homemade doughnuts Archives - 10 Cents of Dates

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.

When we moved into our house a year and a half ago, it rained. It rained every day for a month after we moved. The basement was never completely dry. We couldn’t get out to assess the sodden yard. Landscaping was off the list for the moment because there were floors to scrub and unpacking to do. Rain is what happens in the spring, you expect it. We don’t expect it this time of year, and certainly not the amounts and frequency with which it has come.

Last week, rains hit the area. The town in which I work got 11 inches overnight. It had just started when I left work. By the time I tried to return to work the next morning, there was standing water in the middle of the exits. Abandoned cars blocked the middle of the roadways. In my detour, I saw pieces of the road ripped up. Water washed away the road completely in some areas. The banks of the river overflowed leaving behind debris. I had never seen damage like that before.

As I was stopped in traffic getting through the detour, I noticed an old man with a cane walking down the street toward the medical center. He passed me. Traffic surged ahead a bit more and I passed him. The line of cars in front of me stopped again. As I waited, he passed me again. We leapfrogged each other the distance to the medical center. He got to his destination a long time before I got to mine.

Buildings damaged by the water are still being cleaned and restored a week later. Many are still closed. Costco managed to reopen after a week. They declared some of the buildings a total loss. And the rain is still coming down.

A large shoe store had a flood sale over the weekend. We decided to check it out. Water still flooded the road in some areas and we were directed to detours. We looked out the windows and gasped at the wreckage. Sandbags lined low areas. Water submerged trees halfway up their trunks. Slimy mahogany garlands of tree branches, leaves, and grass decorated chain link fences around baseball diamonds with outfields resembling marshes. Flash flooding washed away the land under railroad tracks, leaving sagging steel rail bridges across expanses strewn with gravel and debris.

We drove past a house with a man standing in the yard looking at piles of cinder blocks and furniture that may have been part of his basement. A backhoe parked where the sidewalk had been and yellow caution tape strung around.

Soggy furniture, mattresses and insulation lined the streets. We drove past neighbors standing in front of the piles with their postures portraying shock and defeat, but somewhat hopeful as they gathered together. And the rain kept coming down.

My kids commented about how sad it all was. The sky was grey. There were patches of flattened plants around the river banks. The bridges were nearly floating on the water as we drove over them.

At the shoe sale, we bought rubber boots and aqua shoes.

The rain keeps pouring down.

My husband and I went to get groceries. I glanced down at my phone and looked up again as a wave passed over our windshield blinding us and causing the car to hydroplane slightly. A car had swerved to avoid the scene revealed to us as we regained our sight. Two cars were stopped at weird angles barely out of the lane on the right side, partially on the exit. I didn’t register that they had hit each other, but it seems like a valid reason for why they would be on the highway like that. The rain hit our windshield as we calmed ourselves and continued to drive.

Feeling a bit shell-shocked and emotionally drained from the events of the past few weeks, I’ve weathered the storm by turning to the kitchen. I fed everyone that has come over with fresh baked goods, Jell-O salads, and anything else that I’ve felt like making, including these delicious drop donuts. When the air is heavy and your heart is a bit sad, doughnuts fresh out of the oil restore bits of your soul. The sugar sweetens your outlook as the cinnamon warms your belly. The slightly cakey texture of these easy treats provides fortification for the storms to come.