Making Holiday Treats on Facebook

December 9, 2016

If you're looking for something fun to make for your family and friends this holiday season, why not make some of my jelly-filled donuts, or a dozen - or two, or three - of our festive fruit bowl cookies?

If you caught my Facebook LIVE yesterday, you know just how easy these treats are to make. I invited our director of food development, Thomas Joseph, to join me and we had so much fun talking about donuts and cookies, sharing our favorite tips and ideas, and answering all of your questions. It's the perfect time to start baking for those holiday gatherings, so if you missed my Facebook LIVE special, you can still watch - just click on this highlighted link. Enjoy these photos.

And, thanks to Domino Sugar, our integration partner and sponsor for my television show, "Martha Bakes", on PBS.

: Thomas and I always have lots of fun working in the kitchen together. Here we are with all the ingredients for our jelly filled donuts. Whenever cooking or baking, it is important to prepare everything you need ahead of time, and to clean up as you go – it makes everything so much easier and more enjoyable.

: We are making yeast risen donuts. The recipe for these delicious treats is on my web site. http://www.marthastewart.com/1147707/jelly-filled-doughnuts

: Thank you to Domino for being a steadfast sponsor and supporter of our Facebook LIVE broadcasts and my television show, “Martha Bakes”. Domino is used on the east coast, while their C&H brand sugar is used on the west coast. https://www.chsugar.com https://www.dominosugar.com

: The dough should be kneaded until it’s smooth, soft, and bounces back when poked with a finger – about eight minutes, and then set aside to rise. This dough is all ready to be rolled out.

: Once it is rolled out onto a lightly floured surface, cut out the donuts with a two and a half inch round cutter – and try to use up all the dough, so there aren’t any scraps.

: Place them on cookie sheets, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside until they almost double in size. This recipe should make about 20-donuts. Do you know… more than 10-billion doughnuts are made in the United States each year?

: Look how golden brown these donuts are once fried. Watch our Facebook LIVE to get our baking tips. We answered a lot of your questions. Be sure to keep these donuts in a cool place if you’re making them a day before your holiday party.

: For the jelly, we used disposable pastry bags with long filler tips – Ateco 230. These tips are specifically made for filling donuts or eclairs, etc.

: We are also using Domino confectioner’s sugar for the glaze. Confectioner’s sugar is a finely ground sugar produced by milling granulated sugar into powder.

: Always sift confectioner’s sugar to make a nice, smooth glaze. Sifting confectioner’s sugar will remove any hard nuggets that may have formed in the box.

: Here is our counter all set up for our second treat – almond enriched fruit bowl cookies.

: These cookies are made using a two and a half inch biscuit cutter. We filled ours with apricot, blueberry, and cherry jam in the center.

: The recipe for these cookies in this month’s Living Magazine. This issue has lots of great ideas, tips and stories for the holidays – you’ll love it. http://www.marthastewart.com/854165/magazine-subscriptions

: My newest collection from Macy’s is called “From the Garden” and includes this White Flowers hand soap, with a lush bouquet of fresh white flowers, blooming with gardenia, tuberose and jasmine. goo.gl/zBx9DA

: Look how pretty these cookies are fresh from the oven. These are about quarter-inch thick with a dollop of jam in the center. Watch the broadcast to find out how easy it was to make the fun crumb edge of these cookies.