Baked Donuts filled with jelly are incredibly soft, airy and melt-in-your-mouth delicious. Just like our donut holes, this homemade donut recipe is easy and always gets rave reviews!
Donuts are the ultimate comfort food. The aroma from the oven and the little hint of jelly peeking out of the side make these irresistible. I am a sucker for classic home-baked treats like blueberry muffins or chocolate chip banana bread and these baked donuts do not disappoint!
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Baked Donut Recipe:
Baked donuts are cotton-candy soft and fluffy. I remember my Mother making apple piroshki (Russian fried doughnuts) after school and it is one of the food memories I will always treasure. Baked yeast donuts are even easier and is a tradition I’m continuing with my own family.
I’ll take one of these over a Krispy Kreme any day because they are way more satisfying – the perfect balance of fluffy center to sugar coated surface without the greasy mouth feel and my belly is always happier eating a homemade baked donut!
Is it Donuts or Doughnuts?
Which is the correct spelling? This is heated debate because donuts… mmm doughnuts! There’s even a National Donut Day and it’s the first Friday of June. It is the ultimate comfort food. The real question is – when were doughnuts invented? ‘Doughnut’ is the original old-school spelling but ‘donuts’ took off when Dunkin’ Donuts launched in 1950.
Most people will search for “donuts” online and it is the clear winner in popularity. The dictionary now recognizes ‘donut’ as a variant of doughnut so the word doughnut came first but both terms are technically correct.
Here’s our argument – old school doughnuts are deep fried, but these are new school baked donuts so we called them so.
Are Baked Donuts Healthy?
To put it delicately, baked donuts are the healthier option compared to traditional deep-fried donuts. They don’t leave you feeling as guilty about your choices. You only need 1 Tbsp of melted butter to coat all 12 donuts! Are donuts good for you? In the end, they are still sugar covered carbs… glorious carbs! Eat responsibly.
What is the Best Filling for Donuts?
We enjoy changing up the type of jelly in these baked donuts; strawberry, blueberry, raspberry, huckleberry,.. you name it! Whether you are using jam, preserves or jelly, pick one that is:
- Thick – a thick jelly won’t run out of the donut as easily
- Fairly Smooth – so the piping tip doesn’t get clogged
- Your favorite flavor – these are, after all, for you!
How to Make Cream Filled Donuts:
For a cream filling, you will need a stable, thick cream that won’t ooze out. The pastry cream from our eclairs is easy and excellent. Let the cream cool then fill the pastry bag fitted with a sharp tip and generously pipe into each donut.
For Cinnamon Sugar Donuts:
If you choose to omit the jam inside, you can add more flavor with a cinnamon sugar coating. In a small bowl, stir together and roll hot buttered donuts in this mixture:
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Love Glazed Donuts?
We enjoy these without glaze but if you desire glazed donuts, you can skip brushing with butter and rolling in sugar. Once donuts are cool enough to handle, dip into this glaze mixture then place on racks until glaze hardens:
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup milk or water
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
More Classic Home-Baked Treats:
- Baklava – once you try homemade, there’s no going back
- Chocolate Chip Cookies – soft, moist and perfect
- Snowball Cookies are melt-in-your-mouth good
- Russian Tea Cookies – buttery and studded with walnuts
- Italian Cookies a chocolate filled sandwich cookie
How to Ensure Super Fluffy Donuts?
The correct balance of wet to dry ingredients is critical in any dough recipe. Be sure to measure the ingredients correctly. Stir your flour with a spoon then spoon it into a dry ingredient measuring cup. Pushing a measuring cup into a flour bin can result in 25% more flour than is called for which will result in dense donuts.
Also, be sure to allow your dough to proof in a warm room (never more than 110˚F) or you will deactivate the yeast and the donuts will not rise properly.
Baked Donut Video Tutorial:
Watch Natasha make this easy and super fluffy baked donut recipe. P.S. There’s a guest star in this episode!
I hope this becomes your go-to baked donut recipe! They are irresistibly soft and there is nothing like warm homemade donuts.
