In honor of Hannukkah, we cooked up some doughnuts on our Traeger grill. These Traegered Sufganiyot are a traditional sweet treat during the Jewish winter holidays and cooking them on the Traeger keeps the mess to a minimum and gives the end result an extra kick of wood-fired flavor. Make these Traegered Sufganiyot tonight!
WHAT ARE SUFGANIYOT?
Sufganiyot are a common sweet snack during the Jewish holidays of Hannukah. You’ll see several dishes around those holidays that incorporate cooking with oil– which is significant and symbolic because Hannukah celebrates how a small amount of lamp oil lasted 8 nights during the rededication of the Temple of Jerusalem.
So around the Hannukah holidays, you’ll see lots of symbolism of the eight nights of oil– latkes cooked in oil, eight nights of lit candles, and of course, yeasty doughnuts fried in oil. This recipe follows the traditional method pretty closely, but cooked in the Traeger for a different twist.
As you know, I love to cook everything in my Traeger, and doing doughnuts is unexpected and fun. And you can’t beat the fact that deep frying in the Traeger results in keeping the smell of cooking oil out of the house. That makes everyone happy!
PRIMARY INGREDIENTS
- Dry active yeast
- Flour
- White sugar
- Eggs- yolks and whole
- Orange zest and juice
- Brandy
- Salt
- Vanilla
- Butter
- Vegetable oil
- Jam or jelly for filling
WHY COOKING TRAEGERED SUFGANIYOT ON THE GRILL WORKS
Deep frying anything in the house is a project that ends with a smell of grease in your kitchen (and the surrounding area) for at least a couple hours. We have found that cooking like this in our Traeger grills is the best solution. Not only do we love to cook outside on our grills– from pancakes to pork belly, briskets to brownies– but it is easy, clean and fun.
The Traeger grills can get very hot and are the perfect vessel for deep or shallow frying because of the consistent temperature and predictable source of heat. The pellets that fuel the grill are fed into the fire pot with an auger that creates consistent heat. You won’t end up with spurts of high heat and periods of low heat when the fire gets fueled or runs low– instead the Traeger’s design keeps the fire burning consistently.
As long as you put the cast iron pan and oil in the grill in advance– with plenty of time to heat up– you will have no problem cooking something like doughnuts in the Traeger. We appreciate how cooking things like sufganiyot in the Traeger also cuts down on the overall mess in the kitchen. No grease splattering on the counters or cabinets, and no lingering grease smell after the cooking project is done!
STEP-BY-STEP
- In a bowl, combine yeast, some of the flour and sugar and warm water until the yeast blooms.
- Add the eggs, egg yolk, milk, orange juice and zest, brandy, salt and remaining sugar.
- Mix until combined and then add the rest of the flour in batches.
- Mix in the butter in pats until well combined.
- Transfer dough to a board and knead until it forms a smooth ball.
- Allow to rest then roll out and cut into rounds.
- Fry in oil in your preheated Traeger until golden brown.
- Fill with jelly or other filling and dust with powdered sugar.
- Serve fresh and warm!
PRODUCTS AND SIMILAR RECIPES
As mentioned, cooking things in the Traegers that are not expected– like cake, brownies and doughnuts– is sure to impress your dinner guests. We have also cooked latkes in the Traeger–using the same frying method as these doughnuts and will share that recipe soon.
In the meantime, here’s another Traegered dessert recipe for you to consider– Jewish Apple Cake.
Products used in this cook:
- Traeger grill
- cast-iron Dutch oven
- Pastry bag or brisket injector
- Biscuit cutter or glass
- Instant read thermometer
MAKE THESE TRAEGERED SUFGANIYOT TONIGHT!
Definietly give this recipe a try and let me know what you think. You can mix up the inside ingredients– subbing chocolate pudding, Nutella or another flavor of jam for the raspberry we used in this cook!
Did you make this recipe?
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Traegered Sufganiyot
Equipment
- Traeger grill
- cast-iron Dutch oven
- Pastry bag or brisket injector
- Biscuit cutter or glass
- Instant read thermometer
Ingredients
- 1 envelope dry yeast (1/4 ounce)
- 3.5 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tbsp white sugar
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 whole egg
- 1 tsp orange zest
- 3 tbsp juice from one orange use the one you zested
- 1 tbsp brandy
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 6 tbsp unsalted butter room temperature and cubed
Frying
- 5 cups vegetable oil
Filling
- 2 cups jam we used strawberry and raspberry
Instructions
- In a stand misker, combine the yeast, 1 tbsp flour, 2 tbsp sugar, and 2 tbsp warm water. Whisk to combine and let stand until yeast starts to foam, about 5 minutes.
- Whisk in the egg yolks, whole egg, milk, orange zest, orange juice, brandy, salt, vanilla, 2 cups of the flour, and the remaining 1/4 cup sugar. Mix on low speed with a dough hook until combined, about 2 minutes.
- Add the butter 1 piece at a time, mixing well between additions. Gradually add remaining 2 cups flour (you may not need all of it), mixing until mostly combined between additions, until dough forms a ball on the hook.
- Transfer the dough onto a floured work surface and knead, adding more flour as needed, until it is no longer sticky, about 5 minutes. Transfer the dough to a buttered bowl, turn to coat, and cover with a clean kitchen towel. Let it rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
- Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface until 3/4" thick. Using cutter or glass, cut out rounds of dough. Transfer the cut rounds to a parchment-lined tray and cover with a kitchen towel. Allow to rise for about an hour until nearly doubled.
- Preheat your Traeger grill to 450° while the dough rises for the last time. Fill the Dutch Oven with oil (about 2" deep) and place it in the grill. Allow it to heat for nearly an hour– until the temperature of the oil reaches 350°.
- When the oil is hot and the donuts have risen, cook them in small batches in the hot oil. Turn once during cooking to brown evenly, then transfer to a paper-towel lined tray.
- Fill the pastry bag or brisket injector wtih jam.
- Insert the tip of the injector in the side of each donut, and fill until the jam begins to leak out. Repeat with remaining donuts and place on a tray.
- Sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired, and serve!
