Happy Pączki Day!
My grandpa would be so proud of me…. I’m half Polish which means that every year on Fat Tuesday we get to eat jelly doughnuts (I mean technically they’re called pączek, but we’re kind of pseudo-American-Polish (and Italian! Sorry Mom…) so we get these delicious American (oops) doughnuts from our downtown shop.
Pączek are just like jelly doughnuts- they’re yummy fried sweet dough filled with preserves or cream and usually sprinkled in powdered sugar. Sound familiar? It’s Polish tradition to eat pączek on Fat Tuesday in order to use up all of the extra butter, sugar, eggs, and fruit before Lent started and all of these treats were forbidden.
But the most important thing that I hope you got out of that last paragraph was that Fat Tuesday = jelly doughnuts! I really think this is a great tradition. Do you know what would be an even better tradition??
Every Tuesday= Jelly Doughnuts.
But then every Wednesday would have to be “Everybody Run a Marathon Day” so maybe not…
So in honor of my Polish ancestors and an amazing excuse to indulge in some doughnuts, I decided to add a little to twist to tradition and make these Jelly Filled Doughnut Muffins.
These little babies taste like a freshly fried… warm…buttery… jelly doughnut….Only they’re baked up in the oven and take almost no time to make! They have that same dense and rich texture of homemade doughnuts but have the convenience of baking up in muffin tins and happen to be seriously adorable.
I found the original recipe on Fine Cooking a while ago and I’ve just been waiting for the perfect time to give these a try. Fat Tuesday seemed absolutely perfect! And to make them even more holiday appropriate I decided to fill them with raspberry jam. You can pick whatever your favorite jam is, they’ll all be delicious! I even considered a Bavarian cream but got a little lazy.
Here’s the recipe! Happy Pączek Day!
Jelly Filled Doughnut Muffins
- 24 tbs. unsalted butter, warmed to room temperature
- 1-3/4 cups sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 6 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 Tbs. plus 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1-3/4 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. ground nutmeg
- 1-2/3 cups milk
- 1/4 cup buttermilk
- 1 cup raspberry jam (or whichever jam you prefer)
- 16 tbs. unsalted butter; more as needed
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 Tbs. ground cinnamon
- Put a rack in the middle of the oven and heat the oven to 350°F.
- Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until just mixed in.
- Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg.
- Combine the milk and buttermilk.
- With a wooden spoon, mix a quarter of the dry ingredients into the butter mixture. Then mix in a third of the milk mixture. Continue mixing in the remaining dry and wet ingredients alternately, ending with the dry. Mix until well combined and smooth, but don’t overmix.
- Grease and flour a standard-size muffin tin. Scoop enough batter into each tin so that the top of the batter is even with the rim of the cup, about 1/2 cup. Bake the muffins until firm to the touch, 30 to 35 minutes.
- Spoon about a cup of raspberry preserves (or whichever you prefer) into a pastry bag fitted with a large holed pastry tip. Really any will do, just make sure the hole is big enough for the seeds in the jam to get through.
- Insert a small pairing knife into bottom of doughnut and wiggle around to make room for the jam. Be careful not to create a large hole on the bottom of the muffin, you don’t want all of the jelly leaking through!
- Gently pipe jelly into bottom of muffin.
- Melt the butter for the dipping mixture.
- Combine the sugar and cinnamon.
- When the muffins are just cool enough to handle, remove them from the tin, dip them into or brush them all over with the melted butter, and then roll them in the cinnamon sugar.
These are GORGEOUS! And I’m absolutely making them. Great job on these muffins. I wish I had one right now!
Thanks Jen! I just had another for breakfast :)
I’m from Sweden and we also celebrate Fat Tuesday! We eat this bun filled with cream called semla, it’s delicious! But your doughnuts look yummy too! :)
That sounds delicious too! I was really tempted to fill these muffins with cream too, yum!
Wow, now this a creative muffin twist! :) Looks lovely!
Thanks Kiri!
Oh wow, those look amazing!! I can smell them from here. Must try these!!
These smelled sooo good coming out of the oven :) Let me know if you give them a try!
These look like my ultimate doughnut muffins – bookmarked and replacing my old recipe for sure :D
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Latest: 5 Min Wrap Pizza
aw thanks! These were quick and easy and sooooo good :)
I love jelly doughnuts and this is such a fun idea to eat them as a muffin! Definitely tucking away this recipe for when I get that doughnut craving ;)
wow! my son like this manu so much.
i love the idea of turning jelly doughnuts into muffins! sounds delicious!
Thanks! These were a lot of fun to make!
Mmm these look delicious! :) Thanks for sharing!
Definitely gonna give these a try!
I think you should get quote of the year award!!! OMG!!! “and shoved it up the bottom of the muffin to get a clean hole” LOL!! Sounds like colonic irrigation! I will DEFINITELY be making these – thanks for sharing… Moo x
These look delicious!! Just found your site through Kelly’s blog and I’m so glad! I’m always looking for healthy alternatives to the desserts I love :)
I can’t even begin to tell you how much my daughter and her friend would LOVE these! They have a long rehearsal day this weekend, I just may have to surprise them!
Aw fun! Let me know how it goes! I made these for my little brother and he loved them too :)