Just donuts? Not anymore!
Raise your hand if you think that Donuts are the best kind of weekend indulgence. Or should I say that Donuts should be an everyday thing? Okay, for all of you who’s hands are raised, I ought to parcel you some of these deliciousness. Wait I have a better idea, how about you make them at home and indulge yourself all you want in these delicious treats? Imagine if they are filled with the most finger-licking jam, doesn’t it sound heavenly? It’s like icing on a cake.
You want to hear another delicious truth? What if I say that the donuts are air fried? I know, it’s too much awesomeness to handle right? But that is the truth and you do not have to imagine them anymore because I tried and they are perfect. These Air Fried citrusy Amaretto Donuts filled with Amaretto Cardamom Mixed Fruit Jam are beyond delicious. 
Sweet discoveries!
I never had donuts growing up; I didn’t even know they existed. We had some savory donut shaped stuff called vada but they didn’t taste like donuts. There was fried bread that had a similar taste to donuts though. When I moved to the US, some of the food here amazed me. One of them was the traditional American breakfast – donuts and coffee on the go. Oh my lord! I was so surprised to see that people love eating sweet treats for breakfast. Oh and the size of the coffee was another big shocker. I won’t even go there. For us, breakfast was always savory unless there was sweet porridge and till date, it is usually a savory morning for me.
Turning memories to realities.
My first experience with donuts was at a Dunkin’ Donuts shop and I am pretty sure that’s the case with most people who are not from here originally. The first bite reminded me of the sweet fried bread back home. Yes, I kinda liked it; but never got into a sweet morning habit. It has always been a mid day coffee or evening tea thing for me and nothing has changed in all those years. Guess our childhood palette never changes, no matter where we move to.
The last time I made donuts at home were not really the traditional style ones. There were more of cake style donuts, and that was about 3-4 years ago. Well never too late I guess, right?
Fun with monthly recipes
Most of us have a habit of buying cookbooks, but how many dishes do we actually make from them before buying a new one? I love collecting cookbooks, and I wish I had time to finish them all. However, there are some people who you feel so connected to that you want to read their entire cookbook as if it was a chapter book. ‘Masala and Meatballs‘ by Asha is one of those for me. When I found out that Asha’s book is coming out, I knew I had to get it and try as many recipes as I could. If you don’t know Asha then you really need to check out her blog. She is such a gem. I got to know her through Instagram, her south Indian dishes are beyond amazing.
Unless you are looking for a specific recipe, it sometimes gets very hard to decide which recipe to cook first from a cookbook. But now, thanks to the Instagram community that has so many wonderful people that I have connected with it is much easier. Deborah, from ‘Rainy Day Bites’ runs a monthly cookbook club on Instagram. It’s so wonderful to see different creations of the same dish from these monthly cookbooks. When I got to know that it’s Masala and Meatballs for the month of April, of course I had to participate. This made the recipe decisions much easier! One of the recipe challenges was the jam buns, which I had so much fun making and playing around with flavors.
The ultimate donut indulgence!
This basic donut recipe is adapted from Asha’s cookbook, ‘Masala & Meatballs’ which is called Jam Buns. The name says it all; it has to have a jam. The recipe called for mixed fruit cardamom jam which included: plums, apples, bananas, strawberries and grapes for the fruit. Since rhubarb is in abundance at this time of the year, I substituted plums with rhubarb. It added a very nice tartness to the jam.
I also have lots of frozen farm strawberries from last summer which I thought would be perfect to make jam. So instead of grapes, I used double the amount of strawberries. As you all might have noticed, I itch to use herbs in my cooking and baking, so how could I go without it this time. I might not drink liquor, but baking or cooking without it, rarely happens in my test kitchen. So here I have Amaretto Mixed Fruit Jam with Cardamom and Thyme. Heavenly! Make sure to make a big batch, it’s very scrummy on buttered toast for breakfast. You could add more sugar if you find it a bit tarty or rhubarby as I call it. 
Wait…we’re not done yet
Of course, how could I leave the basic bun dough as it is? Never! So I decided to add lots of citrus zest and more Amaretto in the dough itself. The flavors were so refreshing and irresistible. To add the fresh element for the final sugar coat, I added citrus in the sugar too. It cuts down the sweetness and the lemony notes give a wonderful flavor to the final sugar coat for the donuts. The dough comes together very easily. The recipe didn’t call for proofing the dough after combining it; but, I decided to proof my dough for an hour before rolling it, which gave me an extra hour to multi task on the side.
Traditionally they are supposed to be deep fried. Well, I love my air fryer, so I air fried half of the batch. The only regret I have about it is that I didn’t do it with all the donuts. This is what I call – “Guilt Free Donut Indulgence”. These donuts are coated in citrus sugar at the end. For the air fried ones, I had to brush little bit butter before coating them in sugar, just to help the sugar to stick on them.yum!
Side notes
Now in the cookbook, Asha says that it’s all about the warm jam, I completely agree. Warm the jam before piping it in the donuts; it makes a huge difference. If you want to go all fancy then coat them in chocolate or decorate them however you want. I fancied mine up with some dark and white chocolate then topped them with rose petals/coconut chips. Donuts couldn’t look more elegant than that.
These irresistible air fried donuts can be perfect with your morning coffee, afternoon espresso or evening tea. They could also be great for father’s day breakfast or brunch or even take them with you as a munching snack for your outdoor BBQ party or picnics. The list is endless for these little scrummy treats.
