Cranberry Sauce Jelly Doughnuts

Recipe notes: For a jelly doughnut consistency, be sure to use jellied cranberry sauce. If you only have the whole berry variety, it will work fine, but you'll have to spoon it into the doughnuts rather than piping. Or, you can make it more jelly-like by pushing it through a strainer or sieve with the back of a wooden spoon.
Do employ a thermometer to monitor the heat of your oil. Trust me, it helps. Too-hot oil can burn the exterior too quickly but leave you with a doughy interior, and if the oil is too cool, your doughnuts will come out leaden and too heavy.

Special equipment: Large, deep skillet or pan for frying, slotted spoon, rolling pin, stand mixer, bowls, spatulas

Ingredients

serves Makes 12 large doughnuts, active time 1 hour, total time 3 hours, 30 minutes

• 2 cups (about 8 1/2 ounces) all purpose flour, plus more for work surface
• 1 packet active dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup (about 1.58 ounces) granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup (6 ounces) whole milk
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• enough vegetable oil to fill a pan at least 3 inches deep
• 1 1/2 cups (about 12 ounces) jellied cranberry sauce
• confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Procedures

1. Place the flour, yeast, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Set aside.
   
2. In a medium saucepan, warm the milk, sugar, and butter until the butter has melted, or the mixture reaches about 105°F. Remove from heat and whisk in the eggs.
   
3. Add the wet mixture to the dry, and using the paddle attachment, mix on low speed until the dough comes together. Increase the speed to medium-high, and continue mixing until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, five to seven minutes. It will still be somewhat sticky.
   
4. Form the dough into a ball and place in an oiled bowl. Cover with a towel and let it rise in a warm place for about an hour, or until doubled in size.
   
5. Near the end of the rising period, prepare your work area. Dust a work surface with flour, and place the dough on top. Using a floured rolling pin, roll the dough to about 1/4 inch thick. Using a 2- or 3-inch round cutter (or even a floured drinking glass rim, or the top of a wide mouth mason jar top, as I did), cut out as many circles as you can and place on a lightly floured baking sheet. Re-roll the scraps and continue cutting out circles until you've used all the dough. Cover the rounds with plastic wrap and again let them rise, this time for about 30 minutes.
   
6. Place paper towels under a wire rack. Have it near your frying surface. This is where you'll put the doughnuts to cool off.
   
7. It's time to get frying. Heat your oil in a large deep skillet or deep pan until it has reached 350°F. Transfer the rounds a couple at a time (you don't want them crowded) and fry until browned—about 1 to 2 minutes. Flip, and remember the second side takes less time to fry. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to the wire rack. Continue frying until you've finished them all.
   
8. By the time you're done frying, the first of the fried doughnuts should be cool enough to handle. Using a small, sharp knife, cut a small but deep hole in one side, large enough to fit a piping tip into. Try to lightly shift the knife from one "entry" point, so that you have a small hole on the outside of the doughnut that leads into a larger space inside.
   
9. Load up a piping bag with your cranberry sauce, and pipe 1-2 tablespoons of sauce into each doughnut. You can also spoon it in if you prefer. Dust with confectioners' sugar for a pretty finish. These doughnuts are best the same day made.

Spiced Squash Doughnuts

Special equipment

dutch oven or electric fryer, doughnut cutter, wooden chopsticks, heat resistant spatula, frying thermometer

Ingredients

serves Makes about 2 1/2 to 3 dozen doughnuts, active time 1 1/2 hours, total time 3 1/2 hours

• 5 cups (22 1/2 ounces) all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups (14 ounces) sugar, divided
• 1/2 cup (4 1/2 ounces) light brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1 cup (8 ounces) buttermilk
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup (8 ounces) squash puree
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 quarts canola oil, for frying

Procedures

1. In a large bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice.
   
2. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, or the bowl of a stand mixer, combine eggs, 1 cup sugar, and brown sugar, beating until combined and slightly foamy. Add buttermilk, melted butter, vanilla, and squash puree. Stir until smooth. Slowly add flour mixture and stir until just incorporated. Lay out two large sheets of plastic wrap. Spritz plastic wrap with canola oil. Divide dough into two balls. Wrap in plastic wrap then flatten into discs. Refrigerate for at least two hours or up to overnight.
   
