Homemade apple cider donuts are cakey, dense, and intensely flavored. Baked, not fried, these fall treats come together quickly and easilyโa convenient recipe with no mixer required. The trick for big flavor is to use concentrated apple cider. Make the morning less hectic by reducing the apple cider the night before. Read on for all the tips you need to make this Fall favorite!
I love those delicious donuts that you get at the bakeryโฆtheyโre rich, dense, and smell absolutely amazing. If youโve ever tried my chai spice donuts, pumpkin donuts, or cinnamon sugar donuts, you know that those bakery beauties definitely inspired my donut recipes. They are somewhat dense and very muffin-like. These baked apple cider donuts are no exception, though they are a little heavier with a more substantial and moister crumb.
Tell Me About these Apple Cider Donuts
- Texture: If you like cakey, moist, and dense donuts with a crumbly cinnamon-sugar coating, then look no further than this recipe.
- Flavor: Flavor-wise, theyโre APPLE and CINNAMON and SPICE all over. They taste like theyโre straight from the bakery!
- Ease: A simple mix of wet and dry ingredients plus the apple cider concentrate makes these a snap to prepare for crisp fall mornings. No mixer, rolling pin, or donut cutter required! Simply add the batter to a donut panโI use and love this one. If you only have 1 pan, just bake a batch at a time.
- Time: In less than an hour, youโll have an entire plate stacked high with homemade apple cider donuts.
This Trick Changes Everything
The trick to apple cider donuts is to flavor them with concentrated apple cider. Apple cider that has been reduced down on the stove is thick and potent, adding big flavor without excess liquid. Apple cider, either store-bought or this homemade apple cider, is certainly delicious to drink but it wonโt add enough flavor to baked goods. Taking 20 minutes to reduce the cider down transforms regular donuts into amazing apple cider donuts. If you like to keep things simple in the morning, reduce the cider the night before. That will save you cooling time, too, because the cider must cool for a few minutes before you add it to the batter.
To reduce your apple cider, simply follow these simple steps:
- Pour 1ยฝ cups apple cider into a small saucepan. We will reduce this to ยฝ cup.
- Place on low heat and set a timer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Begin checking at 10 minutes, and then every 3-5 minutes after that until you have ยฝ cup of cider reduction (approximately 20 minutes).
- Remove from heat and allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before using in the batter.
Itโs that easy! If you have leftover apple cider, use it in my honeycrisp apple sangria or apple cider sangriaโor drink it plain.
Hereโs my reduced down apple cider:
Choosing the Right Ingredients: Melted Butter & Apple Pie Spice
- Melted butter. The crown jewel of these donuts is the dip in melted butter, then a dunk in granulated sugar, cinnamon, and apple pie spice. Not only is it delicious, but the melted butter helps the sweet coating stick to the donut.
- Apple pie spice. If you donโt have access to store-bought apple pie spice, you can make your own with cinnamon, cardamom, and nutmeg.
By the way, if you’re a fall baking fanatic like me and love pumpkin treats, you might try making your own pumpkin pie spice blend, too! Use it in pumpkin-inspired favorites like pumpkin cookies, pumpkin cake, pumpkin bars, mini cinnamon sugar pumpkin muffins, pumpkin coffee creamer, and of course, pumpkin pie.
Overview: How to Make Baked Apple Cider Donuts
These couldnโt be easier to makeโno mixer required. Leave yourself enough time (at least a half hour) to reduce down the apple cider before beginning. I like to do this step the night before so itโs ready to go in the morning.
- Reduce the apple cider. In a small saucepan over low heat, simmer the apple cider until youโre 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).
- Combine the dry ingredients together.
- Combine the wet ingredients together, except for the apple cider.
- Mix the wet and dry ingredients together. Add the apple cider. Whisk everything together until smooth and combined. Youโll notice the batter will be slightly thick. We want thick batter for cakey and dense donuts.
- Fill the donut pan. Fill each donut cup about halfway. My trick for this? Use a zipped-top bag. Add the batter to the bag, cut off a corner, and pipe it into the donut pan filling only about halfway. This trick makes transferring the batter neat, quick, and easy.
- Bake. Only about 10 minutes of bake timeโtold you they were quick. To test doneness, poke your finger into the top of the donut. If the donut bounces back, theyโre done. Once they are out of the oven, let them cool for 2 minutes, then invert the pan to release the donuts. You can then re-grease the donut pan and bake the remaining donut batter. (If you have 2 donut pans, go ahead and bake both trays at once.)
- 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 coat generously in the apple spice topping.
