Baked Flower Sufganiyot

Hanukkah may be the holiday of frying, but I know a lot of you look for baked recipes too. So here are tiny baked sufganiyot, soft and sweet, pressed together into the shape of a flower. With good strawberry jam in the middle you get special, delicious donuts with no frying at all.

Ingredients for about 6 flowers

For the dough

• 350 g all-purpose flour (2½ cups).
• 60 g sugar (¼ cup).
• 10 g instant dry yeast (1 level tablespoon).
• 1 large egg.
• 150 ml milk (½ cup + 3 tablespoons).
• 40 g butter, softened and cut into cubes.
• 1 egg, beaten, for brushing.
• 1 jar of jam, for filling.

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, whisk the milk, sugar, yeast and egg together (you can also use a stand mixer with the dough hook).
2. Add the flour and knead into a ball of dough. Add the softened butter cubes and keep kneading until the butter disappears into the dough and it's smooth and sticky.
3. Lightly flour your work surface, set the dough on it and dust it with a little flour too. Knead by hand for about 5 minutes, until the dough is pleasant to the touch and less sticky.
4. Move the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let it rise for about an hour, or until doubled.
5. Knead the dough briefly to knock out the air and divide it into small pieces of 20 g each. Roll each piece into a ball (each flower takes 5 balls).
6. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and arrange 5 balls close together in a circle (see the video above).
7. Press each ball in toward the middle until they're all joined. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let them rise for about 30 minutes.
8. After the rise, brush with beaten egg and put a teaspoon of jam in the middle of each flower (make sure the balls are firmly joined in the middle so the jam doesn't run underneath as it bakes).
9. Bake in an oven preheated to 350°F (175°C) for about 15–20 minutes, or until golden.
10. Once cooled, add a little more jam and dust with powdered sugar.