Apple Cider Donuts Worth the Fryer Mess

Chef's Overview

Dear Chefs, apple cider donuts are cake donuts made with a reduced apple cider, fried until crisp at the edges and rolled in cinnamon sugar while they are still warm. Boiling two cups of cider down to half a cup is the step most recipes skip and the one that matters most, because plain cider adds liquid without much flavor while the reduction tastes like concentrated orchard. The dough is soft and sticky, so an hour in the refrigerator is what makes it possible to roll and cut cleanly. Frying at a steady 350°F gives you a crackly golden shell and a tender, cakey inside in under two minutes per batch. Yes, there will be a pot of oil to deal with afterward, and one warm donut straight from the cinnamon sugar is enough to make that feel like a very fair trade.

The Orchard Line Nobody Wants to Admit They Waited In

Every October there is a line at the orchard farm stand that wraps around the building, and it is never for the apples. It is for a paper bag of warm cider donuts, and the people in that line include grown adults who drove forty minutes and will absolutely not admit that the donuts were the reason. We have stood in that line. We are not ashamed.

The good news is that the orchard has no secret you cannot replicate on a Saturday morning at home. What makes their donuts special is freshness more than anything else, since a cider donut is at its peak for about twenty minutes after it leaves the oil. Make them yourself and every single one comes out at that moment. The mess is real, but it is the kind of mess that ends with a plate of warm donuts and a kitchen that smells like cinnamon for the rest of the day.

Ingredients You'll Need

Use fresh, unfiltered apple cider from the refrigerated section rather than shelf-stable apple juice, since the cloudy cider carries far more apple flavor into the reduction. Buttermilk gives the dough a slight tang and a tender crumb, and it reacts with the baking soda for a lighter lift. For frying, choose a neutral oil with a high smoke point like canola, vegetable or peanut oil, and have a deep-fry or candy thermometer ready, because temperature control is what separates crisp donuts from greasy ones.

For the Donuts

• 2 cups fresh apple cider
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1/2 cup buttermilk, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• About 2 quarts neutral oil for frying

For the Cinnamon Sugar

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• Pinch of kosher salt

Step 1: Reduce the Cider

Pour the cider into a small saucepan and bring it to a boil over medium-high heat. Let it bubble steadily for 20 to 25 minutes, swirling the pan occasionally, until it has reduced to about 1/2 cup and turned darker and slightly syrupy. Pour it into a measuring cup to check, then let it cool to room temperature, since warm cider will melt the butter in the dough. If cider-soaked flavors are your thing this time of year, our Apple Cider Braised Pork Shoulder for the First Cool Night puts a whole jug to very good use.

Step 2: Whisk the Dry Ingredients

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt until evenly combined. Freshly grated nutmeg is worth the extra few seconds here, since the pre-ground kind loses much of its warmth sitting in a jar. Set the bowl aside while you work on the wet ingredients.

Step 3: Cream the Butter and Sugars

In a stand mixer or with a hand mixer, beat the softened butter with the granulated and brown sugars on medium speed for about 2 minutes, until the mixture looks sandy and slightly lighter in color. There is not enough butter here to get truly fluffy, so do not chase that texture. You just want everything evenly combined.

Step 4: Add the Eggs, Buttermilk and Cider

Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl after each, then add the cooled cider reduction, the buttermilk and the vanilla. The mixture will look curdled and separated at this point, which is completely normal and will come together as soon as the flour goes in. Make sure the cider has cooled fully before this step.

Step 5: Fold In the Flour

Add the dry ingredients to the wet in two additions, mixing on low speed or folding with a spatula just until no dry streaks remain. Stop as soon as it comes together, since overmixing develops gluten and gives you chewy, bready donuts rather than tender, cakey ones. The dough will be very soft and sticky, closer to a thick batter than a bread dough, and that is exactly right.

Step 6: Chill the Dough

Scrape the dough onto a well-floured sheet of parchment, pat it into a rough rectangle about an inch thick, and dust the top with more flour. Cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or up to overnight. Chilling firms up the butter and relaxes the gluten, which turns an unworkable mess into a dough you can roll and cut cleanly.

Step 7: Roll and Cut the Donuts

On a floured counter, roll or pat the chilled dough to about 1/2 inch thick. Cut rounds with a 3-inch donut cutter, or use a 3-inch glass for the outside and a 1-inch bottle cap for the hole. Without a cutter, a nimble blade like our Sable 59 Damascus Petty Knife traces cleanly around a template without dragging the soft dough, the kind of small precision task covered in What Are the Best Uses for a Petty Knife at Home. Rather than rerolling the scraps, which toughens them, cut them into rough 2-inch squares with a long, clean slice from our Garnet 60 Damascus Chef Knife and fry them as bonus donut bites. Set everything on a floured sheet pan and keep it in the refrigerator while the oil heats.

Step 8: Heat the Oil to 350°F

Pour about 2 inches of oil into a heavy Dutch oven, leaving at least 3 inches of space above it, and clip a thermometer to the side. Heat it over medium heat to 350°F, which usually takes 10 to 15 minutes. Set a wire rack over a sheet pan lined with paper towels next to the stove, and pour the cinnamon sugar mixture into a wide, shallow bowl so everything is ready before the first donut goes in.

Step 9: Fry in Small Batches

Carefully lower 3 or 4 donuts into the oil at a time, since crowding the pot drops the temperature and leads to greasy donuts. Fry for about 60 to 90 seconds per side, flipping once with a spider or slotted spoon, until they are a deep golden brown and cooked through. Check the thermometer between every batch and adjust the burner to keep the oil between 345°F and 355°F. Fry the donut holes and scrap bites last, as they cook in about a minute total.

Step 10: Toss in Cinnamon Sugar While Warm

Let each batch drain on the rack for about 30 seconds, just long enough to lose the surface oil, then toss the donuts in the cinnamon sugar while they are still warm so it clings in a thick, even coat. Wait too long and the sugar will slide right off. Serve them immediately, ideally with a mug of warm cider, and if you want another cozy fall bake for a slower morning, our Cinnamon Swirl Coffee Cake – A Warm Start to Fall Mornings is the easier-going option.

Step 11: Cool and Save the Oil

Turn off the burner and leave the oil on the back of the stove until it is completely cool, which takes at least 2 hours. Strain it through a fine-mesh sieve lined with a coffee filter into a clean jar or its original bottle, label it, and store it somewhere dark for your next fry, since clean frying oil can usually be reused two or three times. Never pour oil down the drain. Wipe the stovetop while it is still slightly warm, and the fryer mess really is that manageable. For another all-afternoon apple project, our Apple Butter From Scratch, Worth Every Hour on the Stove makes a great weekend companion.

Twenty Minutes of Perfect

Some foods are best made at home simply because of timing, and cider donuts might be the clearest example of all. The orchard can sell you a good donut, but it cannot hand you one that left the oil thirty seconds ago and is still shedding cinnamon sugar onto the counter. That window is small, so gather everybody in the kitchen before the first batch goes in and eat them standing up. Any leftovers can be revived in a 300°F oven for about five minutes, though in our experience there are rarely any leftovers to worry about.