Apple Cider Donuts. Soft, baked donuts made with almond flour and reduced apple cider, finished with a sugar and fall spiced topping!
A few weeks ago my family went apple picking. I mentioned in the Healthier Apple Crisp post that it’s one of my favorite fall family activities! We picked apples and then went back to the orchard barn where they sell apple cider donuts. I’ll have to be honest, the donuts we had that day left me feeling a little disappointed. They were fine, but didn’t have that pop of delicious fall flavor I was craving.
Fresh Apple Cider
After the apple cider donut disappointment, I had the thought of making my own apple cider donuts, but then I had a second disappointment: the orchard wasn’t selling apple cider that day. Last week though, a beautiful thing happened. The grocery store closest to my house started carrying fresh apple cider from a local orchard!
Apple Cider Donuts
I wanted to make apple cider donuts that REALLY tasted like apple cider, and that had lots of fall spice. To get the apple cider taste I wanted, I simmered the cider to make a reduction-like, concentrate. I mixed that with almond and all purpose flours, since almond pairs so well with apple. Since I wanted these to be on the (slightly) healthy side, I baked them in a donut pan.
Finally I mixed plenty of fall spices; nutmeg, cinnamon, and all-spice for the batter and topping. These were DELICIOUS! My family of four went through a batch in less than 24 hours. So believe me when I say you need to add these donuts to your fall to-do list.
Apple Cider Donuts
Ingredients
Donuts
- 2 cups fresh apple cider or apple juice
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup almond flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon all spice
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 6 tbsp unsalted butter melted then cooled
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
Topping
- 2 tbsp butter melted
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon all spice
Instructions
Donuts
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray donut pan with baking spray.
- In a small pot, bring apple cider to a simmer. Let simmer until reduced by half, about 15 minutes. Then, set aside.
- In a medium sized bowl, stir together flour, almond flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, all spice, and baking soda. Once well combined, stir in reduced apple cider, vanilla, butter, sugar, brown sugar and eggs. Stir until well combined.
- Fill prepared openings in donut pan about 2/3 of the way full. An easy way to do this is put batter in a gallon sized bag, then cut a corner of the bottom of the bag to make ~3/4" opening. Use this to pipe batter into pan.
- Bake for 12-13 minutes (time for a 2.5" donut pan), or until tops are golden and a toothpick inserted into donut in center of pan comes out with just a few crumbs. If you have a different sized donut pan, you will likely need to adjust the time.
- Let donuts cool for at least 5 minutes before removing from pan.
Topping
- In a shallow bowl, mix together sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and all spice.
- Melt butter and brush over tops of each donut. Dip the buttered donut into the sugar mixture to top.
Nutrition
Disclaimer: All nutritional information provided on this website is an estimate only and is not guaranteed.
If you enjoyed these Apple Cider Donuts, you should check out these other SugarSpicesLife recipes:
Homemade Apple Pie
Apple Stuffed Chicken with Sage Sauce
Baked Blueberry Cake Donuts
Toasted Coconut Lime Zucchini Bread
