Air Fryer Homemade Donuts

Air Fryer Homemade Donuts

I made donuts in the air fryer from store bought biscuit dough, but this was my first time making donuts from scratch.  Beware it does take hours from start to finish, but these donuts were worth the time and effort.  I topped these donuts and donut holes with a cinnamon sugar mixture, powdered sugar, vanilla yogurt glaze, and some sprinkles.  I will probably make a chocolate ganache the next time I make these or experiment with different flavored glazes.

Recipe adapted from Food Network

Ingredients:

Donuts-

2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast

1 cup whole milk warmed to 110 degrees F

1 large egg

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 tablespoons unsalted butter melted

2 ¼ cup all purpose flour plus more for dusting

1 cup cake flour (not self-rising)

¼ cup sugar

½ teaspoon salt

Toppings-

2 tablespoons unsalted butter melted

Cinnamon Sugar– ¼ cup granulated sugar, 2 tablespoons cinnamon

Powdered Sugar– ¼ cup powdered sugar

Vanilla Yogurt glaze– ¼ cup powdered sugar, ¼ cup nonfat vanilla Greek yogurt, sprinkles

Directions:

  1. Sprinkle the yeast with warm milk in a bowl. Let stand until foamy on top about 10 minutes.
  2. Beat the egg and oil in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment on medium speed until combined.
  3. Add the vanilla, 2 tablespoons melted butter, and yeast mixture.  Mix on low speed until combined.
  4. Whisk the flours, ¼ cup sugar, and salt in a large bowl.  Gradually add in the dry ingredients.  Continue to beat on medium until the dough is no longer sticky to the touch in about 1 minute.
  5. Turn the dough onto a floured surface.  Knead into a smooth ball.  Brush the bowl with melted butter.  Add the dough and cover with a clean kitchen cloth.  Let the dough rise until doubled in size at least 2 hours.
  6. Turn the dough back onto the floured surface and roll to ½ inch thick.  Cut out doughnuts using a mason jar and small plastic lid or a doughnut cutter.  Reserve the insides for doughnut holes. Cover with a clean cloth and let rise for at least 30 more minutes.
  7. Place doughnuts in a single layer in the air fryer basket.  Cook at 350 degrees for 5 minutes.  Transfer to a cooling rack and continue to cook the doughnuts in batches.  Cook the doughnut holes for 3-4 minutes.
  8. Brush warm doughnuts with melted butter and dip in the cinnamon sugar or powdered sugar mixture.  If using the glaze twirl the doughnut tops in the glaze and then add sprinkles.
  9. Store in an air-tight container once cooled.
  10. Enjoy!
Dough after rising for 2 hours
Donuts and holes before cooking
Donuts on cooling rack
Donut holes and donuts