Every fall we pack all of our littles up in the car and we head to our favorite apple orchard(s). Is it weird that we visit more than a couple? Is it weirder that we have multiple favorites too? Cause we do. And no matter what time of day we go, like, we could have just had a huge breakfast or a ginormous lunch, we will always, always, beeline it over to the apple cider donuts and buy at a very minimum one dozen. And they will most likely all be gone before we even leave the parking lot. We can always be counted on like that. You’re welcome apple orchards of Chicago. We love to keep you in business!
Well, I finally had it in me to figure out a recipe for Baked Apple Cider Donuts and I made them Gluten Free too, holla! So now we can enjoy these delicious donuts whenever we get the hankering for them and feel a bit better about the fact that they are BAKED and made with gluten free flour! No more getting our fix only during apple season, year round Apple Cider Donuts for the win!
Here’s the recipe, I hope you enjoy them as much as we do!
- [b]For the donuts:[/b]
- 1 1/2 cups gluten free flour blend
- 1 tsp xanthan gum
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 granulated sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup apple cider (to be reduced to 1/2 cup!)
- 1/4 cup milk (almond milk works great!)
- 1 egg
- 2 tbsp butter, melted
- 1 tsp vanilla
- [b]For the cinnamon sugar topping:[/b]
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- In a small saucepan, simmer one cup of apple cider (and if you have it available, a stick of cinnamon and a dash of nutmeg) over heat over medium heat for 15-20 minutes.
- Let simmer to reduce the apple cider down to about 1/2 cup.
- Carefully remove the cinnamon stick and let cool. Set aside.
- Next, mix together all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and then add in all the wet ingredients until well combined.
- Place mixture into a large plastic bag and cut the tip off of one corner to use as a pastry bag.
- Grease a mini donut pan very well (or a mini muffin tin) and squeeze batter into each donut hole.
- Bake at 350 for 9-12 minutes or until golden brown.
- Remove donuts from pan immediately and place into a bag with the cinnamon sugar topping (1 cup of granulated sugar and 1 tsp of cinnamon)
- Shake donuts until well coated.
- Remove donuts and let cool on a wire rack.
- Enjoy!
All the dry ingredients: Gluten Free flour blend (I love Bob’s Red Mill!), xanthan gum, brown sugar, and granulated sugar (I love to use evaporated cane sugar!).
Then add in baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and some salt!
Lastly don’t forget to add in your wet ingredients: one egg, vanilla, milk (we love almond milk!), melted butter, and the 1/2 cup of reduced apple cider!
Mix everything together until well combined and then add your mixture to a very well greased mini donut or muffin tin. Bake at 350 degrees for anywhere from 9-12 minutes or until the donuts are nice and golden brown. When they are done, place the hot donuts right into a bag of cinnamon sugar and shake them up so they are nice and well coated. Remove the donuts from the bag and let cool on a wire rack…voila! The end!
Happy Baked Apple Cider Donut making and eating, my friends!
Thanks for stopping by today!
Love,
Maggie
I have GOT to try these! Have you visited The Baking Beauties? Jeanine has some great gluten free baked donut recipes over there, including chocolate and a pumpkin chocolate chip one. I have tried her recipes and can vouch for these. Yummy! Thanks so very much for sharing your apple cider donut recipe. I’m really looking forward to trying it!
Hello! Looks amazing, just wondering if you think xanthan gum can be replaced with chia, flaxseed, psyllium or glucomannan (powdered konjac root)? THANKS!
Great question, Jani!
I have not tried any of them as a substitution so I am not sure! If you try them please let us know how it turns out!
xo,
Maggie
My mouth is watering looking at these! However, I am a consumer of gluten and wondered if I could use regular flour. Any idea? Also – what is xanthum gum, and where might one find it?
Hi Rebecca!
Yes, you can totally use regular all-purpose flour in this particular recipe, just switch out the GF flour for the all-purpose variety and omit the xanthum gum!
Happy baking!!
Maggie
Thank you so much!
Oh, Maggie! I can’t WAIT to try these!
I hope you love them as much as we do!! We make a double batch every time!!! 🙂
xo,
Mags
You say this serves 60. I’m in the middle of making them and there is NO WAY it will make that many. Did I do something wrong.? Also, have you tried freezing them? Thanks, and I can’t wait for them to come out of the oven!
Doing the exact same thing now. I think her mini donut pan is like itty butty donuts? I’m using a regular mini pan and had the same mini panic attack. I think i might yeild 24 MAYBE. How did yours turn out?? Did you have to up the cook time?
