Air fryer desserts

Time

18 min

Temp

300 °F / 149 °C

Apple chips are thin rounds of fresh apple dried in the air fryer into a sweet, crisp snack — no oil, no frying, just low heat for about 18 minutes at 300 °F (149 °C) with a turn halfway through. Core the apples and slice them about ⅛ inch thick (a mandoline makes this far easier), lay the rings in a single layer, and cook low and slow until they're dry and curled at the edges. The catch is patience and temperature: too hot and the edges scorch before the centres dry, so keep it gentle, and remember the chips finish crisping as they cool — pull them while they're still slightly bendy rather than waiting for a snap in the basket. Distinct from Baked Apples (whole or halved apples cooked soft and warm), Apple Pie (pastry-crusted), and Apple Fritters (battered and fried) — apple chips are the dehydrated, shelf-stable, snackable form, alongside the air-fryer's other dried snacks like Kale Chips and Dehydrated Strawberries. 4 ways to finish: plain, cinnamon, cinnamon-sugar, and caramel-spice.

Time

8 min

Temp

350 °F / 177 °C

Apple fritters air-fry at 350 °F (177 °C) for about 8 minutes — no flipping — until puffed and golden. Drop spoonfuls of apple-studded batter onto a sprayed parchment liner, leaving room to spread, and glaze them with a simple powdered-sugar icing once they've cooled slightly.

Time

30 min

Temp

320 °F / 160 °C

A small apple pie bakes in the air fryer at 320 °F (160 °C) for about 30 minutes — no flipping — until the crust is golden and the filling is bubbling. Use a 6–7 inch pie that fits the basket, brush the crust with egg wash, and cut a few vents so steam escapes. Tent with foil if the top browns before the filling softens.

Time

14 min

Temp

350 °F / 177 °C

Apple turnovers bake in the air fryer in about 14 minutes at 350 °F (177 °C) with no flipping, until the puff pastry is deep golden and flaky and the apple filling bubbles through the vents. Whether you're using a frozen box (like Pepperidge Farm) or folding your own from puff pastry and spiced diced apple, the rules are the same: seal the edges with a fork, cut a couple of vents so steam escapes instead of bursting the pastry, don't overfill, and leave space because puff pastry expands. Brush the tops with egg wash for a glossy golden finish, and let them cool a few minutes — the filling is lava-hot. Unlike Apple Pie (a double-crust pie baked in a dish) or Apple Fritters (chunks of apple in a fried batter), turnovers are individual flaky puff-pastry pockets; they're also distinct from Baked Apples, which is whole fruit with no pastry. 4 ways to make them: classic apple-cinnamon, caramel-apple, cherry, and mixed-berry.

Time

14 min

Temp

350 °F / 177 °C

Baked apples cook in 14 minutes at 350 °F (177 °C) with no flip. Core them from the stem end, leave the base intact, fill the cavity with brown sugar, cinnamon and a knob of butter, and let the air fryer do what an oven takes 45 minutes to do. The skin tightens, the flesh softens, and the filling melts into a syrup that coats the top.

Time

28 min

Temp

310 °F / 154 °C

Banana bread bakes in 28 minutes at 310 °F (154 °C) with no flip in a small loaf pan. The lower temperature plus a smaller pan gives the centre time to set before the top scorches. Use very ripe bananas — yellow ones lack the sweetness — and pull when a wooden skewer in the centre comes out with only a few moist crumbs.

Time

6 min

Temp

370 °F / 188 °C

Beignets are the square New Orleans fried-dough pillows — crisp golden outside, light and airy inside, buried under powdered sugar — and they puff up beautifully in the air fryer in about 6 minutes at 370 °F (188 °C) with a flip at 3 minutes, no pot of hot oil required. Use either a proofed yeast dough cut into 2-inch squares or the quick canned-biscuit shortcut. The two things that matter: spray both sides so the dry dough actually fries golden instead of baking pale, and dust the powdered sugar on after cooking (sugar added before the cook scorches). Distinct from Donuts (ring-shaped, usually glazed), Churros (piped ridged sticks rolled in cinnamon sugar) and Apple Fritters (apple-studded craggy fritters) — beignets are plain pillowy squares finished with a snowfall of powdered sugar. 4 variants: classic powdered-sugar, cinnamon-sugar, chocolate-drizzle, and lemon-glaze.

