Air-Fryer Cinnamon Sugar Donuts

The from-scratch yeast donut is a project — make the dough, first rise, shape, second rise, fry in oil, glaze. It's a wonderful thing to do on a Sunday morning if you have three hours. This recipe is the opposite of that. Refrigerated biscuit dough (the Pillsbury kind, in a can that pops open with satisfying violence), separated into rounds, hole punched out of the centre with a small cookie cutter (or a shot glass), air-fried at 350°F for five minutes, tumbled in melted butter and cinnamon sugar. Done. Eight donuts plus the holes, in twelve active minutes.

The result is genuinely surprising. Biscuit dough air-fries into something approaching the texture of a yeast donut — slightly chewy, soft inside, golden on the outside — and the cinnamon-sugar coating is the same coating you'd put on a real donut. It's not a perfect replica, but it's close enough that nobody will notice unless they're a pastry chef.

The photo shows two formats: two large cinnamon-sugar rings (the straight donut version), and a cluster of small chocolate-glazed donut holes with rainbow sprinkles (the holes, dipped in melted chocolate and topped). Both come from the same can of biscuit dough. The double act is what makes this a small-event recipe — kids' breakfast, brunch buffet, late-night-snack situation.