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Filozes Portuguese Donuts are super simple to make and because they are a rustic donut, they are no fuss. Raised dough is deep fried until gold brown and tossed in a cinnamon sugar mixture. These portuguese donuts are so delicious you’ll struggle to eat only one.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love this Recipe
Filozes (pron: FAY lo shez) are a rough yeast donut from the Azore Islands, West of Portugal. The doughnuts are dropped into hot oil and fried until golden brown. They are simple Portuguese pastries.
I remember being a young girl standing on a stool in my Great Grandma’s kitchen while she fried up filozes for me when I came to visit. After they were cool enough for my little hands to touch, I would roll them in cinnamon and sugar. She always managed to have a little mini donut mixed in there somewhere that I could pop in my mouth. It’s a wonderful memory.
I had never made filozes before, only dreamed of fond memories in my great grandma’s kitchen. So, I rang up my 92 year old grandmother and asked if she had the original recipe and within a few minutes of small talk about the weather, she was asking if I had my pen handy. I was shocked to learn that my very own grandmother, the queen of all things yeast, had never tried her hand at filozes before. How could this be? She warned that they were “hard to make” and “finicky”. After 5 or 10 minutes more of small talk, I thanked her for sharing the recipe with me and hit the kitchen. They are definitely no hard to make. In fact, the hardest thing about this recipe is not eating them all! Serve with a hot cup of coffee.
Ingredients You’ll Need
This is a simple yeast dough that uses pantry staples you likely already have on hand.
- Whole Milk: lightly scalded milk will make the dough enriched and tender.
- Sugar: plain sugar or granulated white sugar.
- Yeast: if you don’t bake a lot, make sure your active dry yeast is not expired.
- Eggs: large eggs are always used in recipes on Farmgirl Gourmet
- Butter: unsalted melted butter
- Flour: all purpose white flour
- Seasonings: Kosher salt, sugar, ground cinnamon
Find the printable recipe card with exact measurements and instructions below.
Substitutes & Variations
- Variations: experiment with flavor by using different types of spices like ground nutmeg, ground cardamom, or a blend like pumpkin spice.
- Variations: add lemon zest to the sugar instead of cinnamon for a bright flavor.
Special Equipment Needed
- Large stock pot for frying or a Deep Fryer
How to Make Portuguese Donuts
The dough comes together easily and making the donuts is relatively fast. Make sure you have your spiced sugar for coating ready to go when you start to fry these Portuguese doughnuts.
Step 1: Scald the milk
In a medium saucepan add the milk and warm over medium-high heat until you see bubbles around the edges. Remove and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
Step 2: Make the dough
- In a medium bowl, add the warm milk, sugar, warm water, and active dry yeast and let stand for 5 minutes.
- Beat the eggs in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment until frothy. Add the yeast mixture, salt, and melted butter and mix to combine.
- Add the sifted flour all at once and beat well to incorporate.
Step 3: Let the dough rise
- Remove the paddle attachment and cover the mixing bowl with a towel. Allow to rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour. Using a rubber spatula, drag along the edge of the dough and allow to rise another 20 minutes.
Step 4: Make the sugar topping
- Mix together the white sugar and ground cinnamon in a small bowl until combined.
Step 5: Fry the donuts
- Prepare a dutch oven or deep fryer by adding 2 inches of oil. Heat to 375ºF. Grab pieces of dough with your hands or 2 spoons and drop carefully into the hot oil. Fry until golden brown and then flip. Remove to a baking sheet or plate lined with paper towels and allow to drain for a minute before tossing in the cinnamon sugar mixture .
- Repeat with the remaining dough and serve the warm doughnuts immediately.
Tips for Storing Leftovers
- For storing: wrap a container tightly with plastic wrap with the filozes Portuguese donuts or store in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days.
- How to freeze: store in an airtight container in the freezer for 2-3 months. Bring to room temperature before serving.
