These moist and tender Baked Apple Cider Donuts are full of comforting Fall spices, fast and easy to whip up, and do not require any frying!
Fall baking season is in full swing and I couldn't be happier! Although anything pumpkin spice is my favourite Fall flavour, I also appreciate a good apple dessert from time to time. Such as my amazing apple pie recipe or this apple caramel cake!
If you love simple no-bake donuts, you've got to try these Baked Eggnog Doughnuts this Christmas!
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⭐️ Why You Need to Make This Recipe
- No deep frying is required. Don't get me wrong, I love a good fried doughnut. However, deep frying food is intimidating for most, quite time-consuming, and makes the entire house smell like grease for days. Baking these donuts is so much easier and takes less than 10 minutes. Yes, please!
- They are dunked in melted butter and then coated in cinnamon sugar. Oh, yes! The butter dunk makes these donuts taste just as greasy (in a good way) as your favourite fried donuts! And the cinnamon sugar is heavy on the cinnamon which makes these just taste like Fall!
- They are easy and fast. You can whip up this recipe and be eating donuts in 30 minutes!
🧈 Ingredients
Here are the ingredients needed to make these cider doughnuts.
- Melted Butter - I use salted butter most of the time in my baking but I have included the instructions for substituting unsalted butter later in the post.
- White & Brown Sugar - A combination of both sugars is often used in baking recipes for optimal flavour and texture.
- Eggs - Eggs give structure to these donuts.
- Vanilla Extract - Adds to the building of flavour.
- Sour Cream - Adds richness to these donuts as well as helps make them moist.
- Apple Cider - Spiced apple cider adds flavour
- Flour - All-purpose flour works great for this recipe.
- Baking Powder & Baking Soda - Leavening agents.
- Allspice - This spice is commonly used in apple recipes.
- Additional melted butter, sugar, and cinnamon - For coating the donuts after baking.
See the recipe card for measurements.
📃 Instructions
Step 1: Whisk together the melted butter, white sugar, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract.
Step 2: Add the sour cream and apple cider and whisk until fully combined.
Step 3: Separately, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and allspice
Step 4: Add the dry ingredients to the combined wet ingredients and whisk just until no streaks of flour remain.
Step 5: Transfer the batter to a large ziplock bag and cut of the corner to pipe the batter into the greased donut pans, filling each about half full.
Step 6: Bake 8-10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a donut comes out clean. Remove from the pans after 5 minutes and let cool fully on a rack.
Step 7: Dunk each cooled donut into melted butter and then into cinnamon sugar.
Step 8: Coat both sides with as much cinnamon sugar as you want.
Hint: You may need more or less cinnamon sugar to coat the donuts, depending on how generous of a soak in the melted butter they have. Adjust the cinnamon sugar amount as needed.
📝 Substitutions
Most of the ingredients in baking recipes cannot be substituted without significantly altering the result of the recipe, however, here are some possible swaps.
- Salted Butter - You may use unsalted butter plus ¼ teaspoon of salt for each ½ cup of butter called for in the recipe.
- Brown Sugar - Simply mix together ¼ cup of white sugar with 1 teaspoon of molasses to make brown sugar for this recipe.
- Sour Cream - Plain yogurt may be used instead.
❄️ Storage
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.
I have not tested freezing these donuts.
❓ FAQ
I have not tested this recipe with gluten-free flour but let me know if you try it with your favourite gluten-free flour!
🍩 More Donut Recipes
Looking for other recipes for homemade donuts? Try these next:
If you tried these Baked Apple Cider Donuts or any other recipe on my website, please leave a ⭐️ star rating and write a little note telling me how it went in the comments below. Thank you!!
📖 Recipe
Baked Apple Cider Donuts
Equipment
- doughnut tin(s)
- non-stick cooking spray
- mixing bowls
- measuring cups & spoons
- whisk
Ingredients
- ½ cup salted butter *melted
- ½ cup white sugar
- ¼ cup brown sugar *
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup sour cream *
- ¾ cup apple cider
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon ground allspice
- ½ cup salted butter *melted
- ½ cup white sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350℉. Grease doughnut tins* with non-stick spray.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter, sugar, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla until well combined. Add the sour cream and apple cider and whisk until incorporated.
- In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and allspice. Pour the dry ingredient mixture into the bowl with the combined wet ingredients and stir just until no streaks or large lumps of flour remain. Do not overmix!
- Transfer the batter to a Ziploc bag with the corner snipped off or a piping bag fitted with a wide tip. Pipe the batter into the prepared doughnut tins, filling each doughnut well about ½ full.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 8-10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the doughnut comes out clean. Let cool in the pans for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool for at least 10 more minutes. Bake the remaining donuts.
- Place the melted butter in a bowl that is at least wider than a donut. In another bowl that size, stir together the sugar and cinnamon. Dunk each cooled donut into the melted butter and then coat in the cinnamon sugar on both sides. Repeat this process with all of the donuts. Enjoy!
Notes
- You may use unsalted butter plus ¼ teaspoon of salt for each ½ cup of butter called for in the recipe.
- Mix ¼ cup of white sugar with 1 teaspoon of molasses to make homemade brown sugar for this recipe.
- Plain yogurt may be used instead.
- If you don't have donut tins you could use muffin tins instead.
Casey W.
Another winner! I had to use more cinnamon sugar than listed for coating the donuts, but no one complained about that!
Naomi Andres
Thank you so much for the kind review, Casey!
Naomi