Delicious Baked Apple Cider Donuts

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Apple Cider Donuts are a mandatory piece of the Fall experience (if you ask me anyway)! The thing is, I don’t always want to run out and buy them every single time I want to enjoy one with my cider.

Lucky for you, I spent a little time in the kitchen the other day and figured out how to make super tasty baked apple cider donuts right from home– and in the oven allowing us to save some calories for the other decadent Fall comfort foods as well as some clean up time! Here’s how it went down in my kitchen:

First thing you gotta know about me is that I hate baking. I mean, really despise it.

So, on the occasion that I do share a recipe for a baked dessert with you, you can rest assured that it’s not hard and it’s not super technical. I don’t have time or patience to sit and measure out every single grain of flour. I’m more likely to eyeball it and go. …Which doesn’t work out well with baking in my experience.

Ok, so back to the apple cider donuts.

Honestly, the only reason I tested these out was because I got a brand spanking new Donut Pan from Pampered Chef and the Homies in my Facebook group had been talking about donuts all week. “Talking about” is putting it lightly. There were a couple gals who were flat out begging me to make donuts for them. (You know who you are…) I figured I’d throw them a virtual bone.

I’ve never made donuts before. But how hard could it be?

Turns out, it’s pretty easy to make donuts- apple cider donuts or anything. As with most baking, you mix your wet ingredients and your dry ingredients separately so it’s not a giant clumpy mess. That commentary may be coming from past experience. *ahem*  Anyway, I definitely love a bowl like the Pampered Chef Batter Bowl for my occasional baking because it’s got that pour spout for the wet ingredients. I already make enough of a mess baking. I don’t need the additional wet mess to clean up, thank you very much.

I also did something to really amp up the apple cider flavor. I boiled and reduced the apple cider. This turned it into a flavor packed syrup that brought out the flavor we were going for. Full disclosure: the recipe I found called for the cider to be reduced by half. Well, since I’m not a perfect cook, I turned my back for a second to multitask (big mistake) and my cider reduced by like 75%. But I used it anyway. *shrug* It could only make it better, right? 

Pro Tip: When you need to get batter into small or oddly shaped molds, use a decorating bag! Stand you decorating bag upright inside a glass to fill it. The decorating bag will give you good control over the batter when filling and reduce the number of spills you have.

…that is until you fill it with batter that is too dense and you end up squeezing the tips right off.

All in all, these apple cider donuts, though the first batch were denser than I anticipated, we pretty damn tasty! This recipe has been edited to take into account my “trial run” mistakes. Give these a try at home and let me know how it goes! Be sure to subscribe to my blog, too. I forsee a bit more baking in my future if it’s gonna be this simple.

Delicious Baked Apple Cider Donuts

 

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Cook time

8 mins

Total time

8 mins

 

Author: TheJamieMakin.com

Recipe type: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Serves: 12

Ingredients

• 1½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1½ teaspoons baking powder
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons apple pie spice
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ cup plain Greek yogurt or sour cream
• 1 large egg room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ cup apple sauce
• 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
• 1 cup apple cider-- reduced to ½ cup

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Brush the Donut Pan with oil.
2. Combine the flour, sugar, spice, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. And whisk until just combined.
3. Add cider to saucepan and heat over medium heat. Bring to a boil and simmer for 7-10 minutes or until the cider has reduced to ½ cup. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together cooled apple cider, Greek yogurt, brown sugar, egg, vanilla and butter until fully combined. Then add the dry ingredients to this bowl.
5. Place the Large Round Tip on the large Decorating Bag. Fill the bag with dough and pipe around each well until it’s about ¾ full. Bake for 8–10 minutes, or until the donuts spring back when lightly pressed. Remove from the oven to a Stackable Cooling Rack. Let the donuts cool in the pan for 5 minutes before releasing.
6. To make a glaze: whisk together 1 cup powdered sugar and 1-2 Tablespoons of apple cider. If the glaze is too thick, add a little more apple cider. If it's too thin, add a little more powdered sugar. Dip the donuts in the glaze, then allow to sit on a wire cooling rack for 10-15 minutes for the glaze to harden or pop into the fridge to speed up the process.
7. To make a cinnamon sugar coating: Melt 4-6 Tablespoons of butter. In a shallow bowl, mix ¾ cup granulated sugar and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon. Dip each donut into the butter, making sure it's well coated. Then dip it into the cinnamon sugar mixture, making sure to coat well.

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