More Recipes We Love
Breakfast is one of my favorite things to make and eat. Here are some of my favorites from around Farmgirl Gourmet:
- Baked Orange Olive Oil Donuts
- Baked Vanilla Cereal Donuts
- Gluten-Free Pumpkin Donuts
- Baked Chai Donuts with Bourbon Glaze
Filozes Portuguese Donuts
Description
Ingredients
- 1 cup whole milk scalded
- ⅓ cup sugar
- ¾ cup warm water
- 2 packets active yeast
- 6 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons butter melted
- 5 cups all purpose flour sifted
Cinnamon Sugar Topping:
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 tablespoons cinnamon
Instructions
- In a medium bowl add the milk, sugar, water and yeast and let sit for 5 minutes.
- Beat eggs in the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment until frothy. Add the yeast mixture, salt and melted butter and mix to combine. Add the sifted flour all at once and beat well to incorporate.
- Remove the bowl and cover with a towel and allow to rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour. Using a rubber spatula, drag along the edge of the dough and allow to rise for another 20 minutes.
- Prepare a dutch oven or deep fryer by adding 2 inches of oil. Heat to 375º F degrees. Grab pieces of the dough and drop into the hot oil. Fry until golden brown and then flip over. Remove to paper towels to drain. Repeat with remaining dough.
- Mix the remaining sugar and cinnamon in a shallow bowl and dip the warm donuts to coat. Eat immediately.
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Recipe By:
Co-Founder at Spiceology | More About Heather…
Heather is a recipe developer and content creator living in Vancouver, Washington. She started Farmgirl Gourmet in 2006, almost 20 years ago, as a way to share recipes with friends and family. Heather is also the co-founder of Spiceology , a unique spice company, which she started in 2013. She shares family friendly recipes for easy everyday meals with a gourmet twist.
My great grandmothers recipe for Portuguese donuts that are so delicious and fun to make
My avo used to make filhos and everyone loved them. Ever since he passed we have tried to copy his recipe and they never turn out the same. Trying to find some like his, although he did not use yeast everyone else seems to. May need to try this one day.
My mother use to make these when I was a kid, around Easter. My brothers wife has made them for us. Love them, and would love my kids to make the to.
Just stumbled across this recipe. Growing up in the New Bedford, MA area, we always called these ‘malassadas.’ Apparently, that name is rather specific to Sao Miguel and mainland Portugal and the other islands call them filhos/filozes.
I’m going to definitely try these out this weekend! My mother’s family is also from Ferndale, CA – small world. She was a Gomes.
Hi! I´m from Portugal and the correct name is FILHÓS or FILHOSES (plural).
My grandmother from the Azores spells it Filozes. I imagine there must be different spellings for different regions. Thanks for the info.
What great stories. My Avoa landed on Rhode Island 100 yrs ago on Aug 13th after a very rough and lengthy voyage from Sao Jorge. As a young boy in the 60’s at Vo va’s house I would eat filozes until I popped always warm and fresh probably 10,000 calories. Lol I finally found a recipe. Thank you thank you thankyou
My grandfather also landed on Aug. 13th in Rhode Island. Last name is Vasconcellos. Whole family came over from Graciosa (via Angra). Any connection?
Where does the butter go? I didnt see it anywhere.
Hi Jess – sorry for taking so long to respond, I was away from technology! Thanks for catching the missing butter, I have updated the recipe. I appreciate the note letting me know it was MIA. 🙂 ~Heather
i am a first generation Portuguese whose parents were from the Azores. One side from the island of
Terceira and the other from the island of Fial.
My kids love these and couldn’t wait for Fat tuesday when their grandma Ormonde would have a housefull to enjoy. We had an assembly line so it wouldn’t be so much work. These were memoiries of our heritage and a fun way to have family gahterings
Rosemarie – we used to do the assembly line at my Great Grandmothers house too!! I was always the cinnamon sugar station. 🙂 Such great memories…thanks for sharing yours with me.
Rosemarie, My Dad was from Terceira and I have cousins named Ormonde, wonder if we are related
This post makes me very happy! We have Filozes ever year on Fat Tuesday and New Years Eve because that’s when my grandma used to make them for us. My job was the sugar shaker. Now I do the frying and am passing on the tradition to my nieces. They love eating them and helping out. I even had these at my rehearsal dinner for my wedding. My cousin surprised me with them. Very sweet of her. Thanks for bringing back such great memories!