Time

20 min

Temp

320 °F / 160 °C

Blondies bake in the air fryer at 320 °F (160 °C) for about 20 minutes — no flipping — in a greased, parchment-lined pan that fits the basket. Spread the brown-butter-and-vanilla batter evenly and pull them while the center is still slightly soft for a chewy, fudgy crumb.

Time

16 min

Temp

330 °F / 166 °C

Bread pudding bakes in the air fryer in about 16 minutes at 330 °F (166 °C), with no flipping — stale bread cubes soaked in an egg-milk-sugar custard, baked in a basket-fit dish until the custard sets and the top turns golden with a slightly crisp edge. Two things make or break it: soak the bread fully so there are no dry, unset pockets, and keep the temperature low so the custard sets gently instead of the eggs scrambling or the top scorching before the middle cooks. It's done when a knife near the centre comes out clean. Unlike Cobbler (a fruit base under a biscuit topping) or Lava Cake (deliberately left molten in the middle), bread pudding should be fully set through, and it's a custard-soaked bake rather than the rolled, frosted spirals of Cinnamon Rolls. 4 ways to make it: classic vanilla-cinnamon, bourbon-raisin, chocolate-chip, and berry.

Time

22 min

Temp

320 °F / 160 °C

Brownies bake in 22 minutes at 320 °F (160 °C) with no flip. The lower temperature plus the smaller pan size gives the centre time to set without scorching the top. A toothpick inserted dead-centre should come out with a few moist crumbs — wet batter means another 2 minutes, fully clean means you've overshot.

Time

8 min

Temp

380 °F / 193 °C

Halved peaches caramelise in 8 minutes at 380 °F (193 °C) with no flip — cut-side up, brown sugar in the pit cavity, brushed cut face with butter. The high-airflow cook concentrates the natural sugars and turns the rendered juices into a syrup pooled in the centre of each half. Served with vanilla ice cream or Greek yogurt, this is the summer dessert that replaces the BBQ-grill version most homes don't have access to. Stone-fruit season is when this earns its place on the menu.

Time

8 min

Temp

380 °F / 193 °C

Pineapple rings caramelise in 8 minutes at 380 °F (193 °C) with no flip — cut sides up, brushed with butter, optionally dusted with brown sugar in the centre well. The high-airflow cook concentrates the natural sugars (a fresh pineapple already runs 10–12% sugar by weight) into a deeply caramelised mahogany rim around a still-tender bright-yellow centre. Served with vanilla ice cream and a pinch of flaky salt, this is the summer dessert that replaces the BBQ-grilled version most apartments don't have access to — and pairs as well with the brunch-fruit-platter slot or as the topping for upside-down cake. Sits alongside the caramelised peaches entry in the same `flipKind: "none"` cut-side-up technique family.

Time

14 min

Temp

320 °F / 160 °C

A small cheesecake bakes in the air fryer at 320 °F (160 °C) for about 14 minutes in a 6–7 inch springform pan, then chills to set. The gentle convection works well for a single small cheesecake — press a graham crust into the pan, pour in the batter, and pull it while the center still jiggles slightly.

Time

8 min

Temp

325 °F / 163 °C

Chocolate chip cookies bake in 8 minutes at 325 °F (163 °C) with no flip. The air fryer's strong convection sets the edges fast while the lower temperature gives the centre time to spread without scorching. Pull when the centres still look slightly soft and let them firm up on the rack for 5 minutes.

Time

10 min

Temp

380 °F / 193 °C

Churros cook in 10 minutes at 380 °F (193 °C) with a flip at 5 minutes. Pipe the choux-style dough through a large star tip, cut into 4-inch lengths, spray with vegetable oil, and let the high heat crisp the ridges into the classic crunchy texture. Toss the hot churros in cinnamon-sugar immediately after cooking so the coating sticks to the surface oil.