- 480 grams all purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 50 grams sugar
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
- 2 tbsp amaretto
- 1 tsp cardamom powder
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 eggs, room temperature
- 4 tbsp (56 grams) butter, room temperature
- 235 ml milk, warm to 110 degrees F
- 10 grams active dry yeast
- Oil for deep frying
- 65 grams sugar for coating
- 1 tsp lemon zest for the sugar coat
- 150 - 200 grams mixed fruit jam
- 75 grams rhubarb, diced
- 175 grams apple, cored and diced
- 1 banana, diced
- 350 grams frozen strawberries, diced
- 50 ml lemon juice
- 1 lemon peel
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 125 grams sugar
- 1 tbsp grand marinier
- 3 tbsp amaretto
- 1 tsp ground green cardamom
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- Warm the milk to 110 degrees F and mix 1 tsp sugar. Sprinkle yeast and give it a stir. Set aside to activate for 5-7 minutes until it forms bubbles.
- Add 1 tbsp zest in 50 grams sugar and gently rub with your fingers. This will help mix the zest properly.
- In a standing mixer with dough hook attachment, add flour, citrus sugar, salt, cardamon and mix on low speed for 1 minute.
- Add the milk, vanilla and amaretto and mix on medium speed for 2-3 minutes.
- Add the eggs one at a time while mixing on medium speed.
- Mix on medium for 4 minutes. the dough will feel dry, but it will all come together after butter is added.
- Cut the butter in small cubes, and start adding the cubes while mixing on medium speed. This should take about 5 minutes until all the butter is added.
- keep kneading the dough on medium speed for 7-8 minutes until the dough comes together.
- Now take a separate large bowl and brush little oil in it. Transfer the dough and cover the bowl with cling wrap. let it rest and proof for 1 hour.
- Line 1-2 sheet pans with parchment paper.
- Sprinkle some flour onto the rolling surface. Transfer the dough onto the dusted surface and roll the dough to about 1/2 inch thickness.
- Cut the circles with 3 inch cookie cutter. You could make them smaller but cutting with smaller cookie cutter.
- Place these round cut outs on the prepared sheet pan, few inches apart from each other.
- Cover them with a damp kitchen towel and let it rest to rise for 1.5 - 2 hours, until double in size. Make sure the kitchen towel does not dry up.
- Meanwhile prepare the sugar for coating. Run the citrus in the sugar with your fingers and put the sugar in a sheet pan or any flat plate.
- Preheat the air fryer to 360 degree F for 3 minutes. Carefully lift the round buns and place them in the air fryer (few at a time). Air fry for 5-6 minutes turning them half way through. If the cut outs are small then the frying time will be less. Check after 3 minutes to make sure it is not browning too much.
- Brush them with melted butter and coat them in the citrus sugar.
- Warm the jam just a little bit and pour this into a piping bag with a small nozzle.
- The nozzle hole will help in making a hole into the donut. You could use a small knife to make a tiny cut. Pipe the jam into each donut through the hole.
- If deep frying, then heat the oil to 350 degrees. Prepare the sheet pan by lining it with parchment paper or silver foil. place a wire rack on top. This will be for fried donuts and the sheet pan underneath will collect any oil drippings.
- Carefully life the buns from the sheet pan and fry them in small batches. Fry for about 2 minutes on each side. Take them out and place them on the wire rack that is sitting on top of the lined sheet pan.
- Coat these in citrus sugar and fill them with jam. Follow the filling method above.
- Serve warm as is or with ice-cream.
- Prepare the glass jars by washing and sterilizing them. Place a metal spoon in freezer. This will be used to check if jam if done or not.
- In a heavy bottom metal (steel/copper) pan, add all the cut fruits, lemon peel, salt, sugar, and thyme. Cook on medium to high heat until it boils. Keep stirring to avoid the scorching.
- Reduce the heat to medium low, and cook until it thickens (about 30 minutes). With help of potato masher, mash the fruits while cooking to release all its liquid and keep stirring to avoid scorching.
- For smoother consistency, take out the lemon peel, and blend it in blender or use an immersion blender to blend directly in the pan.
- Once it starts to thicken, check for its doneness, by dropping a drop of it on the spoon that is in the freezer. If the drop doesn't spread and sets on the spoon, then the jam is done.
- Check for sweetness, and if you like it more sweet, add more sugar and cook for some more time.
- Add the grand mariner, amaretto and cardamom powder. Cook for 3-5 minutes and take off the heat.
- Transfer the jam to the sterilized jars and let cool till room temperature before preserving them
6 Comments
Mmm air fried donuts?! Didn’t even know that was a thing. I definitely don’t have the patience to make something this spectacular but am hungry just looking at them. Love that you used rhubarb!
Awww thank you! Yeah, I love airfrying just to make them a little guilt free. So I can eat without counting. 🙂 It actually turns out really good though 🙂
Such stunning pictures and such sweet words. I’m beyond touched. Thank you for your kindness. Love that you air fried them and that grand Mariner in the jam, yummo. I only wish I could have a couple of these.
Thanks again hon!!❤️
xo
Awww thank you. Loved this recipe. Air fried made them guilt free so I could eat without counting. And it actually turned out so perfect. I wish I could share some with you. 😊❤️
Air fried donuts?! Amazing! They are definitely a weekend favorite for me!
This is the perfect excuse to eat a dozen donuts!