Description
These pillow-y soft and sweet Vegan Sufganiyot (Jelly Donuts) could not get any easier. Less than 20 minutes to make!
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- Safflower seed oil (or another high heat oil) (see note 1)
- 16 ounce can vegan refrigerated biscuits (see note 2)
- 1/2 - 1 cup seedless raspberry jam (see note 3)
- 1/4 cup organic powdered sugar
Instructions
- Heat the oil: Heat about 3 inches of oil in a large pot over medium high heat. How long it takes depends on the strength of your burner and the thickness of your pot--it took about 10 minutes for me. Note that it’s important to have the right temperature of oil--pick up a frying thermometer (or similar) and keep testing the oil. Once it’s at 350 degrees Fahrenheit (177 degrees Celsius), you’ll want to turn the heat down to medium or medium low and periodically re-test the oil. The actual cooking process is quite quick once the oil is the right heat. I’ve read online that you can place a wooden skewer in the oil temporarily to test the oil--if it starts bubbling little bubbles then it’s hot enough.
- Prep your space: While the oil heats, open the can of biscuits, set up a plate of the separated biscuits to one side of the pot, and a cooling rack to the other side. I recommend placing a baking tray or foil or something else underneath the cooling rack to catch any oil drip.
- Work safely: Carefully add the donuts, working with no more than 3 or 4 at a time depending on the circumference of your pot. The donuts will inflate and you don’t want them to crowd each other. When you drop them in, try to either use your spider strainer or drop them in so that they splash AWAY from you. Best to use a utensil for this. And ideally cover the pot with a splatter screen to help protect your skin against oil splatters.
- Cook 1-2 minutes each side: You want to cook the biscuits for approximately 1-2 minutes. They’ll brown quite quickly so you can gently lift one after a minute and see if it’s brown enough. They do get pretty deep in color--like a warm amber color.
- Flip the donuts: Use a spider strainer or slotted spoon to carefully turn the donuts over and cook for an additional minute or two.
- Remove from pot: Finally, use the spider strainer again to remove the donuts from the oil and place on the cooling rack. Flip after 5 minutes to help them cool evenly and drip off excess oil.
- Fry the rest: Cook the remaining biscuits--you may need to turn up the heat again as adding the refrigerated biscuits does lower the oil temperature--but just test it with your thermometer before doing so.
- Chill out: Let all the donuts cool completely.
- Make the hole for the jelly: Now use a wooden skewer (or similar) to carefully poke a hole into the center of the donut. I tried going from both the sides and on top. Because this dough is actually meant to be biscuits, they tend to split when poked from the side, so I recommend doing it from the center of the top of each donut. Make a hole that goes halfway down and then gently wiggle the skewer around to make space for the jam. It’s easier than it sounds. I make the holes about ½” to ¾” diameter.
- Add the filling: Load the jam into a piping bag (or ziplock bag with the corner cut off) fit with a large tip or feel free to use a condiment bottle or even a small spoon to inject the donuts with jam. I’ve tried all these methods and I find that a proper piping bag with a tip (and coupler) enables you to get the most jam into your vegan jelly donuts.
- Dust with sugar: Add your powdered sugar to a sifter or a tea strainer and generously powdered the tops of your donuts with the organic powdered sugar..
- Top off with jam: If you cut holes in the tops of your donuts, you may choose to “top off” the jam just a bit for decoration. Enjoy!
- Store: These vegan sufganiyot, like most donuts, are best on the first day but still tasty the second. Store in an airtight container on the counter for up to 2-3 days.
Notes
- Note 1: Use safflower seed oil or another high heat but neutral flavor oil. Traditionally, Hanukkah foods include oil to symbolize the oil lasting 8 nights. If you don’t prefer to cook with oil, these can be baked or air-fried.
- Note 2: Check the back of the package to make sure it’s vegan, but most refrigerated canned biscuits are vegan. If you’re having trouble finding it, you can use store bought or homemade pizza dough, roll it out, and cut out rounds with a large biscuit or cookie cutter.
- Note 3: Use a flavorful seedless raspberry jam or another type of jam or any filling you like. Vegan chocolate hazelnut spread would be delicious here too. The key is for the filling to be quite thick so it doesn’t run out of the donut.
- Note 4: The organic powdered sugar is for dusting the donuts after. Since the biscuit dough isn’t very sweet and the jam isn’t super sweet (at least the raspberry jam I purchased was not), you need a bit of sugar on top to make these vegan sufganiyot a sweet treat. Make sure to buy organic, as non-organic sugar (at least in the United States) is often made using animal bone char during the filtering process.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Category: Dessert, Snack
- Method: Stove top, Frying
- Cuisine: American, Jewish
Keywords: Vegan, Nut-Free, Soy-Free, Vegan Sufganiyot, Vegan Jelly Donuts