Time

10 min

Temp

320 °F / 160 °C

Refrigerator-tube cinnamon rolls (Pillsbury Grands! is the high-volume default) bake in 10 minutes at 320 °F (160 °C), no flip — the convection air gives a deeper golden top than the oven version while finishing in less than half the time. Single-layer on parchment with 0.5–1 inch gaps between rolls (they expand sideways during cook). Frost OFF-heat after a 2-minute cool so the glaze melts without running. Closer to a fresh-bakery roll than anything the oven instructions deliver, and ready before a cup of coffee finishes brewing.

Time

17 min

Temp

330 °F / 166 °C

Cobbler — bubbling sweetened fruit under a golden biscuit or cake-batter topping — bakes in the air fryer in about 17 minutes at 330 °F (166 °C) in a small dish that fits the basket with room for air to circulate. Spoon your fruit into a greased 5–7 inch dish, drop or pour the topping over it, and cook until the topping is deep golden and set and the fruit is bubbling thickly at the edges. The two things to watch: keep the dish small enough that air flows around it, and tent with foil if the top browns before the fruit underneath is bubbling, since the topping cooks faster than the filling. Don't fill the dish to the rim — cobbler rises and bubbles over. Distinct from Apple Pie (a pastry-crusted pie), Baked Apples (whole fruit, no topping), and Caramelised Peaches (plain grilled fruit) — cobbler is the fruit-plus-biscuit dessert. 4 ways to make it: peach, mixed-berry, apple-cinnamon, and cherry.

Time

13 min

Temp

330 °F / 166 °C

Cupcakes bake beautifully in an air fryer — about 13 minutes at 330 °F (166 °C), no flipping — as long as you treat the basket as a small, fast convection oven. Fill paper or silicone liners about two-thirds full, set them in a single layer with airflow gaps, and bake until the tops dome and spring back and a toothpick comes out clean. The key difference from oven baking is heat: the air fryer browns the tops quickly, so drop the temperature about 20 °F below an oven recipe and tent with foil if the tops set before the centres finish. Sturdy liners or a silicone mould keep the fan from blowing loose paper around, and frosting always waits until the cupcakes are fully cool. Distinct from Muffins (denser, less sweet, unfrosted, and treated as a breakfast bake), Brownies (a fudgy bar), and Cheesecake — cupcakes are individual frosted cakes. 4 ways to make them: vanilla-buttercream, chocolate, lemon, and funfetti.

Time

180 min

Temp

200 °F / 93 °C

Sliced strawberries dehydrate in 3 hours at 200 °F (93 °C) with one flip at 90 minutes — the air fryer's low-temperature dehydrate mode evaporates the water without caramelising the surface, leaving crisp curled chips with concentrated strawberry flavour and bright red colour. A popular snack-crisp cook for peak-season strawberries when the field box is too good to leave to spoil — yields roughly 3 oz of shelf-stable crisps per 1 lb of fresh fruit. No oil, no sugar before the cook (both block the dehydration); dust with cinnamon-sugar or dip in dark chocolate after.

Time

6 min

Temp

350 °F / 177 °C

Donut holes air-fry in about 6 minutes at 350 °F (177 °C), shaken once at the halfway mark, until they're puffed, golden, and cooked through. The fastest route is canned biscuit dough — quarter the biscuits, roll into balls, air-fry, then roll the warm holes in cinnamon-sugar — but homemade yeast or cake dough works the same way once shaped. Because they're bite-sized they cook quickly, so the main things to watch are crowding (give them room to puff and brown) and timing (start checking at 5 minutes). Always cook the dough fully before adding sugar or glaze: brush with butter and roll out of the basket so the coating doesn't scorch over a raw centre. Unlike Donuts (full rings, larger and slower), Beignets (square French-Quarter fried dough under powdered sugar), or Monkey Bread (many dough balls baked together in caramel as one pull-apart loaf), donut holes are individual bite-sized rounds. 4 ways to finish them: cinnamon-sugar, powdered sugar, vanilla glaze, and pumpkin-spice.