Look at this beautiful caramel-colored batter! So much apple flavor hiding in here:
More Apple Recipes
- Apple Cinnamon Scones
- Baked Apple Cider French Toast
- Apple Bundt Cake & Apple Cake
- Apple Cinnamon Crumb Muffins
- Apple Turnovers with Salted Caramel
And apple pie, of course!
Print
Baked Apple Cider Donuts
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 12-14 donuts
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Baked, cakey, and delicious apple cider donuts are made with apple cider reduction to intensify its flavor. Warm and dipped in cinnamon sugar and apple pie spices, this fall treat will become your new favorite too.
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 cups (360ml) apple cider
- 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flourย (spooned & 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 (28g) unsalted butter, melted
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup (100g) packedย light or dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (120ml) milk, at room temperature*
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Topping
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 3/4 teaspoon apple pie spice*
- 6 Tablespoons (85g) unsalted butter, melted
Instructions
- Reduce the apple cider: Stirring occasionally, simmer the apple cider in a small saucepan over low heat until you’re left with about 1/2 cup. Start checking at 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, etc until you have 1/2 cup (120ml). Mine takes about 20 minutes. If there are any spices or solids on top of your reduced apple cider, leave them. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350ยฐF (177ยฐC). Spray donut pan with non-stick spray. Set aside.
- Make the donuts: Whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, apple pie spice, and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.
- Whisk the melted butter, egg, brown sugar, granulated sugar, milk, and vanilla extract together. Pour into the dry ingredients, add the reduced apple cider, and whisk everything together until smooth and combined. Batter will be slightly thick.
- Spoonย the batter into the donut cavitiesโfor ease, I highly recommend using a large zipped-top bag. Cut a corner off the bottom of the bag and pipe the batter into each donut cup, filling about halfway.
- Bake for 10-11 minutes or until the edges and tops are lightly browned. To test, poke your finger into the top of the donut. If the donut bounces back, they’re done. Cool donuts for 2 minutes then transfer to a wire rack. Re-grease the pan and bake the remaining donut batter.
- 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.
- Donuts are best served immediately. Leftovers keep well covered tightly at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: You can freeze the donuts, coated or not coated in the toppings, for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and warm up to your liking in the microwave.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Saucepan | Donut Pan | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Large Zipped-Top Bag | Cooling Rack
- Apple Pie Spice: If you don’t have access to store-bought apple pie spice, you canย make your own with 4 parts cinnamon, 2 parts nutmeg, and 1 part cardamom.
- Milk: I usually use buttermilk, but I’ve found that any milk (dairy or nondairy) works pretty well. For a denser crumb, you can use 1/2 cup plain yogurt or sour cream instead.
- No Donut Pan? Make donut muffins in your standard 12-cup muffin pan. Grease your pan or use muffin liners, fill each 3/4 full, then bake atย 350ยฐF (177ยฐC) for about 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Makes about 10-12 apple cider donut muffins.
- Minis: Want to make mini donuts or mini apple cider donut holes in a mini muffin pan? Grease your pan, add the batter to the pan only about 3/4 of the way full. Bake at 350ยฐF (177ยฐC) for about 8-9 minutes.
Reader Comments and Reviews
These were fantastic. Made it exactly as the recipe. I did overfill them a little so no holes. I will be making these again throughout the fall season
Take 2! Much better results! I started with 2 cups of cider reduced to 1/2 cup. I added 1 tsp of apple cider vinegar to sour the milk. Both of these boosted the flavor.
I used 1 cup of white sugar and mixed in 1 tablespoon of molasses.
I used 1 teaspoon of baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda.
Biggest tip! Grease AND lightly flour the donut pans!!! Amazingly easy! Donuts tumbled out, no problem! And rose better that those with just greased pan (I did both from the same batch of batter.) I have Wilton donut pans and those donuts without the flour just greased did not come out without a fight!
My son and I made these. They are fresh, moist, apple spice delicious.
We made 3 more batches to give to friends and family. Thank you!
The reduction of the cider is taking way longer than 20 minutes! I turned the temp up a little to get it going but itโs taking more like an hour to reduce to 1/2 c
Yes, these donuts came out absolutely delicious but I do agree. It took a lot longer than 20 minutes to reduce the cider.
These are just amazing. Made like the recipe except for the butter at the end. I melted just enough to very lightly touch the donut and then dusted the sugar. So freaking good. One batch made 18 donuts for me and so I’ll have to give some away! Will make again!
These are UNREAL! Thank you for the recipe
How many calories in one doughnut?
Hi Vicki! We donโt usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
I am pretty sure that we really don’t want to know. I don’t want to spoil the experience of making these as they look lucious.
Amazing donuts- Iโm originally from the Adirondack mountains and apple cider donuts are a stable- not so much in Miami-
These remind me of fall and home- delicious – thank you
Hi. Just made this recipe. Do you use mini donut pans? I followed exact and only got 6 donuts.
