Apple Cider Donuts

Baked, not fried. These donuts make your house smell like what I imagine heaven smells like.

Ingredients

• 1 cup apple cider

• 2 cups all-purpose flour (spoon & leveled)*

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1 teaspoon apple pie spice*

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

• 1 large egg, at room temperature

• 1/2 cup packed light or dark brown sugar

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

• 1/2 cup milk, at room temperature*

• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

• 1 cup granulated sugar

• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 3/4 teaspoon apple pie spice*

• 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Directions

1. Reduce the apple cider. In a small saucepan over low heat, simmer the until you’re left with about 1/2 cup. Begin checking at 10 minutes, then every 3-5 minutes after that until you have 1/2 cup of cider reduction. Mine takes about 20 minutes. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes (or complete this step ahead of time).

2. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray donut pan with non-stick spray. Set aside. Combine the dry ingredients together.

3. Combine all wet ingredients except for the cider together.

4. Mix the wet and dry ingredients together. Add the cider mixture. Whisk everything together until smooth and combined. You’ll notice the batter will be slightly thick. We want thick batter for cakey and dense donuts!

5. Fill the donut pan. Fill each donut cup about halfway. My trick for this? Use a zipped-top bag. Add the batter, cut off a corner, and pipe it into the donut pan filling only about halfway. This trick makes transferring the batter easy, neat, and quick.

6. Bake. Only about 10 minutes of bake time! To test doneness, poke your finger into the top of the donut. If the donut bounces back, they’re done. Once the donuts are out of the oven, let them cool for 2 minutes, invert the pan to release the donuts, then re-grease the donut pan and bake the remaining donut batter. (If you don’t own 2 donut pans! I only have 1).

7. Coat the donuts. Combine the granulated sugar, cinnamon, and apple pie spice together in a medium bowl. Once cool enough to handle, dunk both sides of each donut in the melted butter, then generously in the apple spice topping.