Time

6 min

Temp

320 °F / 160 °C

Donuts air-fry at 320 °F (160 °C) for about 6 minutes — no flipping — whether you're cooking shaped biscuit-dough rings or warming bakery donuts. Cook the dough until puffed and golden, then glaze or toss in cinnamon sugar once they've cooled slightly so the coating sticks.

Time

6 min

Temp

350 °F / 177 °C

Fried Oreos air-fry at 350 °F (177 °C) for about 6 minutes with a flip at 3 — dip the sandwich cookies in a thick pancake or funnel-cake batter, set them on oiled parchment, and cook until the shell puffs golden while the cookie inside turns soft and cake-like. It's the state-fair treat without the deep-fryer: spray the tops so the batter browns, keep them single-layer so they don't fuse, and dust with powdered sugar after. 4 variants: the classic batter-dipped benchmark; a crescent/biscuit-dough wrap; a freeze-then-dip method for cookies that hold their shape; and finishing options (powdered sugar, cinnamon-sugar, chocolate drizzle). Distinct from Churros (piped choux dough, no cookie) and Apple Fritters (battered fruit) — here the star is a battered, heat-softened sandwich cookie.

Time

9 min

Temp

375 °F / 191 °C

Funnel cake is the carnival-and-midway classic — a tangle of lacy fried batter dusted with powdered sugar — and you can make it in the air fryer in about 9 minutes at 375 °F (191 °C) with a flip at 5 minutes, no vat of hot oil required. The trick is the parchment-round method: load a pourable-but-pipeable batter into a squeeze bottle or a piping bag (a zip bag with a corner snipped works), pipe it in overlapping ribbons onto a parchment round to build the signature lattice, chill it about 10 minutes so it sets its shape, then spray and air-fry until the ribbons crisp golden. Piping onto parchment matters — free-poured batter just blows apart in the fan before it can set. Distinct from Beignets (pillowy square fried-dough puffs) and Churros (piped ridged sticks rolled in cinnamon sugar) — funnel cake is a single flat lacy round of thin batter, dusted after cooking. 4 finishes: classic powdered sugar, strawberry-and-cream, cinnamon-sugar, and chocolate-hazelnut.

Time

9 min

Temp

370 °F / 188 °C

Lava cakes bake in the air fryer in about 9 minutes at 370 °F (188 °C) — no flip — in individual ramekins, pulled while the center is still molten so you get set, springy edges around a warm liquid core. Grease and cocoa-dust the ramekins, fill with chocolate batter (or hide a frozen chocolate or Nutella center inside), bake, then rest a minute and invert onto a plate. 4 variants: classic chocolate, Nutella-stuffed, a peanut-butter core, and a boxed-mix shortcut. Distinct from Brownies (a full pan baked all the way through to moist crumbs) and Cheesecake (a chilled, fully set custard dessert) — a lava cake is deliberately under-baked for a flowing center.

Time

9 min

Temp

370 °F / 188 °C

Mochi cooks in the air fryer in about 9 minutes at 370 °F (188 °C) with no flipping, until the outside is puffed and golden with a thin crisp shell and the centre stays soft, chewy, and stretchy. This works for dough-style mochi — mochi-donut rings and balls mixed from mochiko (glutinous / sweet rice flour) — or store-bought bakeable mochi; a light oil spray gives that crisp shell against the chewy interior. The defining stretchy chew comes from glutinous-rice starch, not from yeast or gluten, which is what sets mochi apart from Donut Holes, Donuts, and Beignets — those rise and puff from yeast or cake batter, while mochi pulls and stretches. One firm rule: do not air-fry mochi ice cream — the frozen filling melts and bursts before the shell can crisp, so only fry the dough or bakeable kind. 4 ways to finish it: cinnamon-sugar, a vanilla or matcha glaze, ube glaze, or black sesame and kinako.

