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Apple Cider Crumb Doughnuts

Spiced doughnuts with a little apple flavor from fresh apple cider and topped with cinnamon crumbs to make for the best baked doughnut you've ever had!
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time30 minutes
Total Time1 hour 15 minutes
Servings: 16 doughnuts

Ingredients

For the crumb topping:

  • 1/3 cup light brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 8 tablespoons butter unsalted, melted
  • 1 cup + 2 tablespoons flour

For the cider doughnuts:

  • 2 cups apple cider
  • 2 1/2 - 3 cups flour
  • 3 teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 10 tablespoons butter unsalted, melted
  • 1/2 cup light brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 3/4 cup buttermilk
  • powdered sugar for sprinkling
  • crumbs (from recipe above)

Instructions

For the crumb topping:

  • Whisk sugars, cinnamon, and salt together in a medium mixing bowl. Add melted butter and mix with a spatula or wooden spoon to combine. Add flour 1/3 of a cup at a time. Mix until fully combined. Place in refrigerator while you make cake batter. Don't worry -it shouldn't look like crumbs yet.
  • When ready to top the batter with crumbs, remove mixture from fridge. It should be solid. Break up the mixture with you fingers. I used a spoon to get it started. Now crumbs are ready to sprinkle over doughnuts before baking. If not using right away, place back in fridge to keep them chilled.

For the cider doughnuts:

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray you doughnut pans with nonstick spray and set aside.
  • Place cider in a medium saucepan and set on stove over medium heat. Cook until cider reduces to 3/4 cup, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
  • Add flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl. Whisk together until combined. Set aside
  • In the bowl of stand mixer, place butter and sugars and beat together until smooth. Add vanilla and 1 egg. Beat until smooth. Add other egg and beat until smooth. Add cooled reduced cider and buttermilk to batter and mix just until combined. Add all of the flour mixture to batter and mix just until combined. Do not over mix! If you notice that the batter is runny, add 1/2 cup more flour. It should be thicker than pancake batter but not as thick as brownie batter.
  • Place batter into a plastic storage bag to make filling the doughnut mold easy. If you do want to use a storage bag, you can simply spoon it in, but that will take longer. Snip the corner of the bag and fill doughnuts molds completely. I had 12 molds so I needed to wait until the 12 cooked before making the other 4.
  • Sprinkle crumbs (from recipe above) over the filled doughnut molds. Cover the batter completely with crumbs. Bake for 13-15 minutes, or until doughnuts begin to brown very slightly around the edges. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes in the pan. Then, remove from pan and cool completely on cooling rack.
  • If you want to sprinkle with powdered sugar, wait until completely cooled or else the doughnut will absorb the powdered sugar. If presentation is not a concern, go ahead and sprinkle when warm and eat immediately.
  • Store doughnuts in a storage container lightly sealed with foil so that the moisture isn't trapped. Doughnuts are best on the same day but will stay good for the next day or so.

Notes

Recipe adapted from Ready to Yumble