Baked Apple Cider Donuts

You may remember that on my apple picking adventure I made some yummy apple cider with my friends.  One of my goals for apple picking was actually to get some fresh apple cider donuts!!  Sadly it doesn’t seem to be a big thing out here on the west coast?  Cause the apple farm that I was at did not have it.

I did take some of that apple cider that we made and decided to bake some of my own Apple Cider Donuts.  I decided to do some baked donuts, cause really I am the last person who needs to be eating a dozen fried donuts by herself.  So I whipped out my donut pan and looked for the perfect recipe and found one from Vittles and Bits!

Baked Apple Cider Donuts
adapted from Vittles and Bits

1 1/4 cup flour
1/4 t nutmeg
1/8 t cloves
1/2 t cinnamon
1 1/4 t baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup apple cider
1/2 cup buttermilk
3/4 t salt
2 T melted butter
1 egg

Cinnamon sugar for dusting or Trader Joe’s Chocolate Coffee Cocoa Bean Sugar

1.  Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Grease you donut pan with cooking spray.

2.  Pour apple cider in a small pot and boil. let it simmer for 5-7 minutes, allowing the liquid to reduce to half.  Remove the cider from heat and let it cool. 

3.  In a large bowl sift flour, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, salt, baking powder and sugar.  Add in apple cider, buttermilk, butter and egg.  Mix well combined.

4.  Pipe batter into the donut pan, filling it about half way.  *Be sure not to over fill or they will come out looking like mini bundts!*   Bake for 5-6 minutes, remove from the oven and let it cool for another 5 minutes. 

PS.  I loved Vittles and Bits hint of baking these in the toaster oven to crisp up and then brushing it with butter and finishing the donuts with cinnamon sugar! 

Dark Chocolate Caramel Glazed Cake Donuts

I'm a busy girl.  Between working, dancing, working out, cooking, doing the blog and hanging out with friends I'm not ashamed to say that I will often use cake mix from a box when I am in a rush.  As much as we all love cakes made from scratch sometimes we just don't have the time.  The secret to making the box cake mix work for you is a simple concept, Add Ins.  Anything from a flavored extract, spices, nuts, chocolate chips or fruit can transform your boring cake mix into something delish. 

Salted Caramel Dark Chocolate Donut

I had wanted to create a quicky way to create some baked donuts.  One of my favorite cake mix flavors is Dark Chocolate.  I've used this in the past to create a spicy chocolate cupcake with salted caramel frosting and it was a hit.  I basically altered the liquid porportions so that I could create a rich dense donut and added some nutmeg in to give it that chocolate donut taste. 

Chocolate Cake Donuts with Caramel Glaze

1 box Dark Chocolate Cake Mix
1/3 cup oil
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp nutmeg
4 eggs
1/2-3/4 cups Kraft caramel bits
1/3 cup milk

Yields approximately 18 large donuts (I used the mini donut pan and the large one and got 12 large and 12 mini)

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl mix cake mix, milk, oil, nutmeg and eggs until well combined.  *The result will be a super thick batter*

2.  Lightly butter and flour your Donut pan.  Pour batter into a ziploc bag, snip off the end and pipe batter into the donut pan.  Fill them up about half way since they will plump up in the oven.  *I was over zealous with the mini pan and got mutant mini donuts*
  

3.  Place pan in the oven and bake for 8-10 minutes.  Test for doneness and flip donuts out on cooling rack. 

Glaze
1.  Place caramel bits into a bowl with 1/3 cup milk and microwave for 20 second intervals, stirring until caramel is melted.  *The thicker you want the caramel, the less milk you should add in.  Keep in mind that the caramel sets into the donut as it sits.  You can add in the milk as you microwave the caramel to have better control of the thickness.*

Take donuts and dip one side down in the caramel and add any additional toppings.  For this batch I did several; coconut, chopped peanuts, salt and mini chocolate chips. 

Try this ASAP!  These donuts are so cute and they are healthier than their fried versions and to me tasted just as good the Old Fashion donut from Krispy Kreme.