Cider Doughnuts

‘Tis the season for everything pumpkin, everything cinnamon, and everything…apple! This doughnut recipe from Ina Garten is one of my absolute favorites, so why not mix it up by adding a little bit of apple cider flavor? The key here is to boil the cider to get a very concentrated and tangy apple flavor. Start by boiling 1 and 1/2 cups of cider down until it is only about 1/3 cup in volume (this will take about 15 minutes).

Doughnut ingredients:

baking spray with flour
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 egg, beaten
2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1 cup whole milk
1/3 cup boiled cider
2 tsp vanilla extract
doughnut pan

Topping ingredients:

8 tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and spray the doughnut pan with the baking spray. Thoroughly combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a large mixing bowl.

In a separate smaller bowl, mix together melted butter, beaten egg, milk, boiled cider and vanilla extract. Stir wet mixture into the dry mixture until evenly mixed.

Next, carefully spoon the batter in to the doughnut pan until each one is slightly more than halfway full. Bake for 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. After cooling for a few minutes in the pan, allow doughnuts to finish cooling on a wire rack or sheet pan.

For the topping, melt a stick of butter in a small saucepan and combine the remaining cinnamon sugar mixture into a separate small bowl. Dip each doughnut top into the melted butted and then into the cinnamon sugar. Let cool.

Every time I’ve made these, they’ve disappeared almost instantly. They’re so easy to whip up, especially because they don’t require a beater or any other labor intensive activity that might otherwise be a deterrent from baking.

Would you give these easy and delicious doughnuts a try?
xo -L