Time

20 min

Temp

320 °F / 160 °C

Monkey bread is a pull-apart cinnamon-sugar bread — pieces of biscuit dough tossed in cinnamon-sugar, piled into a buttered bundt pan, drenched in a brown-sugar-and-butter caramel, and baked until the whole thing fuses into a sticky, tear-apart loaf. In the air fryer it bakes in about 20 minutes at a deliberately low 320 °F (160 °C), with no flipping, in a basket-fit bundt or round pan. The low temperature is the key: monkey bread is dense, so a hotter setting browns the top long before the centre balls cook through. Tent with foil if it darkens early, and invert it warm so the caramel runs down. Unlike Cinnamon Rolls (individual rolled, spiral rolls that you frost) it's meant to be torn apart by hand, and it's a sticky pull-apart bread rather than the sliced loaf of Banana Bread. 4 ways to make it: classic cinnamon-sugar, pecan-caramel, apple-pie-spice, and a cream-cheese glaze finish.

Time

8 min

Temp

320 °F / 160 °C

Oatmeal cookies air-fry in about 8 minutes at 320 °F (160 °C) on a parchment round, no flipping, until the edges are set and golden while the centres still look slightly soft. The air fryer bakes off a few warm cookies fast without heating a full oven — great for a small batch or for cooking frozen dough balls a couple at a time. Pull them when the centres look underdone for chewy cookies and let carryover heat finish them on the rack, or give them an extra minute for crisp edges. Use old-fashioned rolled oats (not instant or steel-cut) for the signature chew, a parchment round so the dough doesn't drip through the basket, and a temperature lower than an oven recipe so the fan doesn't scorch the tops. Unlike Sugar Cookies (a plain buttery dough), Chocolate Chip Cookies (a smooth dough studded with chips), or Peanut Butter Cookies (chew from peanut butter and a crosshatch top), oatmeal cookies get their hearty texture and chew from the rolled oats themselves. 4 ways to make them: oatmeal raisin, oatmeal chocolate chip, oatmeal butterscotch, and maple-cinnamon.

Time

8 min

Temp

320 °F / 160 °C

Peanut butter cookies air-fry in about 8 minutes at 320 °F (160 °C) on a parchment round, no flipping, until the edges are set and the crosshatch top looks dry while the centres still look slightly soft. The air fryer bakes off a few warm cookies fast without heating a full oven — perfect for a small batch or for cooking frozen dough balls a couple at a time. Flatten each ball with a fork in the classic crosshatch first: peanut butter dough spreads less than other cookie doughs, so the fork press sets their shape and helps them bake evenly. As with most cookies, under-pull them and let carryover heat finish them on the rack so they stay chewy rather than dry. Use a parchment round (the soft dough sticks otherwise) and keep the temperature lower than an oven recipe so the fan doesn't scorch the tops. Unlike Sugar Cookies (a plain buttery vanilla dough) or Chocolate Chip Cookies (studded with chips), peanut butter cookies get their chew and crackly top from the peanut butter itself — and a flourless three-ingredient version (peanut butter, sugar, egg) is naturally gluten-free. 4 ways to make them: classic creamed, flourless 3-ingredient, peanut butter blossom, and chocolate-chip peanut butter.

Time

11 min

Temp

350 °F / 177 °C

Pears cook in the air fryer in about 11 minutes at 350 °F (177 °C), with no flipping — halved and cored, set cut-side up with a little cinnamon and sweetener, until they're fork-tender with caramelised edges and syrupy juices. Ripe-but-firm pears like Bosc or Anjou hold their shape best; very soft pears turn to mush and rock-hard ones need extra time. Keep them cut-side up so the honey, sugar, or butter pools in the cored hollow and turns to sauce instead of running off and burning. Serve them warm on their own, over yoghurt, or with ice cream. Unlike Baked Apples — which are denser and take longer — pears soften quickly, and they're a pome fruit rather than the stone fruit of Caramelised Peaches or the tropical Caramelised Pineapple Rings. 4 ways to make them: cinnamon-honey, brown-sugar-butter, maple-pecan, and plain.

