Spiced Apple Cider Doughnuts
Spiced apple cider doughnuts are everything I love about Autumn. The season’s just picked apples mixed with cider and a pop of spice to warm things up a bit.
Our evenings have started to cool and for many of us, it’s the best time of year to live around Orange. People descend on the area for our local, annual food festival, fruit picking, wine harvest, and the colours of Autumn. It’s a time for sitting by the fire with a glass of wine, and eating really good, seasonal food.
Funnily, for a town named Orange, we don’t grow them. It’s much too cold. Apples are much more our jam here. Because of this, you see them full of ripe fruit waiting to be picked on the side of many backroads in the area. We play spot the apple tree on many a drive home from town. Yep, I’m a fun mum!
What you need to get started
- Apple cider, I use “Strongbow Original”
- Butter – always unsalted
- Eggs
- Greek yoghurt
- Pantry staples – plain flour, white sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda
- Vanilla paste
- Ground Spices – cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger
- Apples. Granny smith’s are my favourite baked apple, however, if our trees are full of fruit I’m happy to mix my varieties.
The equipment
For me, there are two essential bits of equipment needed when making spiced apple cider doughnuts. Firstly a doughnut pan. Clearly essential when making doughnuts. I also like to pipe my batter into the doughnut wells. This helps make all my doughnuts the same size and uniform in shape. Opt for a larger size piping bag so you are not continuously refilling. I use a 46cm piping bag and a size 11 nozzle.
The details
- Preheat oven to 160°c. Grease your doughnut pan.
- Heat the apple cider in a small saucepan till simmering. Continue to simmer until the cider has reduced by half (normally about 20 minutes) Add the butter and whisk till combined and butter is melted. Leave to cool for 10 minutes.
- In a mixing bowl stir together all your dry ingredients (see tip below). Add the cooled apple cider mix and all the remaining wet ingredients (except grated apple). Mix till just combined. At this stage the batter will be slightly lumpy and a bit bubbly. This is completely normal. Add the grated apple and mix through.
- Using a piping bag, pipe the batter into the doughnut pan. It should be roughly ¾ full. Bake in a preheated oven for 15 minutes.
- While the doughnuts are baking, prepare the topping. Melt the butter. In a small bowl, combine the cinnamon and sugar.
- When the doughnuts are cooked, turn them out onto a baking rack and let cool for a few minutes. Brush each doughnut with melted butter and coat in the cinnamon sugar.
How to serve spiced apple cider doughnuts
These spiced apple cider doughnuts are best served warm, just after coating in cinnamon sugar. Try them for dessert, warmed and served with custard or ice cream. Most of the time I bake these, they are lucky to make it to a plate and are eaten straight out of the cinnamon sugar! They’re light, fluffy, and a much healthier doughnut than the deep-fried version!
Enjoy x
More apple posts…
Spiced Apple Cider Doughnuts
- Prep Time: 35 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 12 doughnuts 1x
- Category: Cake, Snack
- Cuisine: American
Description
Spiced apple cider doughnuts are everything I love about Autumn. The season’s just picked apples mixed with cider and a pop of spice to warm things up a bit.
Ingredients
Doughtnuts
- 375 ml apple cider (I use “Strongbow Original”)
- 50 g butter (unsalted)
- 2 c plain flour
- 1/4 c white sugar
- 1/4 c brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 tbsp greek yoghurt
- 1½ tsp vanilla paste
- 1 tsp cinnamon (ground)
- ⅛ tsp nutmeg (ground)
- ⅛ tsp cloves (ground)
- ⅛ tsp ginger (ground)
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 granny smith apple (peeled, cored and roughly grated)
Sugar Topping
- 30 g butter (unsalted)
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ¼ c white sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 160°c. Grease your doughnut pan.
- Heat the apple cider in a small saucepan till simmering. Continue to simmer until the cider has reduced by half (normally about 20 minutes) Add the butter and whisk till combined and butter is melted. Leave to cool for 10 minutes.
- In a bowl mix together all your dry ingredients (see tip below). Add the cooled apple cider mix and all the remaining wet ingredients (except grated apple). Mix till just combined. At this stage the batter will be slightly lumpy and a bit bubbly. This is completely normal. Add the grated apple and mix through.
- Using a piping bag, pipe the batter into the doughnut pan. It should be roughly ¾ full. Bake in a preheated oven for 15 minutes.
- While the doughnuts are baking, prepare the topping. Melt the butter. In a small bowl, combine the cinnamon and sugar.
- When the doughnuts are cooked, turn them out onto a baking rack and let cool for a few minutes. Brush each doughnut with the melted butter and coat in the cinnamon sugar.
Notes
*TIP : If you use a whisk to combine the dry ingredients, it will break up any bits like clumps of sugar
