Before moving into a house with apple trees in the back, we used to meet friends and family at the apple orchard in the fall. We still like to go and get apple varieties that we don’t have at home and stock up on jugs of apple cider. (And I get to see people without having to clean my house first.)
My favorite part of the apple orchard where we meet my brother and his family is the concessions. We line up to buy warm apple cider, slices of apple pie, caramel apples, and all the other classic apple goodies. My favorite treat, though, is the apple cider donuts.
I assume apple cider donuts are not called that because they are delicious when dunked in apple cider, but I never taste a lot of apple when I eat them. They have a cakey texture. The cinnamon and sugar on the outside crunch softly against your teeth. They are my favorite fall treat. Of course I don’t have a recipe for them, but I do have a recipe for Applesauce Donuts.
The Applesauce Donut recipe was at the back of my mind when I canned applesauce last year. I figured that one day I’d break out a jar of applesauce and I’d whip these suckers up. You know, some day, when I felt like heating up a bunch of oil and frying things first thing in the morning for a sweet breakfast. I don’t usually like sweet breakfast. Even more than that, I don’t really like getting up in the morning and doing intensive cooking before I’ve had at least one cup of coffee.
Especially on the weekends.
This is not a weekday recipe.
It doesn’t take that long to put together, but frying takes time. And this makes a LOT of donuts.
You need plenty of time to be able to eat them. Like all day Saturday.
You may also want to invite a few friends over because these are better fresh than they are at any other time. They don’t reheat well. But the fresh hot donuts with the crispy edges are succulent.
When I made these, I tried one of the crispy bits fresh out of the oil and burnt my tongue in the process. I ignored the pain as I burnt my fingers reaching for a whole donut, hot from the fryer.
Applesauce donuts are that good. They are reminiscent of apple pie in flavor, but cake in texture. The outside is satisfyingly crispy while the inside is dense and moist. The cinnamon and nutmeg dance around your mouth. If the recipe had only made a dozen, I might’ve eaten them all before the kids even knew they were done. As it was, my husband and I hardly had room when it was actually time to sit down for breakfast.
Make this recipe.
The Recipe:
Applesauce Donuts
Sift together:
4 1/2 cups Flour
3 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Salt
In a separate bowl combine:
1 tsp Baking Soda
2 cups Applesauce
Combine:
4 Eggs
1 cup Sugar
1 cup Brown Sugar
3 TB oil
1 tsp Vanilla
1/2 cup Milk
Alternate adding wet and dry ingredients and mix until combined and not lumpy.
Drop by spoonful into hot (350°) oil. Cook until brown on one side. Flip and finish frying. Allow to cook on paper towel. Roll in powdered sugar, cinnamon sugar, or glaze.
If you like this recipe, check out Drop Doughnuts, Caramel Corn, and Family Favorite Gingersnaps.
Sounds delicious. About how many would this make? Would it work for a church breakfast?
It would be wonderful for a church breakfast. I’m guessing there were over 4 dozen. I didn’t count. I know we ate our fill, let our friends have some, experimented with reheating them and still had some left. It was a lot!
Four and a half cups of flour makes lots of doughnuts! They really sound good.
Oh Man!! Now I’m hungry!! It’s Breakfast For Dinner tonight, so I may have to make these tonight!! And I have a ton of applesauce so I was looking for recipes to make with it. Win WIN! How did they do reheating??
Not as well as I wanted them to. Try cutting the recipe in half. I have some Namaste flour and was considering trying these gluten-free.
I was thinking maybe reheating in the oven might work okay, but maybe that is what you did. Not as great, obviously, as fresh out of the oven, but maybe??? The gluten-free flour I use is Better Batter Flour Blend and works well to use as a substitute for regular flour. That is probably what I will use, so I’ll keep you posted!
I think I would cut the recipe in half, as mentioned in previous comments…but then again, how often does a person have the chance to eat 4 dozen donuts?
At my house? More often than you’d think.