Effortlessly Revive Stale Donuts With A Trip To The Stove

Everyone loves an office day teaming with fresh warm donuts. But what do we do if we can't (or shouldn't) eat them all? Fry them later, of course. Take your one- to two-day-old leftover glazed donuts, cut them in half so you have two sides for each donut (with the hole still intact). Melt a few tablespoons of butter in a skillet on medium-high heat and add a dash of salt. Then add your donuts sugar side down to crisp, turn them over to get the cut part face down in now sugary butter liquid to crisp that side as well. Cook to your desired doneness (about 2 minutes each side). 

If you're short on time or can't constantly man the stove to prevent them from burning, you can always put your cut donuts in a toaster. Once they are done, butter liberally, and they are almost as good as the fried kind (keep an eye on them in case the sugar smokes). Or you can revive donuts by popping them into the air fryer for two to three minutes and slather with butter, and they are back to life. All of these delicacies are arguably better than the original and essentially double your donut buck. Serve with a tall glass of fresh orange juice, cappuccino, or drip coffee.

If you end up with many, many leftover donuts (say after a breakfast party), we have your covered there as well. While the above suggestions are best with glazed donuts, these recommendations can work with the flavored kind. Try tweaking this french toast recipe by using leftover cardamom donuts, use cake donuts to make your next pumpkin pie crust, turn cider donuts into a batch of cinnamon rolls, or make bread pudding with day-old cinnamon sugar donuts. Layer chocolate eclairs with chocolate and vanilla pudding for a quick weeknight dessert. 

Or turn your surplus donuts into cake pops. In this case, go crazy with the flavors and add fun toppings like crushed Heath bar, almonds, salty peanuts, rainbow sprinkles, or colorful icing. While you're deciding which leftover hack to try, here is how to store your donuts to slow down staling. You can also keep them in the freezer and make any of the above ideas once you're ready.