for days thanks to the Tangzhong method and I’ll explain what is exactly that here in this post. These are a perfect and fun Valentine’s breakfast to be enjoyed any day of the year!
Given Valentine’s is near, I wanted to bring together my love for two flours that usually don’t get involved with each other in the baking world; all-purpose and bread. Bread flour has more protein than all-purpose, giving the dough you are making a more structured gluten formation, which helps in giving the final product that chewy bite we all love in bread. Different from my original Heart Shaped Doughnuts, which only use all-purpose flour and lots of egg yolks making a very rich and dense doughnut, I mixed both flours and used all-purpose for the softness and tenderness it brings to the dough and bread flour for the structure and that particular chewy bite it brings to the table.
Now don’t get me wrong, I love baked doughnuts and I’m up for a warm and sugary one. But truth be told, if we have muffins, scones, sweet rolls, biscuits and many other breakfast recipes that are baked, probably not yeasted and made with all-purpose, I think we need to celebrate the fact that there's a breakfast confection that by definition is a type of bread and was designed to be yeasted and fried. We really shouldn't be messing with that!
What is the Tangzhong Method?
The Tangzhong method is a Japanese technique by which you pre-cook some of the flours of the dough with water until you have a pudding like consistency, thick and glassy. By pre-cooking the flour you are pre-gelatinizing it, allowing the flour to pull more water to itself and trapping it in its structure. What does that mean for YOUR dough? First, this means that the water will stay in the dough and will not evaporate easily during the proofing and baking or frying process, keeping your dough soft and moist even after cooked. Second, more liquid means more internal steam when baking, and when the steam tries to escape it will push the dough up, making your dough fluffy and pillowy. Lastly, the moisture your dough retains after cooked will make it last fresh and soft for daaaaays!! Trust me on this one! Even four days after I baked my Golden Raisin Cinnamon Rolls they were super soft and each bite felt fresh and not stale!
Technically you can make and shape the dough the night before and fry them the next morning. But I prefer to make them the day before and leave them over the counter covered just with a paper towel, not airtight. Thanks to the Tangzhong method, they will be soft and fresh. If you prefer, you can leave them cooked and coated in sugar and fill them the next morning so the filling feels fresh and you don’t run the risk of them getting soggy if the filling drips a bit.
What to use to fill doughnuts
You can fill your doughnut with any filling you want! Anything that is thick and creamy will be perfect. You can use Nutella, chocolate ganache, peanut butter and jelly, pastry cream, meringue, or lemon curd. But for Valentine’s, it needed to be raspberry jelly baby! You can make the raspberry jelly a few days in advance and store it in the fridge. Any cooked filling like this one will be more set after chilled and the doughnuts will hold it better.
You will need a thin long nozzle to fill the doughnuts, like the one I used and you can see it here. Attach it to a pastry bag or a large ziplock bag and fill it with your filling. When ready to use, insert it through the area you want to fill and press until you feel the filling pushing back.
How to make heart-shaped doughnuts
As always, I leave you here all the steps for you to have a glance on how to make these doughnuts so you can visualize the process and prepare in advance:
Start by making the Tangzhong: Mix 3 tablespoons of the flour mixture with water and heat in the microwave in short segments until you have a pudding like consistency. Place in the fridge while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. It doesn't need to be chilled completely, but it needs to be fresh to the touch. If your home happens to be cold, then you can leave it over the counter. Bonus points if you remember to stir it a couple of times to keep the temperature well distributed.
Melt the butter: it needs to be cooled down before jumping into the party.
Serve the buttermilk: it shouldn't be chilled when ready to add as well.
Gather and measure the rest of your ingredients.
Ready to go: Once you have everything ready, making the dough with your mixer is pretty straightforward. The mixer does all the work!
Make it slippery: With a paper towel slightly grease the bottom and sides of a large bowl with a neutral oil such as canola, grape seed or vegetable.
Let it grow: Depending on your home temperature, this dough will need about 1 ½ hour to rise, could be a bit less or 2 hours. It’s important to place it in a warm place with no air draft and wrap it cozy with throws or plushy kitchen towels.
Heart-shaped it: Stretch the dough a bit thicker than ¼”. Using a heart shaped cookie cutter cut the dough and transfer each doughnut to a baking sheet with parchment paper. Cover with another parchment and again with what you were using to keep the dough warm. Let them rise for 45 minutes to an hour. If you want to make these the next morning, place the baking tray or trays in the fridge overnight. The next morning let them come down to room temperature and then put them to rise as explained above. This can take up to two hours because they were chilled.
Never discard dough!: Even if this is a no-no in the baking world, I never discard dough. Reshape dough, stretch again and make mini hearts, “doughnuts holes” or simply dough knots. Structurally and technically they are not the perfect dough but I still fried them and covered in cinnamon sugar and I think they were even better!
Prepare all you need in advance: While the doughnuts are proofing, prepare your work area. You will need another tray or large dish lined with paper towel to rest the doughnuts after fried, a dish to place sugar for coating and a cooling rack (ideally over another baking sheet to prevent a sugary mess over your counter) to place the sugar coated doughnuts.
Fry with me: Fry doughnuts in a deep pot in very hot oil until they are deep golden brown for that crusty outside. Transfer doughnuts over paper towel.
Do sugar coated: you need to coat the doughnuts as soon as you can manage touching them without burning your fingers. If they cool down too much the sugar won’t stick. I like to coat a batch while I wait on others to be fried. If for some reason the doughnut cooled down quickly and the sugar is not sticking, rub a bit of the cooking oil with the back of a spoon or your fingers (make sure it’s not super hot) and try to coat it again.