Time

33 min

Temp

310 °F / 154 °C

Pumpkin bread bakes in about 33 minutes at 310 °F (154 °C) with no flip in a small basket-fit loaf pan. The key is to use plain pumpkin purée — not pumpkin-pie filling, which is pre-sweetened and far wetter and will keep the loaf from setting. The dense, moist purée batter wants the low temperature and a small pan so the middle can finish before the convection over-browns the crust, so tent it with foil if the top races ahead. It bakes with the same gentle, slow, small-pan, skewer-test method as Banana Bread and Zucchini Bread (its quick-bread siblings) — the difference is the warm autumn spice and the purée-based crumb, which runs denser and moister than mashed-banana or grated-zucchini loaves. It is unrelated to Pumpkin Seeds (the roasted snack from the same gourd). 4 ways to make it: classic spiced, chocolate-chip, streusel-topped, or as muffins.

Time

7 min

Temp

380 °F / 193 °C

Halved pitted cherries roast in 7 minutes at 380 °F (193 °C) with one shake at 4 — the air fryer cook caramelises the cut faces and renders the cherries into a jammy roasted-cherry sauce pooled in the basket. A niche-but-real dessert-garnish cook for the Jun cherry window when both sweet and sour cherries are at their two-week peak. Toss with sugar, lemon juice and a few drops of vanilla before loading (no oil — the cherries' own juice does the work), line the basket with parchment to catch the syrup, and spoon the warm cherries plus rendered syrup over ice cream, Greek yogurt, oatmeal, or cheesecake.

Time

4 min

Temp

380 °F / 193 °C

S'mores cook in the air fryer in about 4 minutes at 380 °F (193 °C) — no flip, no campfire — until the marshmallow puffs and toasts golden and the chocolate underneath melts. Build them open-face on a parchment-lined basket, watch the marshmallow closely (it scorches in seconds), then cap each with a second graham cracker. Nothing here is raw, so you're cooking for color and melt, not to a temperature. 4 variants: the classic open-face, a scoopable s'mores dip, a stuffed s'more-cookie, and a foil-wrapped banana boat. Distinct from Baked Apples (a stuffed-fruit dessert that cooks far longer) — this is the toasted-marshmallow-graham-and-chocolate treat.

Time

8 min

Temp

320 °F / 160 °C

Sugar cookies air-fry in about 8 minutes at 320 °F (160 °C) on a parchment round, no flipping, until the edges are set and the centres still look slightly soft. The air fryer turns out a few warm cookies fast without heating a full oven — ideal for a small batch or for baking off frozen dough balls a few at a time. The trick is to under-pull them: take them out when the centres look not-quite-done and let carryover heat finish them on the rack, which keeps them chewy rather than hard. Use a parchment round (the dough spreads and would otherwise drip through the basket), give the cookies room to spread, and keep the temperature lower than an oven recipe so the fan doesn't scorch the tops before the middle sets. Unlike Chocolate Chip Cookies (studded with chips), Blondies (a dense bar baked in a pan), or Cupcakes (a frosted cake batter in liners), sugar cookies are a plain buttery dough you can leave classic, frost, or roll in cinnamon-sugar. 4 ways to make them: classic vanilla, frosted with sprinkles, lemon, and snickerdoodle.

Time

32 min

Temp

310 °F / 154 °C

Zucchini bread bakes in about 32 minutes at 310 °F (154 °C) with no flip in a small basket-fit loaf pan. The one step that makes or breaks it is squeezing the grated zucchini dry first — un-squeezed shreds release water as they bake and leave the loaf gummy and sunken. The low temperature plus a small pan lets the moist centre set before the convection over-browns the top, so tent it with foil if the crust races ahead. It is a moist, cinnamon-spiced quick bread that bakes up like a cousin of Banana Bread (use the same small-pan, low-temp, skewer-test method), and it is a completely different dish from Zucchini Fries, which are savory battered batons crisped at high heat — here the zucchini is grated into a sweet batter, not breaded. It also bakes gentler and slower than savory quick breads like Cornbread. 4 ways to make it: classic walnut, chocolate-chip, lemon-glazed, or as muffins.