Apple cider donuts
Claire Saffitz x Dessert Person · ♥ 26.8K likes · 977K views · 21 min video
Read about doughnuts in the BrightCulinary Book
Timestamp
Ingredients
Method
Techniques
- ⅓ cup apple cider
- apple butter
- cinnamon sugar
Boil a half gallon of unsweetened unfiltered apple cider down to two cups, a 75% reduction, and measure out a third of a cup.
- all-purpose flour
- 2½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- ground clove
Combine the dry ingredients: all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, kosher salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and a little ground clove, breaking up any lumps.
- sour cream
Mix the wet ingredients apart from the eggs and sugar: the apple cider, the sour cream, the apple butter and the vanilla.
Mixing the wet ingredients
- 1–2 tsp vanilla
- 2 whole eggs
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup brown sugar
Beat the two room-temperature eggs with the granulated and brown sugar with a hand mixer until thickened, a few shades paler and about doubled in volume.
- 4 tbsp butter
Warm the butter just until melted but not hot and stream it in with the mixer running so it emulsifies into the eggs.
Streaming in the butter
Alternate wet and dry, beginning and ending with dry: a third of the dry, half the liquid, a third of the dry, the remaining liquid, then the remaining dry.
Mix only until the flour mostly disappears, then finish folding by hand with a spatula to an evenly mixed thick batter.
- flour
Turn the batter out onto floured parchment, pat it into an even layer, lay a second sheet of parchment on top and roll to between half and three quarter inch thick.
Rolling out the sticky dough
Slide onto a baking sheet and chill a few minutes, or about five minutes in the freezer.
Chilling and parchment squares
Punch out the donuts with a generously floured cutter, transfer each to its own parchment square, then cut the centres with the floured wide end of a pastry tip and lift the holes out with a cake tester.
- oil
Heat an inch or two of oil in a Dutch oven to between 325 and 350 with a candy thermometer in it; do not fill the pot more than halfway.
Fry three at a time without crowding, a couple of minutes on each side, turning until browned and crisp; regulate the heat as the donuts drop the oil temperature.
Coat the donuts in cinnamon sugar while still warm.