Air-fryer Donat Susu

As always, during the month of Ramadan, the uber-famous Malaysian cooking content creator Khairul Aming (@khairulaming) shared a video of him making Donat Susu, which apparently went viral for some time. Honestly I didn’t even know this was a thing until I saw his post, nonetheless the idea of using sweetened condensed milk in bread dough *and* dipping fluffy donuts into a mixture of powdered milk and sugar was too compelling to resist.

That being said, I’m quite mindful about Mummy’s (and mine, I guess) consumption of fried foods, so I wondered if I could make these donuts in the air fryer. For inspiration on the method I found a wonderful video by Emma’s Goodies on Youtube as a start, and adjusted the resting and cooking time accordingly.

Since Khairul Aming’s recipe uses volume measurements, I took the liberty to weigh the measured out ingredients for better consistency and to speed up prep in future attempts. As written I found the dough a bit too wet for my liking, so I reduced the liquid ingredients just a bit. I also used SAF Red Instant Yeast , as the dough was incredibly active and was rising very fast with Gold.

These donuts are pillowy soft and fluffy, dusted with creamy and mildly sweet milk-sugar topping which makes it incredibly hard to stop at just one. Deep fry in oil if you like, but trust me this air-fried version is just as addictive minus all the health concerns and guilt. Try it out, guys!

In your stand mixer bowl, add the water, condensed milk, and yeast. Stir to combine.

Let sit until foamy, about 5 minutes.

Add the egg.

Add the flour and salt.

Transfer the bowl to your stand mixer, and knead at Speed 1 until a shaggy dough forms.

Add the margarine and continue kneading until incorporated.

Increase to Speed 2 and continue mixing, until a smooth and elastic dough forms, 15 minutes.

Transfer to a well-oiled bowl. Cover and let rest, until doubled in size, 20 to 25 minutes.

When the dough has doubled in size, punch the dough down to let the air out.

Transfer to a surface generously dusted with flour.

Roll the dough out until 1/2 inch thick.

Cut into the dough using a donut cutter. Arrange in a baking sheet, allowing room for the donuts to rise.

Roll up the dough scraps into a ball, cover and let rest, 5 to 10 minutes.

Roll the dough up until 1/2-inch thick and cut out more donuts. Repeat until all the dough is used up.

Brush the donuts with melted butter.

Let rise until doubled, 10 to 12 minutes.

Preheat your air fryer for 5 minutes. My Philips air fryer supposedly doesn’t need any preheating, but it seems that doing so anyway yields a nicer result.

Carefully lower the risen donuts into your air fryer basket. I usually use two spatulas to ensure the shape doesn’t get distorted during the transfer.

Air fry until golden brown, 4 minutes. Repeat for the rest of the donuts.

In a large bowl, add the powdered milk and icing sugar. Whisk to thoroughly combine.

Add the fried donuts into the milk and sugar mixture, and toss until evenly coated. Repeat with the rest of the donuts.

Best eaten warm (not that I can resist popping one or two in my mouth straight after adding the topping). Reheats really well in the toaster oven as well. Enjoy!