3. Generously flour a large work surface. Take one of the discs and turn out the dough to coat with flour, sprinkling the surface of the dough with flour to lessen stickiness. (Note the dough is sticky, don't be shy about adding flour until it's workable). Gently pat the dough to about 1/2-inch thick. Use a floured 3-inch doughnut cutter to cut out doughnuts and place cut doughnuts on a well floured sheet of parchment paper. Collect any scraps and roll out dough to cut more doughnuts until all the dough is gone.
   
4. Fill a Dutch oven or deep fryer with 2 inches of oil. Heat oil over medium high heat to 360°F. Using a shallow, heat resistant strainer, drop doughnuts in the oil and fry until a deep golden brown on both sides (about 2 minutes per side, use the color as your guide as the oil temperature can very with time). Use wooden chopsticks to turn the doughnuts. Be careful not to crowd the doughnuts in the pan (no more than 2 to 3 doughnuts at a time). Remove doughnuts immediately from the pan using a heat resistant strainer or tongs. Set on paper towel lined baking racks to cool. Once cooled slightly, toss in a paper bag with remaining sugar and cinnamon. Serve immediately. Doughnuts are best the day they are made, but leftovers can be stored in an airtight container for a day.

Gluten-Free Baked Pumpkin Doughnuts

Special equipment

Doughnut pan

Ingredients

serves Makes 18 doughnuts, active time About 25 minutes, total time About 1 hour

• Nonstick cooking spray
• 1 1/4 cups (5 ounces) millet flour
• 1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup (3 ounces) gluten-free oat flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
• 1 (fifteen ounce) can canned pumpkin
• 2 large eggs
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup orange juice
•  
• For the Coating:
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Procedures

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a doughnut pan with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
   
2. In large bowl, whisk together millet flour, granulated sugar, oat flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, salt, and xanthan gum. In small bowl, stir together pumpkin, eggs, vegetable oil, and orange juice until smooth. Pour pumpkin mixture over dry ingredients and whisk until no lumps remain.
   
3. Bake until doughnuts spring back to the touch, about eighteen minutes. Turn doughnuts out onto a wire rack to cool. Repeat with remaining batter. Allow doughnuts to cool completely.
   
4. For the Coating: In a 9-inch square pan, stir together granulated sugar and ground cinnamon. One at a time, dredge the doughnuts in the sugar-cinnamon mixture. Shake off excess sugar. Store doughnuts, covered, on the counter for up to three days.

Chocolate Cake Doughnuts

Ingredients

serves makes about 1 dozen doughnuts, active time 1 hour, total time 2 hours, including resting/cooling

• Doughnuts
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg
• 3 large egg yolks
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• Vegetable oil, for frying
•  
• Glaze
• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 2 tablespoons whole milk

Procedures

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix 1 cup of the flour, the cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Add the eggs and yolks and mix well. Add the buttermilk, vanilla, and oil, and mix until combined. Add the remaining 2 cups flour and mix until just barely combined.
   
2. Scrape the dough onto a sheet of parchment paper and put another sheet of parchment paper on top. Using a rolling pin, flatten and roll the dough until it’s 3/8 to 1/2 inch thick. Put the dough in the refrigerator and chill for 30 minutes to 1 hour, until it no longer clings when you try to lift it off the parchment paper.
   
3. Heat at least 2 inches of oil in a heavy-bottomed pot fitted with a deep-fry thermometer until the oil reaches 350°F. Prepare two baking sheets: one lined with paper towels, and the other dusted with flour.
   
4. Peel off the top sheet of parchment paper and flip the dough onto a floured work surface. Remove the second sheet of parchment paper and dust the dough with flour. Using a floured biscuit or doughnut cutter, cut the dough into 2 1/2- to 3-inch tubular rounds and put them on the flour-dusted baking sheet.
   
5. Fry the doughnuts in batches, taking care not to crowd the pot, until slightly red-brown all over, 1 to 2 minutes per side. Drain on the paper-towel-lined baking sheet.
   
6. Whisk the milk and powdered sugar together in a bowl. While the doughnuts are still warm, dip them one at a time in the glaze, flipping once so that the entire doughnut is coated in glaze. Put them on a wire rack to set.
   
7. Once dry, serve them immediately, or store at room temperature for up to 2 days.