What you’ll get is tender soft, melt-in-your-mouth Cinnamon Apple Baked Donuts that are reminiscent of cake donuts, loaded with the goodness of apples and cinnamon. There’s nothing artificial about these little homemade fall treats.
What makes these Cinnamon Apple Donuts the best!
- Texture: If you like fluffy, moist donuts with a crumbly cinnamon-sugar coating, then look no further than this recipe.
- Flavor: Mouthwatering FLAVOR! they’re APPLE and CINNAMON all over. They taste like they’re straight from the bakery!
- Ease: A simple mix of wet and dry ingredients, makes these a breeze to prepare for any morning. No mixer, rolling pin, or donut cutter required! Simply add the batter to a donut pan. If you only have 1 pan, just bake a batch at a time.
- Time: In less than an hour, you’ll have an entire plate stacked high with homemade cinnamon apple donuts.
WHAT APPLES ARE BEST FOR BAKING?
Honeycrisp apples for these baked apple donuts because they have big apple flavor and hold up well to cooking. Unfortunately Honeycrisp apples can be rather expensive and have a short season in the early fall. Honeycrisp apples (and Fuji apples) have more sugar in them than most other types of apples, so they taste sweeter.
If you can’t find Honeycrisp apples, Granny Smith is our second choice for baking.
To grate the apple, a box grater works great. Cut the apple into quarters, remove the core, and grate on the of the grater. We left the skin on, but feel free to peel the apple first.
step by step process to make these Cinnamon Apple Donuts
These couldn’t be easier to make– no mixer required. The aroma is amazing and will leave everyone running to the kitchen!
Step 1: Combine the dry ingredients together.
Step 2 : Combine the wet ingredients together.
Step 3: Mix the wet and dry ingredients together. Whisk everything together until smooth and combined. You’ll notice the batter will be slightly thick. We want thick batter for cakey and dense donuts.
Step 4: Fill the donut pan. Fill each donut cup about halfway. My trick for this? Use a zipped-top bag. Add the batter to the bag, cut off a corner, and pipe it into the donut pan filling only about halfway. This trick makes transferring the batter neat, quick, and easy.
Step 5: Bake. Only about 8-10 minutes of bake time – told you they were quick. To test doneness, poke your finger into the top of the donut. If the donut bounces back, they’re done. Once they are out of the oven, let them cool for 2 minutes, then invert the pan to release the donuts. You can then re-grease the donut pan and bake the remaining donut batter. (If you have 2 donut pans, go ahead and bake both trays at once.)
Step 6: Coat the donuts. Combine the granulated sugar, cinnamon, together in a medium bowl. Once cool enough to handle, dunk both sides of each donut in the melted butter, then coat generously in the cinnamon topping.
bbq bakers baking tip
To ensure your apple cinnamon donuts are not dry, do not overmix the batter, and do not over bake. All ovens bake differently, so we recommend checking for doneness starting at 6 minutes.
other great recipes
- banana bread donuts
- cinnamon donuts with peanut butter frosting
- eggnog donuts with candy cane frosting
Apple Cinnamon Baked Donuts
Ingredients
Donuts
- 2 cups All-purpose Flour
- ¼ cups Granulated Sugar
- 1½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¾ cup whole milk
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tablespoon unsalted butter melted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 small apples peeled, grated and squeezed
Cinnamon sugar
- 4 tablespoon unsalted butter
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
Donuts
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
- Whisk together milk, eggs, melted butter, vanilla extract, and grated apple (I use the largest holes of box grater; then squeeze out as much juice as you can.
- Use rubber spatula to fold wet ingredients with dry ingredients, gently folding just until combined; do not over-mix or it won’t be as tender. Spoon or pipe batter into greased mini donut pans until batter is level with the top of pan. Use damp fingers to gently smooth out the tops.
- Bake about 8-10 minutes or until lightly golden. Cool in pan slightly, just until they are able to be easily removed. Set donuts on wire rack while you make the cinnamon-sugar coating.
- Whisk together the sugar with desired amount of cinnamon in a small bowl (this can be done days ahead of time.) Melt butter in another small bowl. When ready to eat, dip donuts in melted butter and roll generously in cinnamon sugar.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: You can freeze the donuts, coated or not coated in the toppings, for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and warm up to your liking in the microwave. I usually just zap ’em for a couple seconds.
- Milk: I usually use buttermilk, but I’ve found that any milk (dairy or nondairy) works pretty well. For a denser crumb, you can use ½ cup plain yogurt or sour cream instead.
Nutrition
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