Yeasted Apple Cider Donuts
These Apple Cider Donuts are yeasted, not cakey, and fried, not baked. It’s the only way to get an airy, bready crumb and crisp crust. Reduced cider adds concentrated apple flavor. About 2 hours of active/rise time, plus an overnight rest in the fridge before frying.
Table of contents
Why I Prefer Yeasted and Fried Extra-Cidery Donuts
If you think all Apple Cider Donuts are the same, this recipe just might change your mind.
Most Cider Donut recipes make “cake style” donuts. That is, the donuts use baking powder and/or baking soda for leavening. So the texture is more cakey/muffiny than bready.
Personally, I prefer an airy, chewy yeast-risen donut. I love the bread-like texture and flavor that you only get when yeast does the leavening.
Many cider donut recipes bake the donuts instead of frying. Honestly? To me if you’re baking a donut you’re really just making a cupcake in a different shape.
By traditional definition, donuts are bits of fried dough. They are a special treat. If I’m gonna have a donut, I’m gonna fry it. A perfectly airy crumb encased in a crisp exterior is only achieved by frying.
But what truly sets this recipe apart is the sheer amount of cider in the dough. The recipe starts with 4 full cups of real apple cider. The cider is concentrated down to 1 cup to bring deep apple flavor to the donuts.
Ingredients
- Apple Cider – As the name of this recipe implies, this is the key ingredient for big apple flavor. The trick is to reduce the cider to concentrate the flavor.
- All Purpose Flour – AP Flour has a medium protein content which gives these donuts a nice chewy texture and enough elasticity to puff in the oil without cracking.
- Active Dry Yeast — Active dry yeast is easy to find and it supports the slow, steady rise we want while chilling the dough overnight. The slower the rise, the bigger the flavor. If you can find “osmotolerant yeast”, which is made especially for enriched, sweetened doughs, it would work very well in this recipe.
- Spices – I used a mix of spices that I love, which includes a little cardamom. You can substitute the same total amount with pre-mixed “apple pie spice”.
How to make Apple Cider Donuts
Here’s what the recipe process looks like at each stage. Refer to the recipe card below for measurements and exact instructions.
- Reduce the apple cider from 4 cups to 1 cup.
- Add the butter to the hot cider and allow it to melt.
- Combine the water, yeast and some of the flour to make a sponge.
- Set the sponge aside for 30 minutes then add the remaining ingredients and finish mixing the dough.
- Set the dough aside for the first rise.
Yeast Activity & Sugar
Yeast likes sugar, but (just like us) moderation is important. Sugar is hygroscopic (absorbs water). Yeast needs water to activate. A high proportion of sugar in the dough slows yeast activity. To mitigate the effect of the sugar (from the reduced cider), the sponge gives the yeast a head start before the other ingredients are added.
- Roll the dough to about 1/2″ thick.
- Cut the donuts with a 4″ biscuit cutter. Cut the center hole with a smaller cutter.
- You can re-roll the center cuts or fry them as “donut holes”.
- Allow the donuts to rise at room temperature to make them in one day, or refrigerate overnight to make them for breakfast.
- Fry the donuts a couple at a time for about 2-3 minutes per side.
- Immediately toss the warm donut in the cinnamon/cardamom sugar.
- Enjoy warm or within a few hours of frying.
Work Ahead Tips
- Make the dough and allow it to finish through the first rise. At this point you can handle the dough 2 different ways depending on your schedule:
- The day you make the dough, after the first rise, roll and cut the donuts then refrigerate them overnight. The second rise beging in the refrigerator. The next day, allow them to come to room temperature while you preheat the oil.
- After the first rise cover the bowl and hold the dough in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. Roll, cut and raise the donuts on frying day.
- The donuts can be frozen immediately after cutting. Defrost and allow them to rise before frying.
More Donut Recipes
- Apple Filled Donuts
- Pumpkin Donuts
- Sourdough Donuts
- Apple Fritter Donuts
- Rhubarb Fritters
- French Crullers
Now that you know about the flavoring power of reduced apple cider, you should try these amazing Apple Cider Caramels!
If you love this recipe as much as I do, I’d really appreciate a star rating and a quick comment. Ratings and comments help my recipes show in search results. Thanks!
