Dracula's Jelly Donuts
“How blessed are some people, whose lives have no fears, no dreads; to whom sleep is a blessing that comes nightly, and brings nothing but sweet dreams.”
Dracula is a classic, loved by thousands and thousands of people.
I’m not one of those people.
I read it for the first time in high school, wrote down a few lines that I liked (though not the page number, of course) and donated my copy shortly after.
I read it again a few months ago through Kindle, because I couldn’t bring myself to buy another hard copy.
I deleted that one, too. And I didn’t think to write down page numbers again, because I didn’t expect to get rid of it. Again.
But it was still really dry.
And it dragged.
And maybe I had a hard time reading it the second time because I remembered hating it so much the first time I read it.
I didn’t even read it for class the first time. I read it during my Chemistry class, which was somehow even worse than the book. And, because it was a little better than Chemistry, I managed to get through the whole book.
So I read it voluntarily.
But the dread of being in Chemistry probably didn’t help endearing me to the book.
And, normally, I would refuse to post this book. Not because I don’t like it, but because I don’t have the actual book, or page numbers to reference any of the quotes, and because I feel like I can’t go as in depth with it as I do with all of the other books on my blog.
But it was requested.
And I figured out what I wanted to make almost immediately.
And, as much as I dislike 90% of this book, the dessert that I thought up is definitely a weakness of mine.
Jelly donuts.
Really, all donuts are a weakness of mine (I’m only slightly ashamed to say that I once ate 6 large Boston Creams in a single sitting).
But the story is about vampires biting people (Lucy and Mina) and leaving them to walk around with holes in their necks, which immediately made me think of sugar-covered donuts with jelly oozing out of their holes.
They couldn’t be filled with regular strawberry jelly, though.
I needed something blood-red. Something that looked creepy. And, yes, I know that that describes strawberry jelly, but I didn’t want to do that.
Cherries symbolize innocence, and that’s exactly what Dracula is stealing from these women. (Really, the whole book is about Victorian men being terrified of women embracing their sexuality and needing to kill them if they aren’t virgins before they’re married (seriously… look it up. It’s a universally acknowledged truth in the academic world).)
But cherries aren’t in season, so I had to use frozen black cherries. Which fits the story more—having something that’s “alive” long after it should have died.
I wanted to make this donut for adults. Dracula is not Hotel Transylvania, even if Dracula is in both. It was written as a horror novel.
Even if it ended up being really dry.
So I decided to add Merlot, which is also semi-dry and usually symbolizes a transformation of some kind in literature.
It’s fitting.
And incredibly delicious.
Black Cherry Merlot Jelly
-2 (12 oz) bags of frozen Black Cherries, semi-thawed
-1 c white sugar
-1/2 c Merlot, chilled (I used Barefoot because it was on sale, but you can use what you like)
-1 packet gelatin
In a medium saucepan, finish thawing the cherries over medium-low heat.
Sprinkle the cherries with 1/4 cup of sugar and continue cooking.
Once the cherries are completely defrosted, use a potato masher to crush them.
In a small cup, sprinkle the packet of gelatin over the cold wine, letting it absorb. THIS IS IMPORTANT: Because this is made with gelatin (not pectin), you can’t can this/ put this in a mason jar and store for a few months. Even though gelatin and pectin do similar things, gelatin doesn’t last in fruit like pectin does. If you save this jelly for a month or more, you’re going to get sick if you eat it. If you want to store this, use pectin instead.
Once the cherries have come to a boil, stir in the wine and gelatin for 1 minute, and be gentle when you stir!
Remove the cherries from the heat and add the last 3/4 cups of sugar.
Let the cherries cool completely, then store in an airtight container overnight.
Donut Dough
-1/4 c water, warm
-4 1/2 tsp Dry yeast
-1 1/2 c milk (I used 2%, but whole is usually preferred)
-3/4 c white sugar
-2 eggs
-2 tsp vanilla extract
-6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
-5 c all-purpose flour
Mix the water, sugar, and yeast in a large bowl, and let it rest for 10 minutes. It should get foamy, like the picture below.
2. Whisk in the milk, eggs, vanilla, and butter.
3. Mix the flour into the wet ingredients, one cup at a time. Around the third/ fourth cup, switch from using the whisk to folding the flour in with your hands.
4. Once the flour is mixed in and the dough is a smooth round ball, put it on a floured surface and knead it for 5-7 minutes. Add more flour if it gets sticky—it shouldn’t be sticking to your fingers or the surface it’s on.
5. Put the dough in an oiled pot/ bowl and rub it with more of the oil. I used melted butter.
6. Cover the dough with a damp towel, and let it rise for about an hour (it should be doubled in size). Since my house is cold, I let my oven preheat to 170 degrees, then I turn it off and put my dough in the oven. If your house isn’t a chilly 61-65 degrees like mine all winter, you can just leave it on the counter and it should rise nicely. If it’s still not rising, try using my oven trick.
7. Once the dough is doubled in size, put it back on the floured surface, and roll it out until it’s about 1/2 inch thick. If you make it too much thicker, the dough won’t cook in the center, so watch how thick you make it!
8. Using a circular cookie cutter (about 3 inches), pop out circles of dough and put them on a baking sheet. You can fold all of your leftover dough together and roll it back out to get more donuts out of it. Make sure you give the donuts space on the baking sheet! You’re going to let them double in size again.
9. Cover the donuts with the damp towel again, and let them rise for another 45 minutes.
10. Fill a large pan 1/3 of the way with canola oil and heat until it reaches 350 degrees. Turn the heat down, but keep the oil at 350! If it’s too high, you’ll burn the outsides of the donuts and the insides will be raw. If it’s too low, you’ll overcook the whole donut.
11. Making sure you don’t overcrowd the pan, fry 2-3 donuts at a time. You should be able the see the underside turning golden brown right before you flip them. If you can’t, it should only take about 1 minute each side. If they still aren’t golden brown after you flip them over, flip them back over for a few more seconds.
12. When the donuts are done frying, put them on a paper towel or wire rack to get rid of the oil.
13. Once they’ve cooled enough to be touched, roll them in white sugar. You want to do this when they’re still warm, or the sugar won’t stick right.
14. Place the jelly in a piping bag. Make sure you have a tip on the piping bag—it’ll make the filling process easier and cleaner.
15. Poke a hole in the side of each donut then put the tip of the piping bag into it and fill the donut with the jelly.
Then you’re done, and free to eat as many donuts as you want. Vampires believe in gorging themselves, so go to town. Put on an awesome vampire movie… I recommend 30 Days of Night, Dracula Untold with Luke Evans, or Van Helsing with Hugh Jackman. Or the original Lost Boys.
Really, there are a lot of great vampire movies, and there are a lot of amazing vampire books.
Go enjoy one with your jelly donuts.
