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Welcoming the weekend with Baked Apple Cider Doughnuts with Cinnamon Maple Glaze. Made with boiled-down spiced cider, apple butter, and cinnamon. Then baked and dipped in a sweet brown butter glaze flavored with coffee and cinnamon. There’s really nothing not to love about these cute (and sweet) autumn spiced doughnuts. The true secret? Boiling the apple cider down to really concentrate its flavor. The perfect way to celebrate the autumn apple season!
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The first apple recipe of the season and I could not be more excited. Every fall I’m so excited, but this year even more so than ever before. I think it’s because the world is in what feels like a very unsettled place, turning on any news source usually leaves you feeling frustrated.
Because of this, I am really embracing the things I love the most. I’m focusing on all the good that the world does have to offer. My goal this fall is to really go all out. I’m 100% grabbing more pumpkins than I need, making pumpkin spice lattes, and come October 1 – decorating for Halloween. I’m already plotting out my “spooky” desserts and cocktails for October.
Embracing all the good things and leaving the rest behind, you know?
And today that means we’re focusing on September apples and making some of the best baked apple cider donuts.
The Inspiration
Do any of you remember last year’s cinnamon spiced apple fritters? Well, those were the initial inspo for this recipe. I just loved those so much, especially the vanilla coffee glaze. I planned to remake them at least once this month, but the frying part really gets me. It’s just messy and not my favorite task.
That got me thinking about new recipes I could make that highlighted the same flavors but didn’t involve any frying.
And that’s where these baked doughnuts come in. They’re a cross between a really delicious apple cider doughnut and a sweet apple fritter. Totally delicious in every way possible.
On to the details – start with the doughnuts
If you love a classic apple cider doughnut, these are for you. If you can make a basic cupcake or muffin, you can certainly make these. There’s nothing fancy about them.
The key to these doughnuts? It’s all in the cider. I recommend finding the best spiced cider with no added sugars. If you can, pick up some fresh apple cider from your local farmers’ market. Or even better, go apple picking at an apple orchard and pick some up! Nothing quite beats a really good apple cider. It’s always so flavorful this time of year.
To help intensify the apple cider flavor throughout the doughnuts, I decided to boil down the cider on the stove until reduced. Boiling the cider will concentrate the flavors and make the cider that much more flavorful. It’s an extra step, but one that I think is worth it.
Once you have the reduced apple cider, the rest is quick. Just mix the cider with apple butter, eggs, melted butter, vanilla, plus dark brown sugar. Then add in all the dry ingredients and stir in a chopped Honeycrisp apple. Adding the apple makes them kind of like apple fritter doughnuts.
Divide the batter between doughnut pans (or just a cupcake pan). As the doughnuts bake, the kitchen will start to smell like your favorite autumn candle, it’s perfection.
Make the glaze
I took inspiration from my Cinnamon Spiced Sugar Cookies and apple fritters, and decided on a buttery maple glaze with cinnamon and a touch of coffee throughout. It’s just some browned butter, maple, powdered sugar, instant coffee, and cinnamon.
Not too strong, not too sweet, but just right. Especially when spread on top of a warm doughnut.
Delicious!
And with that, here’s my recommendation for the coming weekend…apple picking and doughnut baking – of course!
And if not this weekend, sometime soon. I promise you guys, these doughnuts are so good and such a great fall treat.
Looking for September apple recipes? Here are a few ideas:
Brown Butter Apple Blondies with Cinnamon Maple Glaze
Salted Maple Apple Tarte Tatin with Cinnamon Pumpkin Seeds
Cinnamon Spiced Apple Fritters with Vanilla Coffee Glaze
Lastly, if you make these Baked Apple Cider Doughnuts with Cinnamon Maple Glaze, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Baked Apple Cider Doughnuts with Cinnamon Maple Glaze
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups apple cider
- 2 tablespoons salted butter, melted
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1/4 cup apple butter
- 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 honeycrisp apple, chopped, (about 1/2 cup)
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon sugar
Brown Butter Cinnamon Maple Glaze
- 4 tablespoons salted butter
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 3/4-1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon instant coffee
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Grease a 6-cup doughnut pan or 12-cup muffin pan with melted butter2. Bring the apple cider to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer 10-15 minutes or until reduced to about 1/2 cup. Remove from the heat. Let cool.3. In a large mixing bowl, stir together 1/2 cup boiled cider, melted butter, eggs, apple butter, vanilla, and brown sugar until combined. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and salt, mix until just combined. Toss the apples with the cinnamon sugar mix, then stir the apples into the batter.4. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared pan, filling 1/2-2/3 the way full. Bake 12-13 minutes, until just set. Remove and let cool 5 minutes, then run a knife around the edges to release and invert the pan. 5. Meanwhile, make the glaze. Add the butter to a small pot set over medium heat. Allow the butter to brown slightly until it smells toasted, about 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat and whisk in the maple syrup, powdered sugar, instant coffee, and cinnamon. Dip or drizzle the doughnuts into the glaze. Highly recommend eating a few of these warm.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Did you make this recipe? Please rate & comment below.
