Baked Apple Cider Donuts
These easy baked apple cider donuts are quick to make and quick to disappear. They're a little different from their fried counterparts, but cake-style donuts do well in the oven, and hey, you won't have to deep fry. You'll need nonstick donut pans. This recipe makes 14 full-size donuts or 12 full-size donuts and 12 minis.
Servings: 14
Calories: 224kcal
Ingredients
For the donuts
- 2 cups (473 ml) apple cider
- 1 cup (120 grams) all-purpose flour (see notes)
- 1 cup (120 grams) whole-wheat pastry flour
- ½ cup (100 grams) sugar
- ½ cup (106 grams) light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt omit if using salted butter
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup (118 ml) buttermilk
- 2 tablespoons (28 grams) butter, melted
For the topping
- 4 tablespoons (56 grams) butter, melted
- ¼ cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375° F with a rack in the center. Spray two donut pans lightly with cooking spray.
- Pour the cider into a frying pan and set over high heat. Boil until reduced to ½ cup, which takes about 10 minutes. Set aside to cool. (If you over-reduce it by accident, just top it up with regular cider. Not that I've ever done that, ahem.)
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose and whole-wheat flours, regular and brown sugars, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, buttermilk, butter and reduced apple cider.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir just until combined. You don't want any pockets of flour remaining, but you don't want to over-mix.
- You can spoon the batter into your prepared donut pans, but I prefer to pour the batter into a gallon-sized zip top plastic bag, snip off a small piece of one of the lower corners, and use it like a pastry bag to fill each well about ⅔ full.
- Bake until the donuts spring back a bit when touched lightly, about eight minutes. Leave to cool for a couple of minutes, then gently remove donuts from pan. Cool on a rack.
- For the topping, melt butter and pour into a wide, shallow bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together sugar and cinnamon. Dip the top of each donut into the butter for just a second and then into the cinnamon sugar to coat as much as you like. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Notes
- You can use 100% all-purpose flour if you don't have whole wheat pastry flour.
- Use the spoon and level method to measure flour if you're not going to weigh it.
- If you want to coat both the top and bottom of the donuts with cinnamon sugar, double this part of the recipe. I find they're sweet and flavorful enough with just the tops covered.
- You can make the donuts in the morning and eat them any time of day. But, as with virtually all donuts, they're best eaten the day they're made.
- If you do have leftovers, keep them covered at room temperature for up to a couple of days.
Nutrition
Calories: 224kcal | Carbohydrates: 39.1g | Protein: 3.4g | Fat: 6.7g | Fiber: 1.6g