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Chanukah is a holiday my kids can really sink their teeth into, literally. It’s a time when we throw caution to the wind and eat anything deep fried in oil. Lots of oil.
This is the one time of year where I eat unhealthy bits of deep fried food and enjoy every bite!
That’s because on Chanukah, Jews celebrate the miracle of the oil lasting for eight days instead of one. We eat things like latkes, or potato pancakes, fried in oil, and we eat sufganiyot, or jelly donuts, which are deep fried in oil too… all in the name of commemorating this miracle. (Get my gluten-free latke recipe.)
For a healthy, gluten-free blogger like me, this holiday poses a problem. It’s very difficult to make a healthy donut fried in deep oil!
So like I said before, I had to throw caution to the wind this year. I decided to make a very unhealthy (but very delicious) deep-fried gluten-free jelly donut so I could enjoy the celebration and commemorate the miracle of the oil.
Of course, I had NO clue had to make a yeast-based jelly donut, yet alone a gluten-free jelly donut. Thank goodness for Google and for Bob’s Red Mill.
I found a recipe for jelly donuts on the Food Network and I wanted to see if it could be adapted to be gluten-free with my trusty Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten-Free Flour Blend.
So I set out to try!
I noticed a two things that didn’t quite work when the recipe converted to gluten-free – however, I still managed to make some delicious gluten-free jelly donuts even if they weren’t perfect.
One, I noticed that the dough was quite sticky to work with, so I needed to add more gluten-free flour to allow me to handle and roll out the dough.
Two, the dough didn’t rise as nicely as the I think it was supposed to. I think it was supposed to double in size. Oh well, my gluten-free jelly donuts are much smaller than their wheat-flour jelly donut counterparts. That’s okay… still yummy.
What I did like, however, is that the Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten-Free Flour Blend worked! And my donuts still felt like donuts, looked liked donuts and tasted like the jelly donuts I remember eating every Chanukah as a child.
I was even able to roll out the donut dough and cut it into these perfectly-shaped rounds.
As I’m frying up the donuts, my kids were impatiently waiting in the wings. They could not wait to get their hands on these donuts. They each had one before I could even fill them with jelly! They were begging for more.
We haven’t had jelly donuts in our house in a LONG LONG time. I saw lots of happy faces, and enjoyed lots of good hugs. I may have to make these gluten-free jelly donuts every Chanukah!
What I realized is that sometimes you have to make something a bit unhealthy in order to fully enjoy the celebration and the symbolic foods that come with the holiday. We can’t be too hard on ourselves or expect ourselves to always be healthy – you need to enjoy life. This is truly a once a year treat!
Happy Chanukah to all my gluten-free friends. Chag Sameach (happy holiday)!
PS: Here is a video by Laura Vitale (love her!) for jelly donuts. My recipe is slightly different (and of course mine is for gluten-free jelly donuts), but I thought this was worth watching so you could see the techniques I learned from her.
Gluten-Free Jelly Donut Recipe:
- 1 cup warm milk
- 1 tsp. active dry yeast
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 2 1/ cups Bob's 1-to-1 Gluten-Free Flour Blend (in the blue bag - not Bob's All Purpose Flour) + 1/4-1/2 cup more for dusting
- 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into pieces and softened
- Vegetable oil for deep frying
- Jelly or filling of choice
- Powdered sugar - optional
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Prepare your standing mixer with the dough hook.
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In the bowl of the mixer, add the warm milk and yeast. Whisk, by hand, for 3-5 minutes until yeast is dissolved.
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Add sugar, salt, vanilla and eggs to the bowl and continue to whisk by hand until well blended.
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Add flour to bowl and mix ingredients using your standing mixer for about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides halfway through.
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Add butter and continue to mix until smooth or for about 2 more minutes.
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Lightly grease a large glass bowl. Add dough to bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let mixture rise for about 2-3 hours.
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Prepare a large baking sheet with parchment paper and lightly dust with flour. Set aside.
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Generously dust your countertop or other flat surface with flour.
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Add dough to to surface. If the dough is sticky (mine was very sticky), add more flour until mixture is workable without sticking to your hands and the rolling pin. (Don't be shy, you may need to add about 1/2 cup more flour!)
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Roll out dough to about 1 inch in thickness.
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Using a round cookie cutter, cut out donut-sized circles and place on baking sheet.
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Reroll excess scraps until all dough is in cookie-sized circles on your baking sheet.
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Cover baking sheet with plastic wrap and allow dough to rest and rise for another hour.
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In a large pot, heat vegetable oil until 2-3 inches deep. If you have a deep fry thermometer, the temperature should register at 360 degrees. (If you don't have a deep fry thermometer, test oil by adding a small piece of scrap dough to the oil. If it floats and begins to brown, the oil is hot enough).
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Add each donut to the oil and cook for about 30-40 seconds on each side, using tongs or a skimmer to turn the donuts once the first side is slightly brown.
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Add each cooked donut to a paper towel-lined platter and continue to work donuts in batches.
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Fill a pastry bag with jelly. Insert tip into each side of the donut and gently squeeze to fill. (I like to use a straw to carve out a hole inside the donut for the jelly.)
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Dust donuts with powdered sugar and serve immediately.
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Donuts taste best when eaten warm.
Adapted from this recipe on Food Network.
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