Doughnuts of the World
Dutch settlers fried balls of sweet dough in New Amsterdam long before anyone put a hole in one. Germans filled them with jam, Poles saved them for the last day before Lent, and Jewish families fry them for Hanukkah. America added the hole, the glaze and the cider. Here is every style, step by step.
Dutch Oliebollen (New Year's Eve Doughnuts)
Scoops of soft yeast batter studded with raisins and currants, fried round and golden and buried in powdered sugar, the Dutch New Year's Eve treat and a cousin of the olykoeks the Dutch made in old New York.
German Berliner (Jam-Filled Krapfen)
Soft balls of butter-and-egg yeast dough fried with their pale "collar", rolled in sugar and piped full of jam: the German jelly doughnut, called Berliner, Pfannkuchen, Krapfen or Kreppel depending on where you buy it.
Polish Pączki (Fat Thursday Doughnuts)
Extra-rich jelly doughnuts made with egg yolks, butter and vanilla, fried deep mahogany, tossed in powdered sugar and filled with plum, rose petal or raspberry jam for Fat Thursday.
Israeli Sufganiyot (Hanukkah Jelly Doughnuts)
Small yeast doughnuts scented with cinnamon, fried hot and fast for Hanukkah, filled with a spoonful of berry or plum preserves and rolled in sugar, from Joan Nathan's 1979 holiday cookbook.
Portuguese Malasadas (and Hawaii's Malasada Day)
Hole-less yeast doughnuts made with bread flour, milk and eggs, patted into disks, fried golden and tossed in sugar while hot: the Portuguese Shrove Tuesday treat that became Hawaii's Malasada Day.
Tuscan Bomboloni alla Crema (Custard Doughnuts)
Big, cloud-soft Italian doughnuts made from a folded yeast dough, fried slow and pale gold, filled with lemon-and-vanilla pastry cream and dusted with powdered sugar, the way Tuscan bakeries and beach carts sell them.
Greek Loukoumades (Honey Doughnut Puffs)
Spoonfuls of a bubbly yeast batter fried into crisp golden puffs, dropped into cold honey syrup and showered with walnuts, cinnamon and sesame, Greece's favorite street-food sweet.
New Orleans Beignets
Squares of a very wet, eggy yeast dough fried until they balloon, then buried in powdered sugar, the French Quarter coffee-stand doughnut, made at home.
Classic Yeast-Raised Glazed Doughnuts
Tall, airy ring doughnuts from a buttery dough that rests overnight in the fridge, proofed in a steamy oven, fried golden and dipped in a sheer vanilla glaze that sets matte and crackly.
Old-Fashioned Sour Cream Doughnuts
Tangy sour cream and buttermilk cake doughnuts, chilled, cut and fried until craggy and crisp at the edges, then dipped in a thin vanilla glaze that settles into every crack.
Apple Cider Doughnuts
Tender cake doughnuts flavored with apple, buttermilk, cinnamon and nutmeg, fried in two minutes and tossed in cinnamon sugar, the fall orchard and cider-mill classic made at home.
Baked Weeknight Doughnuts (Cinnamon Sugar)
Tender nutmeg cake doughnuts baked in a doughnut pan in 10 minutes and shaken in cinnamon sugar while warm: no yeast, no frying, about half an hour start to finish.
Hot Glazed Doughnuts, Inspired by Krispy Kreme
Light, fluffy yeast rings made with shortening, fried in shortening and dipped while warm in a thin, warm glaze of powdered sugar, milk and corn syrup, a home take on the famous hot glazed doughnut. Inspired by, not official.