Somehow Stephen and I have made it this long without an air fryer. His parents have raved about theirs for months and even brought the appliance over to our house once to make dinner. When we were contacted to continue working with the Turkey Farmers of Canada in collaboration with CHEFMAN to test out their 3.5L Air Fryer, I was very excited to get on board.
The CHEFMAN Air Fryer has a dual knob on the front that sets temperature and time. The large basket has a 15-cup capacity and is dishwasher-safe. In addition to frying with 90% less oil, you can also roast, cook, and bake using it. I like how quick dishes are to make; there’s no need to wait for an oven to preheat, and the cleanup is easy. Stephen usually fries using his wok, but storing the oil takes up lots of room in our fridge and you need to watch it closely. With the air fryer, the results are crispy (crispier than baking!), there’s no need for constant attention, and there’s way less oil.
Brainstorming recipes we wanted to try in the air fryer, buns popped to the top of our list, especially sausage buns that we usually buy from our Asian grocery store. Alivia loves these buns and I loved the idea of making them healthier by using turkey dogs, and more fun by turning them into flower buns. We used a simple milk bun recipe that required a second rise, but any rising dough will work, including store-bought puff pastry or even pizza dough. The flavour of the turkey is perfect with the pillowy bun, and if you can find smoked turkey dogs, even better! We played around with making flowers using different numbers of “petals” from 3 to 6. The 3-petal flower buns were a perfect snack for Alivia and two fit in the air fryer basket at a time to cook. The buns came out of the basket crispy, airy, and gorgeously golden. This is an easy, fun recipe to make with just a handful of ingredients!
For more inspiration and recipes featuring turkey, visit www.ThinkTurkey.ca
Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post in collaboration with Turkey Farmers of Canada. All ideas and opinions expressed are wholly mine.
Ingredients
- -1 Tbsp canola oil
- 250g bread dough (premade)
- 4 Turkey Dogs
- 1 egg
- 2 tbsp water
- 1/4 cup chopped green onions
- 1 tsp black sesame seeds
- 1 tsp white sesame seeds
Instructions
- Cut 4x5-inch squares of parchment paper and lightly oil one side of each piece. Set aside, laid out.
- Split the proofed dough into 4 equal pieces. Roll each piece of dough out to a rectangle the length of the turkey dog and about 2-4 inches wide. Place the turkey dog in the center of the rectangle, lengthwise and wrap the turkey dog fully with the dough.
- Using a sharp knife, cut the dough wrapped turkey dog into 6-7 equal discs. These are the petals of the flower.
- On the parchment paper, form each flower bun by placing one disc of wrapped turkey dog in the centre and 5-6 petals around the centre.
- Repeat steps 2-4 for remaining dough and turkey dogs to form each flower bun.
- Let the dough sit for 1 hour and proof for a second time as needed.
- Once the dough is ready, make an egg wash by whisking the egg with 2 Tbsp of water. Brush the bun with the egg wash, top with green onion and sesame seeds.
- Cook each bun in the CHEFMAN Air Fryer at 325 degrees F for 11 minutes total. After 5 minutes, remove the parchment paper from under the bun and cook for the remaining 6 minutes.
Notes
Tips: Any rising dough will work from store bought puff pastry to pizza dough. To second proof your dough, put the tray of buns into the oven and add a bowl of hot water. When removing the parchment paper, if the bottom of the bun is still sticking to it, let it cook for another minute.
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