Baked Apple Cider Donuts
Description
Our favorite time of the year is the fall. The air is crisp, the colors are beautiful, and the flavors in the food are AMAZING! We live in an area where people travel to come to see the foliage. It is breathtaking. We have so many apple farms, and we all have our favorite farm for their Apple Cider Donuts. The kiddos decided it was our chance to make them, and we were pleasantly impressed with the outcome.
We first learned that natural pure Apple Cider is very different from the Store brand Apple Ciders that grocery stores slap labels on and say they are cider. Raw apple cider is thicker, and you will find that if you store brand, you will be left with water when boiled down, not the syrup you need in the first step of this recipe. So if you plan to have yummy Apple Cider donuts buy the real stuff; plus, it is almost best to support local. Luckily we are surrounded by delicious cideries (some adult cideries, too 🙂 ). 
We can also tell you that one of the most fun purchases we have made for our kitchen is a donut pan. We chose to get the pan that can hold 20 donuts. This pan allows us to cook 20 at a time, which saves time and who doesn’t want 20 donuts???
Ingredients
2 cups Apple Cider (look for genuine apple cider from a farm, not store brand)
2 Cups All Purpose unbleached Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 tbls Apple Pie Spice
1 Large Egg
1/3 cup Sugar
1/3 cup Brown Sugar
3 tbsp Softened Unsalted Butter
1/2 Cup Whole Milk
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
Toppings
1/2 cup Sugar
1 1/2 tbsp. Apple Pie Seasoning
6 tbsp. Melted Butter
Instructions
- Wash our hands. Always make a point to teach children the importance of washing our hands when handling food.
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. When reading parts of the recipes the children can not do, like turning on the stove, please read the instructions aloud, and tell them what you are doing. For example, I am turning on the oven so that it has time to get to the cooking temperature needed while we mix all the fun stuff.
- Pour Apple Cider into a saucepan on medium heat and cover. All this to reduce. It will take some time, depending on the juice you are using. The object of this part is to turn the Apple Cider into a syrup. Explain to your children what reducing means and how you take a liquid and turn it into a syrup by cooking it.
- In one bowl, mix your dry ingredients. Have the children help you measure the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and apple pie spice. We have them pour flour in first and then make a hole in the middle where they put the rest of the dry ingredients. They like to “bury” the spices.
- Mix the sugars, butter, egg, and milk. It can be done by hand but is best mixed by hand mixer or stand-alone. It is a great way to teach your children about safety regarding these kitchen tools. LET THEM CRACK THE EGG! Have them crack it in another bowl if they get a shell. It is the favorite and most fought to overstep in my home.
- Add the cider to the wet ingredients and mix.
- Slowly add the dry ingredients. Give your child 1/2 cup measuring cup at a time. Once, I gave them a lot to see what happened and how the mix went everywhere. Though it was fun, they now understand the word slowly.
- Take the batter and put it into a piping bag. Pipe the donuts into the pan.
- Bake for 10 minutes or until you can pull a toothpick out clean from the donut.
- Allow cooling for 5 minutes before putting toppings on. At the same time, mix the sugar and spice for the topping in a bowl.
- Brush with butter, then dip the buttered side into the pre-mixed topping. The kids loved “painting” the donuts and then dipping them in sugar.
- Eat and Enjoy. These are best served hot. If by chance they last long enough to have “leftovers,” keep them in the Refrigerator and heat up in the toaster oven before serving again.