Raspberry Jelly Doughnuts

Fat Tuesday is tomrrow, time for some sweets. Fluffy, melt in yours mouth, irresistible... Do you need more?

Ingredients:

• 600 g all-purpose flour,
• 3 large eggs
• 100 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled down.
• 70 g sugar,
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract,
• ½ tsp. salt,
• 2 Tbls. rum,
• 250 ml warm whole milk,
• 10 g active yeast,
• lard or vegetable oil, for frying,
• ½ cup raspberry jam.

Method:

1. Sift dry ingredients: flour, yeast, salt and sugar to a bowl and blend slightly.
2. Stir milk, vanilla extract, rum and add to the flour mixture all at once.
3. Blend in a mixer fitted with the hook attachment.
4. Start adding the eggs one at a time and continue to mix until the dough comes together. Continue to knead the dough until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Dough will be loose and sticky a bit. And it's supposed to be. Do not add extra flour!
5. Place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise for at least 1.5-2 hours.
6. Turn the risen dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll it out to 1/2 –inch thickness. Use 3-inch cookie cutter to cut out 18 doughnuts. Place the doughnuts onto a parchment-lined baking tray, cover the tray with plastic wrap and let the doughnuts rise for 45 minutes, if using room temperature dough or for an hour if using a cold dough. 
7. Heat the oil to 350 F (use a candy thermometer if cooking doughnuts in a pot).  Fit in as many doughnuts as you can, but with enough room that they have at least an inch between them. Fry the doughnuts for about 2-3 minutes, then flip over the fry for another 2-3 minutes. Use slotted spoon to remove the doughnuts onto the cooling rack to drain. 
8. To fill the doughnuts, spoon the raspberry jam into a piping bag fitted with a doughnut tip. Insert the tip into the doughnut and fill with about a 2 tsp of the jam. 
9. Optional: you can dip warm dougnuts in icing glaze (stir 1 cup confectioners sugar with 3 Tbls. hot water) or drizzle confectioners sugar when cool completely.

The doughnuts are best enjoyed the day they're are made.