What’s better than enjoying freshly-baked donuts as the early morning sun streams into your kitchen and you read your morning newspaper. Throw in a cup of steaming Darjeeling tea. Just wow.
You won’t be alone enjoying. your donut, either. According to an article about the history of donuts in Smithsonian Magazine, Americans enjoy 16 billion donuts a year. (Another wow!)
The origins of American donuts are interesting, too–yet another immigrant story.
Most sources credit the introduction of donuts to Dutch immigrants who made olykoeks (oily cakes) in 17th Century Manhattan.
By the 20th Century, donuts were fully embedded in American food culture to the extent that volunteer “donut lassies” traveled to France to bring that taste of home to American soldiers in World War One.
This is a New York Times recipe by Erin McDowell. You can find the original recipe here.
‘Tis the season.
Make these!
Here is the Apple Cider Donut recipe as I prepared it in my kitchen.
P.S. National Donut Day is November 5. Don’t wait until then to make these.
Apple Cider Donuts
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 C. all-purpose flour
- 1 1/4 t. baking powder
- 3/4 t. fine sea salt
- 2 t. ground cinnamon
- 1/2 t. freshly-grated nutmeg
- 1 C. unsalted butter (room temperature)
- 3/4 C. light brown sugar
- 3/4 C. granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs (room temperature)
- 1 t. vanilla extract
- 1/2 C. apple cider
Directions
- Step 1 Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Step 2 Grease (or use cooking spray) on a donut pan. Alternatively, you can use muffin tins to make this.
- Step 3 Whisk flour, baking powder, salt, 1 t. cinnamon and nutmeg in a bowl. Set aside.
- Step 4 Using your stand mixer and the paddle attachment, cream 10 T. butter, brown sugar and 1/4 C. granulated sugar until it is light in color and somewhat fluffy. This will take about 5 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition until the egg is fully incorporated into the batter. Mix in the vanilla extract.
- Step 5 Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture on low speed, scraping down the sides of the mixing bowl as necessary. Slowly, drizzle the apple cider into the batter.
- Step 6 Spoon the batter into the donut tins. Alternatively, and this works better!, put the batter into a piping bag and pipe it into the tins or the muffin cups.
- Step 7 Bake at 350 degrees F. for 12 to 15 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking. (If you are making muffins, bake for a few minutes more.) Check donuts for doneness with a toothpick inserted into the middle of the donut. Remove the donuts from the oven and let them cool on the counter for 5 minutes.
- Step 8 While the donuts are cooling, assemble the ingredients for dipping the donuts. Whisk remaining 1/2 cup of granulated sugar with 1 t. cinnamon in a wide bowl. Set aside.
- Step 9 Melt the remaining 5 T. butter. in the microwave.
- Step 10 Unmold the donuts from their baking pan. Brush them generously with melted butter and dredge them in the cinnamon sugar. You want to do this while the donuts are still warm so that they absorb the butter. Enjoy immediately.