All about the filling: Use a pastry bag and a pastry filler or thin noozle to fill each doughnut. You can even have different fillings for more fun!
Keeping them fresh: Don’t store doughnuts airtight because the sugar will get moist and start dissolving. Keep them in a fresh area in your kitchen and protect them with a loose lid or paper towel.
Are you ready for the doughnut making adventure?! I hope you are! And what filling will you be picking out?! Let’s face it, it’s kind of a labor of love, but you will feel the love back, I promise!
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Raspberry Jelly Heart-Shaped Doughnuts
Ingredients
Doughnuts
◯ Unbleached all-purpose flour - 2 ½ cups (362.5g)
◯ Unbleached bread flour - 1 ½ cups (217.5g)
◯ Water - ½ cup (114g)
◯ Butter - 8 TBSP, melted and cooled down
◯ Buttermilk, at room temperature - ¾ cup (207g)
◯ Fine sea salt - 1 ½ Tsp
◯ Eggs, large and preferably organic and cage free - 2
◯ Natural granulated sugar - ½ cup (110g) + extra for coating
◯ Instant yeast - 1 packet
◯ Vanilla extract - ½ Tsp
◯ Neutral oil for frying (canola, grape seed or vegetable)
Raspberry Jelly
◯ Raspberries, fresh or frozen – 3 cups
◯ Raw sugar – ¾ cups
◯ Freshly squeezed lemon juice – splash of half lemon
◯ Unbleached flour – 2 TBSP
Details
Yield:
8 to 9 big doughnuts or 12 to 15 medium sized, plus minis with the remnant
Total time:
4 hours, mostly dough rising times
Active time:
20 minutes to make the dough, 10 minutes to shape it, 30 minutes to fry, sugar coat and fill the doughnuts
Equipment:
stand mixer, heart-shaped cookie cutter, a couple of baking sheets or large dishes, parchment paper and paper towel, deep pot for frying, cooling rack and candy thermometer (optional)
Steps
Making the dough:
In a large bowl mix the 2 ½ cups of all purpose flour with the 1 ½ cups of bread flour.
To make the Tangzhong mix ½ cup of water with 3 tablespoons of the flour mixture in a small bowl or measuring cup. Heat in the microwave until you have a smooth pudding-like paste. Start with two 15-second intervals and keep heating in 10-second intervals if necessary to prevent scorching the mixture. Place in the fridge or in a dry cool place to refresh (see notes).
With a paper towel oil with vegetable oil the inside of a large bowl.
In a mixing bowl pour the 8 tablespoons of melted butter, the ¾ of buttermilk and mix the 1 ½ teaspoon of fine sea salt. Add the 2 eggs, the ½ cup of sugar, the instant yeast, the ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract and the cooled down Tangzhong. Mix using the whisk attachment.
Pour 3 cups of the flour and mix until combined. Switch to the hook attachment and add the remaining flour. Knead in medium-slow speed (#2 in the Kitchen Aid) for 10 minutes. Dough should not stick to the walls but it will stick to the bottom. Transfer to oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and loosely wrap bowl with a puffy kitchen towel or throw blanket. Place in a warm area of your home where there is no air draft (I always place it in my nightstand besides my bed and close the door). Let the dough rise and double in size, about 1 ½ to 2 hours.
When the dough is ready, dust with enough flour a clean flat surface. Punch the dough (it will deflate) and turn it out over the surface. Dust flour over your rolling pin and over the dough, making sure the corners and all dough areas do not feel tacky. Using your hands (you may rub some flour on them as well) stretch the dough until it’s a bit more of ¼” thick. Using a heart shaped cookie cutter cut as many doughnuts as you can. Make sure the dough is well cut by separating the area around the cutter or shaking the cutter slightly so they retain their shape. Transfer each doughnut to a baking sheet or large tray lined with parchment paper. Cover with another parchment or smooth piece of cloth and let them rise again for 45 minutes to an hour. (See notes if making overnight.)
Frying and assembly:
Fill a deep pot or skillet pan more than half with oil. Heat it over medium high heat until a thermometer marks 350°, oil will start to have ripples and will start to look thinner.
Optional: While oil is heating, cut the parchment paper below each doughnut. You are going to drop the doughnut with the paper so you don’t touch it.
Drop one or two doughnuts at a time. Remove parchment paper with kitchen thongs. Let the doughnuts fry until deep golden brown, about three minutes. Using a large slotted spoon or spider strainer turn the doughnut and cook the other side. Remove from oil and place them over paper towel. Repeat with the rest of the doughnuts. If at some point the oil gets too hot and it’s burning the doughnuts without cooking them completely, turn heat to medium for a few minutes and keep frying. Increase and decrease temperature again if needed.
While doughnuts are frying, coat with plenty of sugar the ones that already have lost some of the heat and that you can handle. Place them in a cooling rack so the sugar won't get moist with their steam. Doughnuts are done!
As soon as they are cooled down, fill them with your favorite filling (raspberry filling recipe below).
Store for a few days protected but not airtight covered on a dry fresh place.
To make the raspberry filling:
In a small saucepan combine all the ingredients except for the flour and bring to a gentle boil over medium heat. Cook for about 10 minutes. After that, sprinkle the flour and move frequently. Keep cooking until you achieve a thick consistency, 2 to 3 minutes more. Remove from heat and keep moving for 30 seconds more. Let it cool completely or chilled in the fridge before filling the doughnuts.
