Apple Cinnamon Baked Donuts
I gave in and bought a donut pan. It was 30% off at Sur la Table. How was I supposed to resist? It’s just this simple one from Wilton and will only set you back $10.
I’ve made fried cake donuts a couple of times, but frying makes such a mess. The worst part, in my opinion, is dealing with the oil afterward. Baking donuts eliminates the mess AND makes you feel a little bit better about eating the donut. I must admit something, though. And it should come as no surprise. They’re not as good as fried. Frying gives such a lovely crunch to the exterior that you just cannot duplicate in the oven. They are still good, just not as good.
Originally I tried the recipe printed on the wrapping of the pan for basic baked donuts. They looked lovely, especially after a good coating of powdered or cinnamon sugar. But they weren’t fantastic. They were dry, crumbly and close to tasteless. So I went on the search for a moister cake donut recipe and found this one for sour cream blueberry donuts. I adapted it a little and turned it into an apple cinnamon sour cream donut. The kids and I have been reheating and enjoying these for breakfast, but they really are best the day they’re made. They are super moist and the grated apple provides just a little texture.
This recipe makes about 10 donuts. Be careful not to overfill your pan because you will have half donut, half muffin top type things. I tried both brown sugar and white sugar with the recipe below. Not a huge difference, but I did prefer the white sugar. I also tried more sour cream and less applesauce, and liked the variation with more applesauce thinking it added more apple-ness to the final product. Definitely do use a plastic bag to pipe the batter into the pan. You’ll have a mess on your hands otherwise. Enjoy!
Apple Cinnamon Baked Donuts
Adapted from Baked Blueberry Donuts
Makes 10 donuts
Ingredients
- 1 cup flour
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 cup sour cream (regular or low fat)
- 1/2 cup applesauce
- 1/3 cup white sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 egg
- 1 small apple, peeled and shredded with a large grater, then pressed between paper towels to reduce moisture
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 6 cavity donut pan with nonstick spray.
- Whisk together the flour, soda, powder, salt and cinnamon in a small bowl.
- Whisk the sour cream, applesauce, sugar, egg and vanilla in another bowl.
- Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined. Fold in the apple gently.
- Transfer batter to a large zip top bag and cut off a small corner. Fill the each donut cavity just over half way.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes, until donut springs back when pressed with your finger.
- Cool for 2 minutes in the pan, then move to a rack to cool completely.
- Grease pan again and bake the rest of the donuts.
- Finish with a simple powdered sugar glaze, toss in powdered sugar or dip into melted butter and then toss in cinnamon sugar.