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Welcome to the first official day of fall! I could not think of a better recipe to be sharing today than these mulled apple cider french crullers.

Mulled Apple Cider Chai French Crullers | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvest

These pastries are fall, all fried up in a cute little circle. They’re delicious, easy, and just what you need to be making this weekend.

Speaking of which, happiest Friday to you guys! As you know I am hosting the HBH Cookbook retreat this weekend so things are just a little crazier than usual around here. We are already having so much fun and have a jam-packed day today, so I’m going to be keeping this post pretty short and sweet…

Which is fine since I really just want to convince you guys to get up right now (I mean, even leave work if you have too…) and make these apple cider chai crullers.

I truly love them that much and if I wasn’t already making a bunch of recipes from the Half Baked Harvest Cookbook for brunch on Sunday, I would totally have these crullers on the menu.

Mulled Apple Cider Chai French Crullers | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvest

Mulled Apple Cider Chai French Crullers | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvest

A while back I saw a photo of the most delicious looking apple cider doughnuts in Bon Appetit and ever since then, I knew that I wanted to make some kind of apple cider doughnut this fall. For a while I thought it was going to be one covered in cinnamon sugar, but then I attempted it and you know, they just didn’t turn out that great.

Granted I was trying to bake the doughnuts, which I’m going to be honest, I am just not a fan of.

Anyway, after my failed attempt at the cinnamon sugar doughnut, I decided to go a whole new route. Instead of doughnuts, I wanted to make crullers, but with apple cider and chai spice.

Yes, yes, yes.

Mulled Apple Cider Chai French Crullers | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvest

I mean, come on? How good does that sound?!?

What’s great about crullers, is that they require no yeast and no rising time. You make the dough, fry the dough, and then eat the dough. Meaning you can have a craving for these and have them made and ready for eating in less than an hour.

Again, yes, yes, yes.

Mulled Apple Cider Chai French Crullers | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvest

The base of the dough is pretty simple. It’s a combo of apple cider, cinnamon, butter, flour and eggs. You’ll pipe the dough into circles and then fry them. Like I said, pretty simple and straight forward. The crullers themselves are light and airy with hints of sweet apples and cinnamon.

It’s the chai glaze that makes these crullers so good though. Instead of a traditional sugar glaze, I spiced mine up with homemade chai spice and a touch of vanilla. So kind of like a sweet latte, but on your cruller.

SO GOOD.

All you need now is a mug of hot coffee or warm cider, a cozy blanket, and an apple cider chai cruller in hand and you’ll have the perfect Saturday or Sunday morning….or maybe afternoon snack. Either works!

Mulled Apple Cider Chai French Crullers | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvest

Mulled Apple Cider Chai French Crullers | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvest

Mulled Apple Cider Chai French Crullers

Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Servings: 12 crullers
Calories Per Serving: 135 kcal

Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.

Ingredients

Chai Glaze

Instructions

  • 1. Bring the apple cider, butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer 5-10 minutes or until reduced to about 1/2 cup. Remove from the heat. Let cool 5-10 minutes. Remove the cinnamon stick and stir in 1 cup flour, and the salt. Mix in one egg at a time into the batter until incorporated. I always use 3 eggs and find the dough to be perfect, but if your dough seems stiff add the additional 4th egg. If your dough is not stiff, add the additional 1/2 cup of flour as needed. Transfer the batter to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch star piping tip.
    2. Heat 2 inches or more of oil in a heavy-bottomed pot until it reads 350 on an instant thermometer.
    3. Meanwhile, line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Pipe out about 12 rings onto the paper. Using scissors, cut out the parchment around the dough so that the circles are separated from each other.  
    4. When the oil is hot, place one cruller at a time into the oil, paper side up. Remove the paper with tongs. Fry on each side until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain onto paper towels. 
    5. To make the glaze. In a small bowl, combine the cinnamon, ginger, all-spice, cardamom, and cloves. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla and about 1/2 teaspoon of the chai spice mixture to a medium bowl. Add 1-2 tablespoons of water and whisk until the glaze comes together. 
    6. Drizzle the glaze over the crullers. If desired, sprinkle with the remaining chai spice. EAT!

Notes

*Method adapted from Epicurious. 
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Mulled Apple Cider Chai French Crullers | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvest

Have a great Friday! See you tomorrow for more cider…but in cocktail form!

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Comments

  1. 4 stars
    These turned out sooo beautiful, I didn’t even want to eat them! But they were tasty! I think I may have overmixed the dough because they didn’t look as fluffy in the picture. I think I would add a little more sweetness to the dough as well, the dough itself lacked a bit of flavor, but the chair glaze is sooo good!

    1. Hey Isabella,
      So sorry I have never tested these in the air fryer so I am unsure of how they would turn out. Please let me know if you give it a try! xTieghan

    2. I did a variation of this recipe and preheated my air fryer to 350 and set them on parchment paper in the air fryer for 10-12 minutes. They did great!

    1. Hey Staci,
      I would highly recommend frying these:) I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan

    1. Hey Emily! I use canola oil. Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you! xTieghan

    1. Hi! I use non-alcoholic apple cider from apples. Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe. Thanks so much! xTieghan

  2. Hi Tieghan!
    Do you think I can make these at night to bring to the office the next morning? Or will they get soggy? These look absolutely amazing and I am hoping to make them for our Halloween party!
    Thanks!
    Sam

    1. HI! Honestly, these are best eaten right after fried. The leftovers are still goo, but just not as good, so kind of up to you! Please let me know if you have any other questions. Hope you love this recipe! 🙂

  3. 1 star
    I’ve made these twice now and they were total fails! The dough wasn’t thick enough to pipe so instead they turned into pancakes ? what am I doing wrong??

    1. Hi! So sorry for the trouble. I would only use three eggs and then add flour until the dough is stiff enough to pipe. Start with 1/4 cup more flour, then add more if needed. That should do the trick! Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe. Thank you!