Have you ever made donuts at home? They aren't as complicated as you might expect, and boy are they worth it. Kids love to make donuts, and let's not kid ourselves, we all love to eat them.

This is the time of year when we can all unite around the miracles of fried and filled dough: the best jelly donuts. In Polish-American communities this Tuesday is Paczki Day, in New Orleans they celebrate Mardi Gras and Fat Tuesday with beignets, in Austria it's Faschingskrapfen, and in neighborhoods everywhere people are filling and scarfing jelly donuts.

We just don't want you to miss out!

Here are a bunch of our favorite jelly donut recipes:

Let's start with Polish Paczki. Fat Tuesday is better known as Paczki Day in the Midwest, and for good reason!

During my childhood, we looked forward to the Austrian Faschingskrapfen that would appear in local bakeries, and even in school. The warm, pillowy donut dusted with powdered or granulated sugar and filled with apricot jam. Recipe here.

Berliners are northern Germany's answer to faschingskrapfen, and these plum-filled and cinnamon sugar-dusted are at the top of our to-make list.

Beignets are the donut of choice down Louisiana way, and we found a delicious twist on the powdered sugar dusted rectangles with these chocolate-filled beignets.

And if you're not convinced by carnival donuts, don't forget about Sufganiyot, the jelly donut of choice for Hanukkah (or any other time of the year.)

So have I convinced you? Break out the yeast and get cooking! Jelly it out!