Yeasted Apple Cider Donuts
Ingredients
Dough
- 32 oz apple cider (4 cups)
- 2 oz unsalted butter (cold)
- 4 oz warm water (½ cup)
- 2 ¼ tsp instant yeast
- 18 ¾ oz unbleached all-purpose flour (3 ¾ cups, see note)
- 1 large egg (room temp)
- 1 teaspoon cardamom
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon table salt
- 1 quart cooking oil
Coating Sugar
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon cardamom
Instructions
Make the dough (day 1)
- In a large saucepan, bring 32 oz apple cider to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the 4 cups of cider are reduced to 1 cup. Transfer the reduced cider to a bowl and add 2 oz unsalted butter to the cider so that it melts. Set the bowl aside until the reduced cider is cooled to about 110°F (a little warmer than body temp).
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large mixing bowl combine 4 oz warm water, 2 ¼ tsp instant yeast and 2 ½ oz unbleached all purpose flour. Mix until it forms a thick batter. Cover the bowl and set it aside for 30 minutes (while the cider is cooling).
- With the mixer running on low, add 1 large egg, 1 teaspoon cardamom, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon table salt and the reduced cider to the batter. Add another 10 oz unbleached all purpose flour and mix until it forms a thick batter.
- Switch to the dough hook and add the remaining 6 ⅖ oz unbleached all purpose flour. The dough will start out quite sticky. Knead on medium speed for 5 minutes until the dough clings to the hook and clears the sides of the bowl. If working by hand mix in as much of the flour by hand as you can then turn the dough out onto a floured surface and continue kneading in the remaining flour. Knead for 5 minutes. If you have a hard time working with the sticky dough you can sprinkle a few more tablespoons of flour as you knead.
- Knead into a smooth ball. Place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, turning once to coat the dough. Cover and set the dough aside at room temperature for 1-1 ½ hours until it's doubled in volume.
- Without kneading the dough (kneading will cause it to spring back as you cut) roll to ½" thick on a lightly floured surface.
- Use a 4" round cutter to cut donuts. Use a smaller cutter to cut a center hole in each donut. Line the donuts on a well-oiled baking sheet, leaving space between the donuts for the dough to rise (I used 2 baking sheets). Reroll the scraps of dough and continue cutting donuts until all the dough is used up. You can add the center cuts to the scraps or fry them separately as donut holes.
- Brush the tops of the donuts lightly with oil. Cover the sheet pans with plastic wrap. If you'd like to make the donuts in the morning refrigerate the donuts overnight. If making the donuts the same day, continue with the next step now.
Make the Donuts (day 1 or 2)
- The donuts should begin to rise in the refrigerator overnight. You want them to be almost doubled in size. If the haven't finish rising leave them at room temperature until they're ready. The time will vary based on the temperature of the room and the temperature of your dough and how much they rose in the refrigerator.
- In small bowl combine 1 cup granulated sugar with 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon and ½ teaspoon cardamom. Set the sugar aside.
- Meanwhile, heat 1 quart cooking oil to 350 °F in a large heavy pot. Fry the donuts a couple at a time, about 2-3 minutes per side, until golden brown and puffy.
- As you take each donut out of the oil, immediately roll in the spiced sugar to coat. Set on a cooling rack while you fry the rest of the donuts.
- Best eaten slightly warm or within a couple of hours of frying.
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would there be any difference if I were to use bleached all purpose flour, as I don’t have unbleached flour.
For this recipe that would be fine.
would there be any difference if I were to use bleached all purpose flour, as I don’t have unbleached flour.
I would have liked these to be a little sweeter, would have added sugar to the batter! They also didn’t taste very cidery. But, overall think they turned out well!
You have to be careful adding sugar to the dough. Too much sugar will interfere with the yeast. Read through the section in the post about sugar in yeasted dough for more information.
Ive made this recipe before how its written and they tasted so good! I am obsessed with the recipe! Especially because it is still a yeast donut recipe (idk why, they taste better with yeast). I wanted to remake them for a party, but have some guests that are allergic to eggs. Other apple cider donut recipes I’ve tried always come out too dense. Is there a substitute that still might work or maybe removing the egg?
I’ve had good results using Bob’s Red Mill egg replacer in a lot of different recipes. I think it could work here.
Can you bake them instead of frying them and will they still turn out light and fluffy?
You can, but the texture will be different.