Apple Cider Donuts

From my Instagram:

Donuts may be the bane of all my baking. I lost count of how many times I tried making crullers. Fried, baked, fried again...I just couldn’t seem to get them right. I so wanted the apple cider cruller recipe to turn out delicious but it was not meant to be.

I think my biggest issue was not letting the liquid reduce enough, so my dough was wetter than it should’ve been and my oil was not as hot as it needed to be. After numerous failed attempts at the apple cider crullers, I switched to the plain old fashioned recipe and let the oil get nice and hot before dropping them in. These turned out so much better than the apple cider round! They actually puffed up and looked like proper donuts. I do think the dough itself did taste very eggy, even with a glaze.

The recipe for crullers is a basic choux pastry, which can also be baked (think of eclairs and cream puffs). However, I found that the baked crullers did not rise or have the same airy texture you would expect in a donut. If you do attempt to recreate these, I recommend frying them for them to reach their full donut-y potential 🍩

All that to say, if you want donuts but none of the hassle and mess that comes with frying, definitely go the baked route. I only had to make these once and they turned out delicious and beautiful.

I will be attempting to perfect my crullers eventually...so you can stay tuned for that in the spring. Happy baking! 🍩🍎🍁🍏🍁

I really did try to make crullers again…and I still haven’t had any luck. If you have any helpful tips, feel free to leave them in the comments! Baking donuts is my favorite method, and I use this donut pan that makes it super easy. They come out perfect almost every time (just make sure to not over-fill the mold with batter). I will keep attempting to make crullers so follow me on Instagram so you don’t miss when I do! And these posts are from last year, but I really should find some time to make another batch of apple cider donuts…they’re honestly so good.

*Fun fact: I had to pull the crullers in the picture out of the trash. While they were my best-looking batch, they did not taste good at all, and I had thrown them away before remembering to document my very small success. Don’t worry, they went right back in the trash after the picture was taken and I washed the tray.*

Original Cruller Recipe from: Half Baked Harvest

Original Baked Donut Recipe from: Sprinkle Some Sugar