There is nothing easier to make in the Air Fryer than these Donuts. In fact, they were the very first thing that I made when I purchased my first air fryer years ago.
Since then, I have made these donuts and air fryer cinnamon rolls at least a dozen times in my Ninja Foodi . And now I also make Breakfast Egg Rolls and Bacon in my Air Fryer.
They take 5 minutes to make from start to finish. And they make for a fantastic quick and easy breakfast treat or a snack any day of the week!
Biscuit Donuts
When I was a kid, we would have these donuts on Saturday mornings. That is the day that was dedicated to having a large family breakfast.
There would be pancakes, waffles, eggs, hash browns, and bacon on the table. And there would always be biscuit donuts as well.
However, that was after we all had a chance to make our own.
My mother would go to the refrigerator and pull out one or two tubes of refrigerator biscuit dough.
My siblings and I would then have the chore of cutting the hole out of the center to make each biscuit look like a donut.
I was very methodical and would use an apple corer to make the perfectly centered hole.
However, my brother would just tear a hole in the center with his hands and shape it.
Either way, each one worked perfectly to make our favorite donuts.
However, back in the day, the donuts were not air fryer donuts. They were cooked in vegetable oil in the deep fryer.
After my mother would pull them out of the oil, it was our job as kids to shake them in whatever topping that we preferred.
We had brown paper bags filled with a cinnamon sugar mixture and others filled with powdered sugar.
And if we felt creative, we would combine milk and powdered sugar in a bowl to make icing.
Then we would either shake the hot donuts in the bags, or drizzle the icing on top. They were absolutely delicious, and we looked forward to making them every weekend.
Easy Air Fryer Donuts – donuts made a little healthier
Although we all know that donuts are not the healthiest choice for breakfast, we have made them a little healthier by cooking them in the air fryer.
However, we use the same concept as when we made them in my younger years.
We purchase refrigerator biscuit dough from the grocery store. Then when we are ready to make them, we pop them open and cut out a center hole.
Although most of the time I still use an apple corer, I have found other methods to work just as well.
A bottle cap, bottle opening, or a shot glass will work in a pinch if that is all that there is available. And of course, you can always do what my brother did and simply tear a hole in the center and shape the biscuit into a donut shape.
Cooking Air Fryer Donuts
Now comes the easy part. Spray your air fryer basket with olive oil spray and place your donuts inside in a single layer.
Then cook for 5 minutes. Yes, it only takes 5 minutes!
Once the donuts are cooked, remove them from the air fryer and either dip them in butter or spritz them with olive oil.
Then it is time to add the cinnamon sugar topping. To this day, I still prefer to shake them in a brown paper bag to coat them evenly.
However, you can also just use your fingers or spoon to sprinkle the donuts by hand.
Either way, you are going to fall in love with these Easy Air Fryer Donuts!
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Easy Air Fryer Donuts
Make these quick and easy air fryer donuts from a can of refrigerator biscuit dough. Shake in a sugar/cinnamon mixture for the perfect breakfast treat or a snack.
Ingredients
16 oz refrigerated flaky jumbo biscuits
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
4 Tbsp butter melted, optional
olive oil spray
Instructions
Place sugar and cinnamon sugar in a brown paper bag, shake and set aside.
Remove the biscuits from the can, separate them and place them on a cutting board. Use a 1-inch round biscuit cutter to cut holes out of the center of each biscuit. You can also use an apple corer or bottle opening to cut open the hole if you don’t have a small biscuit cutter.
Lightly coat air fryer basket with olive oil spray.
Place 4 donuts in a single layer in the air fryer basket, being sure that they do not touch.
Bake at 360 degrees F for 5 minutes or until lightly browned.
Remove donuts from Air Fryer, dip in melted butter or spray both sides with olive oil spray, then shake in the cinnamon sugar mixture to coat.
These air fryer donuts are yeast-raised and every bit as delicious and soft as their deep-fried relatives. This really is a no compromise donut recipe - it's a great way to use your air fryer. So with these donuts, you get all the flavor and none of the oil or mess of deep frying.
How to Make Super Soft and Fluffy Sugar Glazed Doughnuts | Fried or Baked. There's only one way to make doughnuts even softer and fluffier and that is by scalding some of the flour. Scalding is a technique used to not only make bread softer, but also to make it stay soft for longer.
DIY substitutions don't really cut it, and AP flour will not create doughnuts with that same soft texture. Also, bleached cake flour will work best. Unbleached (like King Arthur Baking) won't absorb as much moisture, and you may end up with doughnuts that crumble while frying.
Ease a donut into the heated oil with a long-handle slotted spoon, taking care not to let the oil spatter. Fry the donuts, two or three at a time, in the oil 2 to 3 minutes or until they are golden brown, turning once. Remove the donuts with the slotted spoon, allowing excess oil to drain back into the fryer or pan.
Hot air frying of doughnut reduced crust roughness and created a smoother surface compared to the deep fat fried samples. Decreasing the frying temperature for both methods increased the crust roughness.
Flour — All-purpose flour or bread flour is perfect for fried chicken as it gives the chicken a golden-brown coating after being air-fried. It is also neutral in flavor, so it doesn't compete with the salt, pepper, garlic powder, and paprika added to it.
A batch of original glazed starts with Krispy Kreme doughnut mix, water and yeast, the same single-cell fungi used to make bread rise. The yeast is what makes the original glazed so light -- it puffs the dough up with air, so it's not dense like a cake doughnut (more on this later).
The secret ingredient, mashed potato, gives the donuts moistness and tenderness. It's rumored potato is in the secret Krispy Kreme recipe too! The first Krispy Kreme shop was opened in 1937 in North Carolina by Vernon Rudolph, who used his uncle's yeast-raised donut recipe.
What kind of oil is best for cooking donuts? The best oil is the one with the least flavour. Vegetable oil and canola oil are both very good in this respect. The most important thing is to use the same oil for the same kinds of foods, since oil readily absorbs flavours and aromas.
Heat oil in a large, deep skillet to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Fry donuts in hot oil in batches until golden, turning over once, about 1 to 2 minutes per side. Drain on paper towels. Dust with confectioners' sugar while they are still warm and serve.
Fry at about 375° to 380° F (190.6° to 193.3° C). Donuts brown too rapidly and may have raw or doughy centers if fried in fat that is too hot. Donuts fried in colder shortening brown too slowly and absorb excessive frying shortening.
Roger Daniels, vice president of research, development and innovation at Stratas Foods, concurs that hard fats, including high oleic soybean shortening, are optimum for frying donuts. “If you have a hard fat, that prevents more oil from transferring to the surface of the donut,” Daniels says.
With these no fry doughnuts, there's no messing about with hot oil or time spent standing over a hot pan. Oven baked doughnuts have a fairly different texture to the traditional deep fried versions. You'll find that they're much more cake-like and less chewy, hence often being referred to as cake doughnuts!
While the need for oil in air frying is not as great as when using an oven or frying something on a pan, a small amount of oil can go a long way in keeping your food moist and providing that golden brown color.
An air fryer can cook pretty much anything that you would normally fry in oil, such as: Chicken, including chicken fingers and nuggets. Vegetables. Onion rings and french fries.
Yes, if you prefer not to fry, you can also bake donuts in the oven. Simply prepare the dough, shape it into donut rings, and bake them in a preheated oven at around 375°F (190°C) for approximately 12-15 minutes. This method results in a slightly different texture but can still be delicious.
Introduction: My name is Fr. Dewey Fisher, I am a powerful, open, faithful, combative, spotless, faithful, fair person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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