Healthy and Easy Apple Donuts

You can make healthy donuts! Yes, today I surprise you (I hope) with these delicious apple-based donuts fried with almost no oil... And some ideas to decorate them to your liking!

In the recipe we explain how to make them in several ways, either baked or fried, but I wonder if you knew that besides healthy, light and very tasty dishes, you can also prepare delicious desserts with the air fryer! Yes, this small kitchen appliance called an oil-free fryer or air fryer is becoming so popular for very good reasons, and it's a great helper with which you can cook practically anything.

Air fryers, like the Actifry Genius by Tefal, work the same way a convection oven does, combining hot air with gentle automated movements. This achieves a result very similar to traditional frying, without having to use much oil, nor turn on the extractor because there are no bothersome odors to eliminate.

Because of that and how easy and quick it is to prepare any dish with it, the air fryer has earned a prominent place in the kitchen. It's a great help with which we can make countless recipes, including tasty desserts or a variety of sweet preparations that are also healthier than when cooked traditionally.

One of the sweet recipes I like most is this one we share today. Some delicious and original apple donuts or apple rings, which are very tasty and are fried with just a brush of a hint of oil.

Ingredients

• 2 apples*
• 2 eggs
• 50 ml of milk
• 70 g of flour**
• 1 ActiFry tablespoon of sugar
• 1 ActiFry tablespoon of oil
• Icing sugar

*Use larger or smaller apples depending on your preferences when making the rings: the larger the apple diameter, the wider the donuts or the more they will resemble a ring in size.

**You can use gluten-free flour to make the recipe suitable for celiacs.

Preparation

Preparation of the apple donuts:

1. We prepare the batter with which we will coat the apple: first, we have to separate the egg yolks from the whites. We can do this very easily with the Tellier separator. In a bowl, mix the yolks with the milk and the flour, until you no longer see the flour and everything is incorporated and lump-free.
2. In another bowl beat the egg whites to stiff peaks with the sugar until you get a light meringue. You can beat the whites with a manual whisk or do it with a hand mixer.
3. When the meringue is ready, we will combine it with the mixture of yolks with the flour and milk. Add it little by little with folding movements until fully integrated and set aside.
4. Prepare the apple: Wash the apples, remove the core carefully, helping yourself with a knife or the WMF apple corer and cut them into slices (not thin, but not too thick either or the bite won't be appealing).
5. Once sliced, dip them in the reserved batter so that each slice is coated with batter, and place them on a plate or tray until ready to cook.

Fry the apple donuts:

• If you fry them in the Actifry with almost no oil:

1. Remove the bowl from the Actifry oil-free fryer, brush it with olive oil and reinsert it into the fryer
2. Preheat using the manual mode at 220 °C for 5 minutes.
3. After the time has passed remove the bowl again and arrange the apple slices so they do not touch and fry them in batches, setting to mode 3 for 16 minutes each time, until they are all done.
4. Before serving, dust them with icing sugar, and dig in! (below I leave more ideas for these donuts).

Here is the step-by-step video so you can easily make them in your Actifry.

• Fry in a pan or cast iron fryer:

1. If your option is to fry them in the more traditional way, put plenty of mild oil in a pan or cast iron fryer and heat it. When the oil is hot, add the apple donuts. A few at a time, leaving space between them, and cook them on all sides.
2. Remove the donuts with a slotted spoon to drain the oil and avoid breaking them, and place them on a plate with paper towel to absorb the excess oil. Continue making all the rings in batches.

If you bake the donuts:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 ºC.
2. Place baking paper on a baking tray, and arrange the apple donuts on it, leaving space between them. Spray oil on top of the donuts with an oil-based release spray (the Gobel one is), and put them in the oven.
3. Bake the donuts about 12 minutes per side, and remove from the oven when they appear done (don't leave the oven unattended while checking their cooking) and let them cool.

Notes on preparing the batter:

These apple rings are ideal for an afternoon snack or a Sunday breakfast. They are tasty and very quick and easy to make. You can make them thinner or thicker, and they will be larger or smaller depending on the diameter of the apples you choose.

Also remember that you can prepare them to your taste, giving them your personal touch:

• Try flavoring the milk with vanilla, cardamom, or nutmeg.
• Use coconut sugar or panela to prepare the batter mixture
• Replace cow's milk with oat drink, or your usual plant-based drink.
• Use ground cinnamon to sprinkle the apple donuts before serving if you don't want to add more sugar.

And if you want to prepare the batter with any flour other than wheat, you can do that too and we'd love for you to tell us how you adapted them!

Notes on decorating the apple donuts

You can serve the apple donuts as they are fried with sugar on top, or you can add a delicious topping. Here are some ideas to finish them:

• Melt fondant chocolate of your choice on the stove or in the microwave (whether more or less intense in cocoa), and dip the apple donuts completely or partially. The inner apple and the chocolate go wonderfully with hazelnuts, almonds, chopped walnuts, or even pistachios.
• You can also cover them with melted white chocolate, and sprinkle with sliced almonds or colorful chocolate shavings on top, they look very colorful and tasty.
• Brush them or dip them in condensed milk! It’s more liquid and doesn’t set like chocolate, so don’t overdo it, but the touch of condensed milk with apple and some crunchy or colorful sprinkles is delicious.
• Mix sugar with a tablespoon of sugar, and also add 3/4 teaspoon of cinnamon. Generously brush the rings with that mixture, and they'll be a hit. If the mixture is white sugar, brown sugar and panela plus cinnamon, the hit will be doubled.
• Make a lemon glaze; if you used red apples the combination will be absolutely spot on.

Which topping do you choose?

Pssst, if you're curious about air fryers or oil-free fryers, I strongly encourage you to check out the ones we have in the store, right here.