Same here I’ve done this recipe twice now and yeild about 18 each time in my mini pan.
I’ve also found that using Bob’s Red Mill 1 for 1 Baking flour and omitting the xanthan gum gives me a better texture.
Could you please tell me how to adapt this recipe (baking time, etc.) to make regular-sized doughnuts using two pans with six (6) doughnut wells each? Also, how many regular-sized doughnuts will this recipe yield? Thank-you!
I am not sure. I would aim for a few minutes longer as they are bigger. Just watch your donuts and check on them to see when you would need to pull them out!
Can you leave the xanthum gum out or is there a substitute? thanks
No you cannot, they will not turn out the same without xanthum gum!
“Your welcome apple orchards of Chicago!” Just a small typo! Should be “you’re” 🙂 not trolling, just trying to help! Love the recipe, btw! 🙂
Thanks! All fixed!!
Every year we host our familiy Apple Picking event at one of the orchards nearby. The smell of apple cider donuts fills the air and we buy loads of them. Rarely do any donuts make their way back home. I would like to try making them but was wondering if these donits are dense? I tnink the donuts we buy at the orchards are fried but I do not know if frying or baking makes a difference in the density of the donut. Thank you
These donuts are more cake like due to the nature of the batter. The density of a donut usually depends on the ingredients and not necessarily on baking or frying although most baked donuts will be cake-like in nature!
Would love to try this recipe. Donuts are the thing I miss most on my GF diet. If my GF flour contains guar gum should I still use the xanthum gum? Also, can I bake these like muffins since I don’t own a donut pan?
Thank you!
Yes, you still need to use xanthum gum as it is not the same as guar gum. And yes, you can use a muffin tin instead of a donut pan for the same results!
My GF flour has thickener in the ingredient. Should I keep use xanthum gum?
I’m not sure, you will have to look at what type of flour you actually bought, is it flour or a blend of some sort!
Just finished making these! They are wonderful! Soft and have great flavor. Thank you so much for letting us indulge in donuts again!
Yay!! I am so glad to hear you enjoyed the recipe!!!
Hubby is on FODMAP diet, which follows many GF guidelines, but doesn’t allow any apple products. I was going to sub OJ concentrate for the reduced cider & add some chopped dried cranberries for the whole orange-cran scone-nut vibe. I’ll share if its a good swap or not 🙂 Fearless cooks are the best!!
Yes!! Fearless cooks are the best! Please let us know how this recipe turns out with those substitutions!!
My husband let me pick what I wanted for my Valentine gift this year. I told him I wanted a donut pan. Picked it up last weekend and have been too busy to make anything with it yet. I think I will break it in with your Apple Cider Donuts. Looks marvelous! Thanks for sharing!
Oh yay for such a fun gift! I hope you love making these with your new pan!!!
Is the dough too wet and sticky to roll out and use a donut cutter and bake on a stone or cookie sheet? I don’t have a donut pan…have never even heard of one before. The recipe sounds so very delicious, though.
The dough is similar to batter so not able to roll out. If you do not have a donut pan try a mini muffin pan…or a regular muffin pan and just cook a bit longer!
Can apple juice be substituted for cider when not in season or hard to find? Would I still simmer and reduce to half a cup or just skip that and use half cup of apple juice? Can’t wait to try these. Thanks for sharing.
Yes, you just may want to add more spices! The same amount should be fine!
I can’t wait to make these. My daughter LOVES Apple Cider donuts, but has been gluten free since July. We just went to an orchard yesterday, and she was so upset she could not eat any of the donuts.
Awww! I hope she loves them!!!
Just tried these for the first time tonight. Yummy!! Thank you for sharing! This will definitely be a keeper!
This is my favorite apple cider donut recipe (I have tried a few ). I made the following changes to make mine a little less sweet and dairy free: sub almond milk for milk, sub Earth Balance buttery spread for real butter, a little less than 1/2 cup palm sugar (instead of 1/2 brown sugar), 1/4 cup white sugar (instead of 1/2 cup sugar). Thanks for this great recipe! Happy fall. 🙂
Yay glad this one is a winner for you! We make those same changes..maybe I should update to make Dairy Free? 🙂
I’m having an issue where my batter is spilling out of the mold as it cooks, no matter how much I fill the mold. I’m following the recipe to the T. I end up with a lovely donut bottom and a flat disk on the top of the pan that meld together and I have to cut to separate. Can you think of what I might be doing wrong?
Hmmm! That is very odd! I am not sure why that would be happening?