I made these last night and they are soo good!! I will for sure be making these again. Your recipes never disappoint! Any tricks to loading the donut pans without making a mess? This is my first time using them, and I ended up with batter everywhere trying to fill them up
Hi Brenna,
Happy Sunday!! I am delighted to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, I truly appreciate you giving it a try! Next time, try using a cookie scoop for the batter. xTieghan
Any chance you could link your Apple Butter recipe? I went searching and couldn’t find it but I see one of the comments mentions it. I’d love to try to make it for these donuts! So excited to try them, I love a maple glaze! Also, safe travels to Cleveland.
OMG however did you add the function that automatically adjusts the amounts depending on how many donuts you want to make? That is an amazing feature- I wish I could do that with all my recipes!! Thanks for that addition.
Happy to have this feature Heather! Please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
Hey Heather,
Here you go:
https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/homemade-slow-cooker-maple-apple-butter/
Please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
Thank you thank you!!!
The flavor on these was amazing! How do you get the glaze to harden like the photo? Once I packed mine up it melted into them. Did you refrigerate?
Hi Christina,
I love to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, I truly appreciate you giving it a try!! This is definitely a soft glaze so I would keep leftovers in the fridge or just wait to put the glaze on them. ? xTieghan
The flavor is very nice. Mine came out quite dry though. I made “doughnut holes” in a mini muffin pan so I may have over baked them since I wasn’t sure about timing. They stay pretty pale so I couldn’t quite tell when they were actually done. I’m definitely going to try again. But maybe after I try the Apple Blondies! (I skipped the coffee too)
Hey Lisa,
Thanks for giving the recipe a try, yes for doughnut holes you would certainly need to reduce the baking time:) xTieghan
The flavor on these was amazing! How do you get the glaze to harden like the photo? Once I packed mine up it melted into them. Did you refrigerate?
Hey Christina,
I love to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, I truly appreciate you giving it a try!! You can definitely keep these in the fridge if you have leftovers, the glaze is a soft glaze.? xTieghan
Tieghan,
Thanks for all the baked doughnut recipes! I received doughnut pans for Christmas a couple years ago and just love them….it’s such a special treat when I get them out. This is the second doughnut recipe of yours that I’ve tried and it turned out great. Loved the flavors of the maple glaze and apple cinnamon doughnut together. Just yummy! I didn’t have instant coffee so just omitted it and reduced the amount of sugar in the glaze for my taste.
Hey Natalie,
Fantastic!! So great to hear that you enjoyed this recipe and thanks a lot for making it. Have a great week!? xTieghan
STUNNING! You have to be quite careful not to over-bake them however! Not super forgiving.
Hey Julia,
Love to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, thanks a bunch for making it! Have the best weekend? xTieghan
Hi! Do you think using dairy free butter would ruin the recipe?
Delicious ! I substituted apple juice for cider and still came out great .
Hey Melissa,
Love to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, thanks a bunch for making it! Have the best weekend? xTieghan
I made these delicious doughnuts yesterday but this morning I went to have one and glaze was
absorbed into the donut?? I thoroughly cooled donuts before glazing and let set. I put into a container with lid. Any suggestions for the next time I make these?
Hey Linda,
Thanks so much for giving the recipe a try. Since this is a soft glaze, I would wait to put it on until you are ready to serve. I hope this helps for next time! xTieghan
Deeeeelicious!
Hey Yvonne,
Happy Friday!! I so appreciate you giving this recipe a try, I love to hear that it was enjoyed!! xTieghan
These donuts are delicious!! Not to sweet! Welcome to Fall! Thank you for the recipe
Tieghan!
Hey Linda,
Happy Friday!! I so appreciate you giving this recipe a try, I love to hear that it was enjoyed!! xTieghan
I just finished eating one of these, and wow, they’re so delicious!
As usual, I used Bob’s 1 to 1 gluten free flour, and it worked out perfectly. I also kept the coffee out of the icing because I didn’t have any, but it was still delicious. I also used the apple butter from your apple butter recipe, so good!
Thanks for the great recipes!
Hey Joanne,
Happy Friday!! I so appreciate you giving this recipe a try, I love to hear that it was enjoyed!! xTieghan
Perfect way to make your home smell like fall! Amazing baked donut texture- left out the instant coffee in glaze and reduced bake time to 9 mins. I think I’ll make these an annual tradition 🙂
Hey Gretchen,
Happy Friday!! I so appreciate you giving this recipe a try, I love to hear that it was enjoyed!! xTieghan
I’m getting ready to make these and was wondering if I could use liners in the muffin tin? They look and sound delicious!
Hey Jacquelyn,
Yes, totally fine to use liners:) I hope this recipe turns out amazing for you, please let me know if you give it a try! xTieghan
These came out amazing!!! SO GOOD! My only thing — I waited a while until the doughnuts were cooled before adding the icing, and the first day they looked amazing, but overnight the icing had completely melted into the doughnut making them soggy and fall apart (still good, but not what I was expecting visually!!). I kept them in a sealed container on the counter. I’m not sure if it was the temperature in my home or something I did wrong from the actual recipe??
Hey Ada,
Happy Friday!! I so appreciate you giving this recipe a try, I love to hear that it was enjoyed!! Maybe next time store them in the fridge, they are pretty delicate so I’m not surprised that this happened! xTieghan
BUSSIN! The texture of these are so nice and that glaze is flawless! My kids and I really enjoyed these today as part of our first day of fall festivities! Hands down the best baked doughnut I’ve ever made! *Oh and I made them GF.
Hey Sarah,
Wonderful!! So glad to hear that this recipe was loved, thanks for making it:) xTieghan