Jelly (or Jam) doughnut varieties include the Berliner, Australia and Britain's jam doughnuts, sufganiyot from Israel, and the jelly filled doughnuts (jelly donuts) sold in the United States and Canada. Japanese Anpan are similar to Germany's Berliner, except they contain red bean paste. Krafne from Eastern Europe also include a jelly filled variety. In Tuscany and Florence, bomboloni are popular. Austria also has a jelly doughnut known as krapfen that is typically filled with apricot jam and topped with powdered sugar. The Polish Pączki is also similar to a jelly doughnut.
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A 1942 headline in the Hartford Courant reported that "Jelly Doughnut Diets Harmful to War Effort."[1] A 1976 Los Angeles Times story explains how to make jelly doughnuts from scratch for a "tasty after-school" snack for youngsters.[2]
Pastry chef Elizabeth Belkind at Grace (restaurant) makes "a dessert of three yeast-raised doughnuts filled with homemade strawberry-rhubarb jam and sprinkled with sugar" served with vanilla custard and a tiny pool of red-wine caramel sauce. Stan's Corner Donut Shoppe's owner Stan Berman makes five varieties of jelly doughnuts, "including the Ina (named for his wife), a chocolate-glazed doughnut filled with raspberry jelly. Other variations include raspberry- filled and lemon-filled glazed doughnuts and blueberry-filled crumb doughnuts."[3]
Ruth Reichl did a jelly donut taste test in 1997 and graded the ones from Georgie's ahead of Krispy Kreme's blueberry jelly filled variety, while Dunkin' Donuts product finished last.[4] Debbie's (formerly Michele's Donuts) in Waterbury, New York got a favorable review of its jelly doughnuts in 2002.[5]
Elvis Presley's 63rd birthday was celebrated at a Chicago pub with a jelly doughnut eating contest.[6] A baker in Florida planned to construct a 1,000 to 1,200 pound jelly doughnut as a promotion.[7]
Jelly or custard filled doughnuts are known as sufganiyot in Hebrew and are the number one Hanukkah treat. They are cooked in oil which is in keeping with the theme of the holiday, celebrating one day's worth of oil "keeping a sacred lamp alight for eight."[8][9]