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! 😉
I made them today for the first time but they turned out amazing, it’s a great recipe I’ll definitely make these again. Thanks
I’m glad you loved it, Elizabeth. Thank you for your great comments and feedback!
Hi Natasha. My daughter is asking for donuts and I want to give these a try today. Can I use a break maker to make the dough?
Hi Sandra, I honestly haven’t tried the dough in a bread maker, but I imagine it could work fine to put the mixture in on the dough setting and let it run through the full dough cycle. If you experiment, please let me know how it goes!
Love your recipes.
This sounds delicious.
What if I don’t have rapid rise yeast-can I use regular yeast?
Your lobster tails were the best-better than restaurant!
Hi Anne, I have always made these with instant yeast, but typically, when substituting with active dry, you would use 25% more active dry yeast and you would need to let it proof first in the warm milk for 7 minutes or so. Mix the other dry ingredients together in step 1 (except for the yeast). Add warm milk to a bowl and sprinkle the top with yeast and let that sit for 7 minutes then add remaining wet ingredients and whisk together per the recipe. Here is an article that helps with understanding the various types of yeast and how to substitute.
Just came across your recipe and can hardly wait to try it. I just finished making a batch of strawberry jam that would go perfectly! I do have one question though, can I do the kneading in my mixer or do you recommend only doing it by hand?
Hi Alana, I imagine that should work too.
Followed exact recipe and measurements but my dough came out really thick, the donuts ended up tasting more like bread.
Hi Jenn, Be sure to measure by fluffing the flour first with a spoon, then spoon it into a dry ingredient measuring cup and scrape it off the top. If you push your measuring cup into a flour bin, you will get up to 25% too much flour. Also, do not tap the flour down in the measuring cup. This post on measuring has all of our measuring tips.
Great info, thankyou! That mustve been the issue then. I’ll give it another go
Súper easy, huge hit!
Filled with lemon curd.
Will be making again.
When a crowd loves it, you know it’s good!
Love this recipe! And came out perfectly ❤️
That is awesoem! Thank you so much for your great comments, Kiki.
If I use salted butter (purchased by mistake) how much salt do I now add?
I haven’t tried making these with salted butter but that should work fine.
I’ve used many of your recipes. They all have been top notch and these donuts were the best! We opted to fill with the eclair creme and top with chocolate. My guys loved them so much! Can’t wait to actually do the jelly filled. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
You’re welcome, Jen! Thank you for sharing that awesome review with me!
Hello Natasha
Thank you I made the donuts today. Very tasty.
Would this recipe work with gluten free flour?
Thank you
Hello Clori, thanks for sharing. I haven’t tested that with gluten-free flour so I can’t advise. If you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe.
Amazing recipe! Made these this morning and they came out DELICIOUS!
That’s so great, Andrea! Thank you for that wonderful feedback.
Can you refrigerate the dough to bake them the next day?
Hello Megan, I haven’t tested them as make-ahead donuts but being a yeast dough, that should technically work if you refrigerate it before baking. If I were to experiment with making them as overnight donuts, I would place the rounds onto a prepared baking sheet, cover them and refrigerate before the last rise. Let them puff/rise the next day at room temperature before baking.
Scrumptious! And easy to make. Thank you for a new favourite recipe. The only downside is that they are very ‘more-ish’ & we will get fat.
They are addicting! I’m glad you all enjoeyd this, Phyllis!
Thank you sooo much for this recipe, Natasha! You CAN substitute caster sugar for granulated sugar. Measurements were accurate and the outcome was delicious. Not too sweet not too bland. And it was sooo light and fluffy! I have been looking for a donut recipe for a long time; I have made other recipes and the donut was always too dense. This one was perfect!! This is my first time baking one of your recipes and it was amazing. Going to be following your recipes more often! I will definitely be making this recipe again. Ahh, I am licking my lips right now!!!
That’s just awesome, Beth! Thank you for sharing that excellent review with me!
Awesome donuts! Made them for my grandkids but my husband had to try them out.. I did get a bakers dozen!
Thank you,
Barb
THat’s so great! I’m happy you enjoyed this recipe.
Hello Natasha,👋👋👋
Is it possible to substitute caster sugar for granulated sugar ?I really want to bake some of your seemingly delicious Donuts in 2-3 days and I am not sure if I will be able to go to the shops and by granulated sugar by then😯
Hi Beth, I haven’t tested that substitution to advise on the outcome. If you happen to experiment, I would love to know how you like that.
Okay I was searching for a baked donut recipe for the longest time since I hate frying, and this is simply amazing! You can totally use a bread maker, just dump the liquids in, then the flour, then the yeast. The dough will be a little sticky, but a generous dusting of flour will remedy it right away! I rolled out the scraps and got 18 beautiful donuts which tasted exactly like fried ones without the oil, and they stayed fresh the next day too! A truly great recipe Natasha, thank you for this gem!
You’re welcome, Andrea! I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe!
My baked donuts were too dense despite the fact that I measured accurately. My oven does not measure below 140F so I warmed the oven slightly for a few minutes then turned it off. The dough looked fine and doubled. They were still dense and the uneatable the next morning. I threw them out!😞
Hi Joanie, if the flour was measured correctly, it sounds like maybe they were over-proofed. If you proof at too high of heat, you can deactivate the yeast and also exhaust the yeast, causing them to be dry and and not rise properly. I hope that helps for next time.
Hi Joanie, if the flour was measured correctly, it sounds like maybe they were over-proofed. If you proof at too high of heat, you can deactivate the yeast and also exhaust the yeast, causing them to be dry and not rise properly. I hope that helps for next time.
I followed the instructions exactly, weighing the ingredients so as not to have too dense a doughnut. I used a glass jar instead of a cookie cutter and ended up with about twenty circles, so I stacked them on top of one another and let them rise that way. I ended up with thirteen. The glaze made them taste exactly like a glazed doughnut, and the eclair filling recipe made twice what I needed, but I put it in the fridge for later! The doughnuts were soft and pillowy, and the filling was decadent. I will definitely make them again!
Hello Tricia, thanks for sharing your experience making this recipe. I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Hi I made these yesterday and they turned out great! Except my filling (whip cream) kinda disappeared into the donuts
should I be filling them right away or let them cool before filling? Or is it just the whip cream with the heat causing it to melt/disappear thank you!!
Hi Megan, you do want to let them cool before filling if using whipped cream. Cold whipped cream will melt when it touches something warm.