Apple Cider Doughnuts

Today, the temperature is in the high 50's, and it's raining outside. This is completely unprecedented weather for May in the south. In fact, our spring and early summer have been much milder than usual, in general. The weather is so out of place that it reminds me of fall.

When I think of fall, I think of cozy tea, autumn leaves, and apple cider doughnuts. The thought of those doughnuts started a strong craving for them, and I knew that my craving wouldn't subside until I'd had one. And thus, today I made apple cider doughnuts.

I started out by mixing together the dry ingredients:

1 3/4 cup flour

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

Then, in a separate bowl, I mixed together the wet ingredients:

10 tbsp butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup cane sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

I added the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, beating the batter until smooth. The batter was super lightly and fluffy. I took a little taste, because of course, and I could have stopped right there and just saved the batter to eat by itself instead of baking it into doughnuts, it was that good.

 

After mixing the batter, I preheated the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and prepped my baking tin. I don't own a doughnut baking pan (yet--this feels like something I will have to buy eventually) so I made do with a muffin tin. I rolled up some pieces of aluminum foil and stuck them in the center of each hole where the muffins would typically go.

 

I then spooned the batter into the tin, around the aluminum foil, and I was ready to go.

 

I put the tin into the oven and baked my doughnuts for 20 minutes, rotating the tin halfway through the baking time. Once I took them out, I let them cool, and then took the aluminum foil out of their center. The doughnut holes weren't perfect, but overall it worked!

 

Finally, it was time for the topping. I melted 5 tbsp butter, and made my cinnamon sugar:

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

 

I brushed each doughnut with the melted butter,  and then dunked it down into the cinnamon sugar. Then, the doughnuts were finally complete!

These doughnuts were delicious and completely satisfied my craving for fall. I baked some of the batter into actual muffins, and topped those with the cinnamon sugar as well, and they were just as good (maybe even better because the sheer fact of them being muffins made me feel healthier). 

I think that I'll definitely bake these doughnuts again--maybe when it's actually fall, or just when I get another craving. And maybe by then I'll have a real doughnut pan!