Make Great Doughnuts At Home Without A Mixing Bowl — Using Store-Bought Dough

Yes, you can make delicious doughnuts using store-bought doughs. Just use virtually any yeast dough for "yeast doughnuts" and cake batter for "cake doughnuts."  The Daily Meal has rounded up the best store-bought doughs for making your quick and easy doughnut recipes a reality. Depending on your preferred doughnut style, select the canned or frozen dough for your recipe, heat your oil, and start frying!

Need a little guidance? We have the facts, from doughnut styles to techniques, to get you started making semi-homemade doughnuts at home.

Biscuit dough has a similar consistency to the brioche-style dough typically used to make doughnuts. However, biscuits are usually flakier than your traditional yeast doughnut. For a more traditional doughnut texture, opt for home-style over flakey canned biscuit doughs.

Heat about an inch of vegetable oil in a heavy cast-iron pan or pot until your thermometer registers 350 degrees F. Take your store-bought can of biscuit dough and separate the biscuits, laying them flat on a cookie sheet. Next, use a small round cookie cutter to cut the center out of each biscuit (reserve these center pieces for doughnut holes). Next, fry your doughnuts in the oil in batches, being sure not to overcrowd the pan. Cook the doughnut for 1 to 2 minutes per side or until golden brown.

While they're warm, you can dip your doughnuts in a doughnut glaze or granulated sugar spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamom to your taste.

Pizza dough doughnuts won't taste the same as your favorite Krispy Kreme or Dunkin Doughnuts', but they aren't half bad. Pizza dough produces a slightly chewer, tougher crust than a typical doughnut would have, but the idea is still the same, and you might even find you prefer this style to the usual yeast doughnuts you would buy at a shop.

To make doughnuts from store-bought pizza dough, first heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Next, roll out the dough on a floured surface until about a half inch thick. Then, use a cookie cutter to cut out the doughnuts. You can use the traditional round cutter or mix it up with squares or hearts. Place the doughnuts on a parchment-lined cookie tray about an inch apart. Then, allow the dough to rise for about 45 minutes to an hour. Bake the doughnuts for 10 to 12 minutes. While the doughnuts are still warm, dip them in frosting, glaze, or cinnamon sugar. 

You can even make a copycat "cronut" at home. Crescent roll doughs combine both yeast and layers of butter and dough (laminated dough) to create that light-as-air croissant-like texture. 

To make the crescent roll doughnuts, heat about an inch of vegetable oil in a heavy cast-iron pan or pot until your thermometer registers 350 degrees F. Take your store-bought crescent roll dough out of the can, and lay out the rectangle of dough. Then, fold the dough in half to form a square about a half inch thick. Next, try to press out the pre-cut seams with your fingers for a more beautiful final product. Then, use a cookie cutter to cut out the doughnuts. Fry the doughnuts in batches, being sure not to overcrowd the pan. Cook for about 1 to 2 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Fill the doughnuts using a pastry bag and tip with pastry cream if you prefer; dip in a quick and easy royal icing for a finishing touch.

Do you love churros? Well then, the thinner batter of a mix like Bisquick is a perfect substitute for homemade batter. These churros are light and crunchy. Just dip in cinnamon sugar and enjoy.

To make these Bisquick batter churros, first heat about 2 to 3 inches of vegetable oil in a heavy cast-iron pan or pot until your thermometer registers 350 degrees F. Next, add 1/3 of a cup of hot water for every cup of Bisquick, and shake to mix. Fill a pastry bag, fitted with a star tip, until half full. Pipe the batter in straight lines directly into the hot oil, being sure not to overcrowd. Cook the churros for 2 to 3 minutes, flipping constantly, until golden brown. While still warm, coat in cinnamon sugar. Serve with chocolate ganache like this one for dipping.

If you prefer cake doughnuts, then shake-and-pour cake mix will get you the results you crave. Try experimenting with different flavors, like Funfetti or apple spice.

To make the cake doughnuts, mix the batter according to the shake-and-pour cake mix's directions. Next, heat your oven to 350 degrees F. Using a pastry bag with about a half-inch hole cut, pipe the batter into a mini cupcake pan. Bake for 15 minutes and cool on a rack. You can dip the doughnuts in royal icing or a thin glaze flavored with extracts.