I remember when I used to wander through the New York City greenmarket in fall and winter I'd always see stacks of plump Apple Cider Donuts. Wrapped in tidy little bags, all glittered with cinnamon and sugar. They looked so good! But since they weren't vegan, I never got to indulge in those fluffy little rounds. Well finally, I decided to whip up some Apple Cider Donuts of my own!...
Vegan Apple Cider Donuts
These fluffy, boldly flavored donuts taste like sweet apple cider, cinnamon spice and of course sparkly sugar on top. They are easy to whip up and pair deliciously with a warm mug of cocoa, tea, coffee or whatever your fave winter beverage happens to be.
vegan egg replacer
In my vegan donuts I usually use flax seed or a fruit-based egg replacer. In these donuts I used, what else, a fresh chopped apple. It worked very well!
How to get Bold Apple Cider Flavor
I always wondered how apple cider donuts actually tasted like apple cider. I mean, you couldn't just add say ½ cup of straight up cider and get anything more than a very muted apple flavor. so I figured that there must be some process of boiling down the cider - reducing it to intensify the flavor. With a quick bit of research, I indeed found that all the best apple cider recipes reduce the cider.
You can read Sally's Baking Blog to see how she indeed does reduce the apple cider for her Cider Donuts. Sally is such an amazing baker, so any tips she might have for cider donuts, I would certainly listen to!
So I took Sally's advice and took one and a half cups of apple cider and simmered it on the stove for about ten minutes - until it reduced to a half cup. They I used that in my recipe.
Cinnamon and Sugar
I used a vegan cane sugar, which has a medium-sized, sparkly crystal to it. You could also use coconut sugar, but you won't get that signature sparkly look to your cider donuts. Choose a sugar that is fine enough to stick to the donuts, but also has a nice crystal to it.
I used this cane sugar. I always choose organic sugars because they are almost always vegan.
Apple Cider Donuts
Ingredients
Wet Ingredients:
- 1 ½ cups apple cider
- ¼ cup walnuts
- ¼ cup vegan butter, softened
- ½ cup apple, chopped
- ¼ cup soy milk, + 2 Tbsp
- 2 tablespoon coconut sugar or maple syrup, optional
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Dry Ingredients:
- 1 tso ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoon pumpkin pie or apple pie spice
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 ¼ cups spelt flour
Topping:
- 2 tablespoon vegan butter, melted
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 4 tablespoon vegan sugar
Greasing tin: oil or vegan butter
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease the insides of your donut tin using oil or butter.
Reducing the Apple Cider:
- Pour the one and a half cups of cider into a small soup pot. Bring it to a bowl and reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer on the stove for about ten minutes - or until it has reduced to one half cup.
Donut Batter:
- Add all the wet ingredients to a blender - walnuts, apple, butter, soy milk, vanilla, cider and sugar - (you are using the reduced apple cider - ½ cup). Blend from low to high until mostly smooth. You want to smooth out the walnuts and apple.
- Combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and pie spice to a large mixing bowl. Slowly pour in the blended mixture as you either beat or whisk the batter. Whip the batter until fluffy.
- Pour the donut batter into the donut rounds. Fill the donut tins just about to the top. You want a clean pour - no excess batter dripping over the edges. For perfect holes, make sure the center whole of the pan shows through.
- Bake the donuts for about 12 minutes, or until fluffy and baked through. Allow the donuts to rest in the pan for a few minutes before carefully removing. Refill the pan with your excess batter and bake your remaining donuts.
Topping:
- Combine the cinnamon and sugar in a small, wide bowl. Melt the butter.
- Using your pastry brush, brush the top of your first donut, then dunk and swirl it in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Fully coat the tops. Coating the bottom and all sides is up to you, but will yield a sweeter flavor. Repeat with all the donuts. Serve warm!
Equipment
- donut tin
- blender
- large mixing bowl
- beater or whisk
- pastry brush
Notes
- Feel free to double the amount of sugar and cinnamon topping if you want very buttery and double coated donuts.
- For the flour, spelt if advised because it has a nice hearty grain. You could experiment subbing with another hearty flour like oat or whole wheat - but a fine pastry flour will not be sturdy enough for this recipe.
- I used Martinelli's apple cider - but any variety can be used.
nutrition estimate | per serving
Love Donuts?
This donut recipe was based off of my Glazed Vegan Donuts...