Hi Butch, ours are not mini, but perhaps yours are larger. Hope you enjoy the donuts!
I made these donuts according to recipe and they were delicious. However after dipping the donuts in melted butter and then spiced sugar they were way too sweet. I think next time I will just dip the top in the melted butter and sprinkle the spiced sugar on top.
Could these be baked in a mini Bundt pan?
Hi Heather, mini Bundt pans should work just fine. Bake time may vary just slightly and depending on how much you fill the pans. Hope theyโre a hit!
can you do Gluten Free
Hi Susan, we haven’t tested a gluten free version, but let us know if you do.
Moist and delicious, the only thing I changed was, I brushed the butter on with a pastry brush instead of dipping the donut into butter.
Great recipe, thank you for sharing! I reduced the sugar amount by 50% (1/4 light brown sugar, 1/4 granulated) and it still came out great. I’m going to make them again and just use half a cup of light brown sugar. I made the mini versions due to my molds and I found that dipping them into the melted butter + then the sugar mix made the sugar clunky. I will attempt to butter them with a silicone brush and then sprinkle the sugar mix while the donuts are on the cool wire rack instead so there’s an even coating. Really love how the taste turned out though
I had seen instructions on King Arthur for boiled cider which results in a half gallon of cider reduced to 1 cup (1/8 of the cider). I had used some spiced apple cider (it turned out to be like pancake syrup). Would this be too strong?
Hi Cheri, that is definitely more concentrated, but we imagine it could work here!
I made these with gf flour,absolutely delicious!
Hi thank you for sharing! I was hesitant to make these, gluten free but I haven’t had apple cider donuts in years. I am so I excited to try!
Completely by mistake, I changed the recipe a bit making it next level!
It was late and I was tired, hurriedly putting things together. I put the hot apple cider reduction in the fridge to chill faster. Made the batter and thought โhuh this is really thick but she did say it was a thick batterโ – I had completely forgotten to add the cider reduction! The first batch of mini doughnuts went in the oven and came out so dry and bland, making me realize that I had forgotten the KEY ingredient ๐คฆ๐ปโโ๏ธ. I estimated that I had used about a third of the batter, so I added about 2/3 of the reduction to the batter, and the second tray of mini doughnuts came out much better, but still tasted a little less appley than I had hoped.
Since I had the extra cider reduction, I added some melted butter to it (probably a 50/50 ratio) and used that butter syrup to brush on the doughnuts before dunking in the spiced sugar. These were phenomenal!! Very appley!
So if anyoneโs reading this, maybe try reducing 2-2.5 cups of cider and using .5 cup in the batter, then add the remainder with a few tablespoons of butter. (Six tablespoons was too much – I had a lot left over since I brushed instead of dunking. If the doughnut is too wet the spiced sugar kind of melts onto the doughnut, which might be what you want, but I liked having the sugar crystals still intact)
Not to change your amazing recipe (I LOVE your recipes – this site is always my go-to!!) or anything but just wanted to share a tweak that I thought worked really well! My coworkers were convinced I bought these at a farmerโs market ๐
Can I use apple juice and fresh apples instead of cider?
Hi Michelle! The flavor wonโt be very deep or strong with apple juice. You can make Homemade Apple Cider if you wish!
These are the first donuts I have ever made, and they were so easy and turned out tremendously! So soft and full of cinnamon and sugar. I had to give half of them away so I wouldn’t eat them all! I happened to have some finely diced pecans left over from a cake I made the previous day, so I mixed them in with the cinnamon sugar dredge at the end, and that gave a nice, subtle hit of pecan. Thank you for the recipe! I am making them again for a trip we have planned this weekend.
is the reduced apple cider still a liquid or do you reduce it till it is a thicker consistency? Tia
Hi Janice, the reduction will thicken just a bit, but it’s still a pourable liquid.
Omg I just made these today and they are exactly like the ones I buy from the farm (an hour away!) Your influenced me to buy a donut pan. I bought the 12 donut pan. Because that was all I could find, but buying a bigger one (6 donuts) next time because these will be on repeat in my kitchen. Thank you!
Highly disappointed. This tasted more like a spiced donut than an apple cider donut. And my family and I were not a fan of the butter taste which is needed to keep the cinnamon sugar topping on. I love this site and it IS my go to for all baking things! And, it will continue to be. But, this just does not work for me. It taste nothing like and apple cinnamon donut to me.
Sally. Could I add little chunks of fresh apple into them?
Hi Sofia! Some readers have found that added shredded apple (about 1 cup) to the batter helps bring out the apple flavor. If doing so, reduce the milk down to 1/4 cup.