Baked Donuts Filled with Jelly
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided, plus more for dusting*
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 1/4 tsp instant yeast, quick acting, (1 packet = 7 grams)
- 2/3 cup warm milk, 110˚F - microwave 35 sec.
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted, divided
- 2 egg yolks
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup jelly or jam, (no large fruit pieces)
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar , to roll donuts
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together 1 cup flour, 1/4 cup sugar, 2 1/4 tsp (1 packet) instant yeast and 1/4 tsp salt.
- Add warm milk, 3 Tbsp melted butter, 2 egg yolks and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, and whisk vigorously to combine well.
- Cover with plastic wrap and rest at room temperature 10 minutes, until some bubbles form on the surface.
- Add remaining 1 1/2 cups flour, adding just enough until dough holds together and no longer sticks to the sides of the bowl (Add the last 2 Tbsp of flour only if needed) and knead in the bowl 5 minutes. If dough is really sticking to your hands, dust lightly with flour then continue kneading with clean dry hands. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise in a 100˚F oven for 45 min or at room temperature for 1 1/2 hours, or until doubled in size.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat oven to 375˚F with rack in the center of the oven.
- Turn dough out onto a floured surface and roll the dough out to just under 1/2” thick. Cut circles using a 2 1/2 inch round cookie cutter. Re-roll scraps if needed to make 12 donuts total. Place donuts on prepared baking sheet, cover with a tea towel and let rise in a 100˚F oven for 20 min or at room temperature 45 min, or until puffed. Bake uncovered in the center of a preheated oven at 375˚F for 10-12 minutes or until lightly golden on top.
- Right out of the oven, brush a hot bun all over with remaining 1 Tbsp melted butter and roll in a bowl of sugar to coat lightly with sugar. Cut a deep slit in the side of each donut and pipe jam with a pastry bag into each one.
Notes
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
Enjoy your home-baked donuts and “Do-nut Worry, be Happy!” I couldn’t resist! 😉
Absolutely delicious and so easy to make! Better than any jelly donut I’ve eaten. Another great recipe! Thank you!
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Motria!
I am very happy with the donut very nice n fluffy. Thank you for the recipe ❤️
You’re welcome! I’m happy you enjoyed that, Aza!
Hi Natasha,
I’ve been trying different Donut recipes but haven’t found one yet that is light and fluffy and close to the ones you get at the Donut shop.
I followed your directions to the T. I measured the flour exactly as you suggested. Even with these measurements and the dough proofing, it still came out to sticky. I was hesitant to add more flour since previously when I tried that the donut came out too heavy.
This time I decided not to add more flour but instead leave it sticky. I carefully filled a piping bag and filled my donut molds. They came out better than the previous ones… much lighter.
Super tasty and such a hit at our house! Oddly though only about half of my donuts puffed up after 1.5 hours of proofing. Still super tasty and inside is fluffy, but some were on the flat side.
Thank you for sharing that with me, Kiki! I wonder what happened to half of the batch. Was it possibly something during the process that was impacting the outcome.
Hey Natasha, my name is Vinnie and I really enjoy your videos. One thing I notice on all cooking shows is the incredible waste of plastic wrap. We have cut down on the use of plastic wrap by using these reusable plastic thingies with elastic on the bottoms of them. It would be neat to see you using them. They come in all sizes and festive colors. Thank you for your time. Vinnie
Thanks for your feedback and suggestion, Vinnie. I’ll check that out.
Aloha, Natasha.
This recipe has caught my attention. I would like to fill these with pastry cream/cream custard and dust with powdered sugar which means they would need to be kept in the fridge. How do you think these will taste if they are kept cold? Do you think they will get hard?
Hi Ellen, you could keep these at room temperature until adding the cream. These taste the very best when they are freshly baked so I would bake, fill with cream and serve and then refrigerate leftovers. As with any donut or baked good, they will firm up when chilled.
