Airfryer Nutella Doughnuts (Spelt or Regular Flour)

This post for Airfryer Nutella doughnuts was originally written for The Culinary Jumble and published in September 2016. The images have not been altered, but the recipe has been tweaked to include the option to use an Airfryer or Actifry, and spelt flour. 

When I first posted my recipes for Actifry doughnuts back in January 2016, nobody else was making them. I am not claiming to be the inventor of doughnuts made this way, but to my knowledge, I was one of the first (definitely to blog about it, anyway). It was such a novelty that Actifry actually featured my recipe for jam doughnuts (they now have now replaced it with these Nutella beauts. Who can blame them?).

A quick Google search confirms that yes, the world and his baking auntie have now started making them. Which, of course, can only be a good thing. Everyone needs to be aware that making doughnuts in an Airfryer is not only possible, but that they’re blinkin’ delish!

There’s never a wrong time for doughnuts, any kind of doughnuts, but my kids were sick with colds, and I thought they might appreciate a little cheering up. As suspected, these super-soft Airfryer Nutella doughnuts did the trick, good and proper! Mum of the year award, here I come.

Although I am not averse to treating myself to the odd doughnut when someone else is making them, at home, deep frying anything is not going to happen. Enter my Airfryer. My favourite little machine does a pretty good job of making authentic tasting doughnuts, but the end result is much better for you.

I am not going to lie, making these buggers is time consuming and fiddly. First you need to prepare the dough (which we all know can be a little laborious), and then you have to stand guard over them while they’re cooking. But you know what? It just makes them taste all the more divine. 

Disclaimer: When I originally thought about the possibility of making doughnuts without deep frying them, I had an Actifry. I switched to an Airfryer several years ago, but haven’t tried making doughnuts in it. 

Print Pin

Airfryer Nutella Doughnuts

Servings 8 doughnuts

Ingredients

• 125ml water
• 125ml milk
• 60g butter
• 25g fresh yeast (see note 1)
• 400-450g flour (see note 2)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla sugar
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
• 65g sugar
• Nutella (see note 3)
• Vegetable oil or spray (for cooking)
• Icing sugar (for sprinkling)

Instructions

• In a pan, heat the water, milk and butter, just until the butter is starting to melt. Remove from the heat and allow to cool until it just lukewarm. Then sprinkle in the yeast. Stir until combined and leave for around 10 minutes to activate.
• In a large bowl, mix around 350g of flour with the sugar, vanilla sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon. Pour in the wet ingredients and gradually add more flour as needed. Knead for around five minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic and then place back in the bowl and cover with a towel (see note 4). Leave in a warm place until it has pretty much doubled in size.
• Drop dollops of Nutella (around 1-2 teaspoons each) on a baking tray lined with grease-proof paper. Place in the freezer for an hour to harden up.
• Knock back the dough and briefly knead again, and then divide into 8 roughly equal sized balls, pulling the outsides in to make a nice, smooth finish. Take each ball and flatten in the palm of your hand and place one of the Nutella dollops in the centre. Pull over the outsides of the dough so that the Nutella is completely covered.
• Place the dough balls on a baking tray lined with grease-proof paper, cover, and leave in a warm place to proof for around 45-60 minutes.
• Actifry: remove the rotary part of your Actifry, then sprinkle in a touch of vegetable oil. Place the lid on and let it run for a couple of minutes, then gently place several doughnuts in (you will need to cook them in batches). Brush a little oil over the top. Because the rotary part is not being used, you will manually need to shuffle the doughnuts around to ensure an even cooking.

  Airfryer: spray or grease your Airfryer basket with oil. Do the same with the top of the doughnuts. Place them in the basket with a nice amount of space between them (you will need to cook them in batches) for about four minutes each on 175°C.
• When golden brown, remove from the Airfryer and leave to cool on some kitchen paper. Sprinkle liberally with icing sugar and scoff them down while still warm!

Notes

I no longer use cup measurements in my recipes. I am aware that this is not popular with my North American readers, but I simply feel uncomfortable using conversions. My personal belief is that grams are way more accurate, and seeing as baking is chemistry, I feel that scales are always the best way forward. I hope this doesn't deter you from trying my recipes.

1. Although I no longer use fresh yeast, I did when I made my doughnuts. I haven't made them in an Airfryer for several years, so do not want to mess around with the original recipe. If you would like to use dry yeast, King Arthur have a useful resource to help you convert from fresh yeast.
2. I use spelt flour in all my baking recipes now. However, when I made the original recipe, I used bread flour. You can use bread, regular or spelt flour, with very little difference to the result, because you are adding only as much flour as you need.
3. I didn't weight the Nutella I used - please see instructions for clarification.
4. I use a bread machine for all my bread now. If you would prefer to do this, add your ingredients to your machine and set to make dough (as per the manufacturer's instructions).