Sourdough Discard Carrot Cake Donut Holes
These carrot cake donut holes are made with sourdough discard and loaded with carrots, raisins, pecans and dipped in a cream cheese glaze all made in the air fryer.
I love Carrot Cake and I love sourdough discard recipes, especially in the spring and donuts are a fan favorite in our house (as I'm sure they are at your). The process of making a yeasted and fried donut is a lot, so it rarely happens. So These Carrot Cake Donut Holes are made with sourdough discard, in the air fryer (or oven) and turn out perfectly fluffy every single time. No need to pull out the deep fry them to get a great result.
Ingredients
- Flour - all purpose is best.
- Sourdough Discard - you can swap for greek yogurt if you don't do sourdough
- Greek Yogurt - it must be greek yogurt, the results are not the same if you use regular yogurt.
- Shredded Carrots - my grater ended up breaking on me, so I ended up finely dicing my carrots and it worked great!
- Raisins - I used golden raisins, but regular work as well.
- Pecans - can swap for walnuts or leave out.
- Seasonings - salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger
- Baking Soda and Baking Powder - this helps to leaven the donuts
- Butter - used in the dough and the glaze
- Cream Cheese - for the cream cheese glaze
- Powdered Sugar - for the cream cheese glaze
- Vanilla Bean Paste - can swap for vanilla extract
- Heavy Cream - for thinning out our glaze.
How to Make Air Fryer Carrot Cake Donut Holes
- Preheat air fryer at 350 or oven to 400.
- In a bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, salt, carrots, raisins, and pecans.
- Add in sourdough discard, greek yogurt, and melted butter. Mix until dough starts to come together, then pour onto the counter and knead for 5 minutes. Adding more flour if dough becomes too sticky.
- Section dough into 16 pieces and shape each piece into a round ball. Place round balls onto a piece of parchment paper.
- Bake in air fryer or oven for 5-6 minutes, turn each ball and bake an additional 5-6 minutes. If baking in oven bake for 6 minutes each side.
- In a small bowl combine softened cream cheese, softened butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla bean paste. Mix to combine. Add in heavy cream until desired consistency is achieved.
- Remove donut holes from oven or air fryer, allow to cool until you can handle them. Dip into cream cheese glaze and enjoy!
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📖 Recipe
Carrot Cake Donut Holes in the Air Fryer
These carrot cake donut holes are loaded with carrots, raisins, pecans and dipped in a cream cheese glaze all made in the air fryer.
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat air fryer at 350 or oven to 400.
- In a bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, salt, carrots, raisins, and pecans.
- Add in sourdough discard, greek yogurt, and melted butter. Mix until dough starts to come together, then pour onto the counter and knead for 5 minutes. Adding more flour if dough becomes too sticky.
- Section dough into 16 pieces and shape each piece into a round ball. Place round balls onto a piece of parchment paper.
- Bake in air fryer or oven for 5-6 minutes, turn each ball and bake an additional 5-6 minutes. If baking in oven bake for 6 minutes each side.
- In a small bowl combine softened cream cheese, softened butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla bean paste. Mix to combine. Add in heavy cream until desired consistency is achieved.
- Remove donut holes from oven or air fryer, allow to cool until you can handle them. Dip into cream cheese glaze and enjoy!
These carrot cake donut holes sound amazing! I love that they use sourdough discard. I've made similar recipes with Greek yogurt when I didn't have discard. Your tip about dicing carrots instead of grating is genius. I'm curious, how did the glaze turn out? Did you have any trouble getting the right consistency with the heavy cream? Can't wait to try these in my air fryer!
I love a thicker glaze! So heavy cream is perfect for it. If you want a thinner glaze you can use milk.