I made these yesterday and like a lot of other comments, I too ended up with lovely jelly filled rolls with sugar in top. Probably added too much flour while trying to kneed it, but the dough is just too sticky to work with any other way.
Hi Mary, using too much flour will cause them to be denser and bread-like.
i tried this over 6 times. i used different flour, yeast, activation methods, proofing time, temperature, everything. did not work. the last try turned out more like a sad bread roll – and im usually quite good at baking.
Hi Rosa, I wonder if you are using too much flour? Check out our post on measuring flour.
Made these and they turned out amazing. Wondering if they can be frozen since there are only two of us 😁
Thanks for the good feedback, Lynda. I haven’t tried freezing this yet to advise, it’s always gone in seconds after I usually make this recipe.
Could the dough be made in a bread machine? I always have good luck with dough in it, but not doing it all by hand.
Hi Steph, I haven’t tested that but here is what one of our readers wrote: “I just made these modified to use my bread machine. I did not do steps 1 and 2 – just added ingredients in the order that works with my breadmaker. – used 300 grams of AP Flour (all at once) – let go on dough cycle – skip to step 5.” I hope that helps.
I’ve tried several of your recipes and they are always great! I followed this one to the T and measured exactly as you instructed and my donuts came out more like biscuits. I’m not sure where I went wrong since I didn’t miss any steps. 😥 I’m still a huge fan or yours!
Hi Sylvia, make sure you are using the same kind of flour and also, double-check that you are measuring ingredients the same way we do. I hope that helps!
Thank you for responding! I am determined to try again and hope they come out fluffy. I will let you know! I really love your approach in always trying to offer healthy options for even something so unhealthy as donuts! Keep it up!
Hi Sylvia, I made this mistake the first time too is I didn’t realize that yeast was alive and in order to keep it alive it should be refrigerated. You’ll know if your yeast is good if it bubbles and creates a foamy layer. If not you’ll end up with a dense biscuit texture. Just an FYI
I’ve tried several of your recipes and they are always great! I followed this one to the T and measured exactly as you instructed and my donuts came out more like biscuits. I’m not sure where I went wrong since I didn’t miss any steps. 😥 I’m still a huge fan or yours!
Hi Sylvia, I’m sorry to hear that. Maybe too much flour was used. Make sure to measure flour correctly and also use the same kind of flour.
THEY ARE SOOOO GOOD!
Thank you, glad you liked it!
They are so good
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Tracy!
Mine turned out dense. and dry. Is the recipe missing something? water perhaps? Only hydration appears to be from milk and butter.
The correct balance of wet to dry ingredients is critical in any dough recipe. Be sure to measure the ingredients correctly. Stir your flour with a spoon then spoon it into a dry ingredient measuring cup. Pushing a measuring cup into a flour bin can result in 25% more flour than is called for which will result in dense donuts.
Hi Natasha,
Thank you this recipe. These are so delicious.
Question: Can we double the recipe?
Hi Viktorija, I always make a single batch but that should work. It may need a longer rising and kneading time.
Super easy to make, just need to be patient with the proofing. Made them for the first time and they turned out delicious! Thank you!
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Danira!
These were super easy and taste delicious😋 I made some with jelly and some I filled with the eclair filling. Out of this world!!!
Yay so perfect! I’m very happy that you loved these donuts.
Donuts were fantastic the first day. By the second day they became very dense and heavy. Any pointers about storage? Should they be filled when you want to eat them? Any reheating hints?
Hi Ellen, if stored properly in the fridge, the donuts will be kept well for about 5 days. We recommend an airtight container to keep them from drying out.
I’m looking forward to making these. I have salted butter. Is that going to be a problem?
Thanks
Hi Brenda, I haven’t tried making these with salted butter but that should work fine.
Easy and delicious! Not frying means my health doesn’t have to suffer and my house doesn’t get to smell. This recipe will be a go-to from now on in my household. Mine were filled with my homemade lemon and tangerine jellies. Thanks!
Yes, definitely an advantage. I’m glad this is going to be your favorite donut recipe, Deanna!