Gluten Free Apple Cider Donuts are full of apple flavor from both apple cider AND apple butter and are the perfect fall breakfast.
Gluten Free Apple Cider Donuts were originally posted on October 14, 2019 and have been updated with some new pictures, an updated recipe, and a video.
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I have to be honest. I had never had an apple cider donut until I made them myself. So I can't compare these to the real thing (gluten-filled), but I can say without question that these little babies are truly SO tasty!!
In my quest to find a good recipe to convert to gluten free, I looked at several recipes. Most of those were baked and while I'm sure they're tasty, a baked donut just doesn't hold a candle to a deep fried one. Donuts are an indulgent kind of treat. They're not meant to be made "healthy," at least in my opinion. It's not something most of eat every day (or even once a month for that matter). It's a special treat, so why not go ahead and make them like they're supposed to be made--deep fried?
Apple cider donuts are similar to my gluten free buttermilk cake donuts in that they also don't require yeast for rising. If you're interested in a yeast donut, you HAVE to make my gluten free yeast donuts as they are just FABULOUS!!
here's what you'll need to make apple cider donuts
- Apple cider -- you definitely need apple cider to make apple cider donuts. In this case, the apple cider is boiled down to almost a syrup, which concentrates the flavor.
- Apple butter -- this adds moistness, but also adds more apple flavor.
- Buttermilk -- tenderizes.
- Kim's all purpose gluten free flour blend-- you may be able to substitute with a store bought blend, but please note this has not been tested.
- Ground cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice -- wonderful fall flavors that go perfectly with these donuts.
how to make apple cider donuts
- Boil the apple cider. Bring it to a boil and then reduce to a simmer until it is about ⅓ cup (80ml). After boiling, whisk the apple butter, sour cream, and vanilla into the cider and set aside.
- Combine dry ingredients. Whisk together all the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices). Set aside.
- Combine the wet ingredients. In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine the reduced apple cider, buttermilk, apple butter, and vanilla and whisk until smooth.
- In a large bowl, beat eggs with sugars until lightened in color and slightly thickened. Slowly stream in the melted butter until emulsified.
- Alternate adding dry and wet ingredients. Begin adding ⅓ of the dry ingredients into the egg and butter mixture, followed by half of the cider mixture. Continue alternating, ending with the dry ingredients.
- Sprinkle parchment paper heavily with flour. Dollop dough onto parchment and flatten slightly.
- Freeze dough. Transfer dough on parchment onto baking sheet and freeze for 10-15 minutes.
- Heat oil to 325-330 degrees F.
- Cut out squares of parchment paper and place on another baking sheet.
- Remove dough from freezer and roll out to ½-inch thick.
- Cut out rounds with biscuit cutter and place on parchment squares.
- Cut out centers of rounds with small (1 inch) round cutter.
- Carefully place donuts (on parchment squares) into hot oil and remove parchment with tongs. Fry for about 3 minutes.
- Flip donuts and fry for another 3 minutes.
- Remove donuts from oil and drain briefly on a wire rack.
- Dredge warm donuts in cinnamon sugar.
apple cider donuts FAQs
Apple cider donuts are cake donuts made with a reduced apple cider u0022syrupu0022 and sometimes other apple flavors, like apple butter. They're almost always dredged in cinnamon sugar after frying.
While you probably can bake them, real apple cider donuts are deep fried. If you want to bake them, spoon the batter into a greased donut pan and bake at 350 degrees F for 10-12 minutes. You'll need to dunk the donuts in melted butter before dredging in the cinnamon sugar mixture so it will stick.
Yes, you should be able to air fry them at 350 degrees F for about 3-4 minutes, but every air fryer is different so you'll need to adjust these settings to your own air fryer.
If you've never had apple cider donuts, you're in for a real treat with these gluten free apple cider donuts!! They're soft and sweet and perfect for a crisp fall morning.
Gluten Free Apple Cider Donuts
Ingredients
- 2½ cups (600ml) apple cider
- ½ cup (120g) apple butter
- ¾ cup (180ml) buttermilk (I use whole fat buttermilk. If you use low fat, you'll need to reduce amount to ½ cup)
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 3½ cups (490g) Kim's gluten free flour blend (a store bought blend may be substituted, but hasn't been tested)
- 2 tablespoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon ground allspice
- 4 tbsp (56g) butter, softened
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
- ¼ cup (50g) light brown sugar
- canola oil from frying
CINNAMON SUGAR:
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, boil apple cider over medium-high heat until reduced to ½ cup, which will take about 30 minutes. Allow to cool completely and then whisk together with apple butter, buttermilk, and vanilla. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice). Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together eggs and both sugars until lighter in color, 1-2 minutes. Slowly stream in melted butter to emulsify.
- Add ⅓ of the dry ingredients, followed by half of the wet ingredients. Continue alternating dry/wet, beginning and ending with dry. You may need to switch to a spatula at the end because the batter/dough will be very thick.
- Sprinkle flour onto a sheet of parchment paper and dump dough out onto the parchment. Heavily sprinkle the top with more flour, cover with another sheet of parchment, and gently press or roll the dough into a flatter rectangle (it is very soft, so you may need to just gently push it along with your rolling pin versus actually rolling it out).
- Slide onto a baking sheet and freeze for 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile, cut out parchment squares that are slightly larger than your donuts will be and arrange them on a baking sheet. In a shallow bowl, mix cinnamon & sugar together and set aside.
- Roll out chilled dough, still covered in parchment, into a flatter rectangle that's roughly ¼-½ inch thick. Remove the top parchment and brush off any excess flour.
- Cut out circles with a well-floured round cutter (such as a biscuit cutter) and place onto parchment squares. Take a smaller (1-inch in diameter) well-floured round cutter and cut out the middle (it's much easier to do this when the rounds are already on the squares of parchment).
- Heat oil in a Dutch oven or deep fryer to 330° F. Fry donuts for 2-3 minutes per side, or until deep golden brown. Remove and place on wire rack or paper towel-lined plate briefly to drain before dredging in cinnamon/sugar mixture while still warm.
Maria Lick says
I wanted to try and make these without having to roll out the dough then shape. Do you think it will work if I pipe the dough onto parchment squares then fry that this will work?
Kim says
Yes, it probably would!
Kelly Reed says
The directions for the cider donuts are very confusing. Are they out of order??
Kim says
I'm so sorry, Kelly and thank you so much for alerting me to that error! I've fixed it and I hope they are now much easier to understand.
Tiffany Brace says
Hi Kim -
I loooove all your recipes! I'm wondering if you can make these ahead of time (like the night before) and keep them in the fridge until ready to fry. Have you tried that? Thanks so much!
Kim says
I haven't tried it, but yes, that should be no problem 😊
kathy schild says
Hi Kim
I spotted a recipe on Pinterest for apple cider donut cake. I want to make GF. The recipe suggested a GF cake mix, but I would like to try with your flour mix. Any thoughts?
Kim says
Hi, Kathy! If you want to share the recipe with me, I'd be happy to take a look at it and see if there's some tips I could give you, but I'd really have to experiment, like I do with all of my recipes. Usually they require making and remaking at least a couple of times, tweaking ingredients here and there, before I get it right. 😊
Kirsten Legner says
Hi Kim- I have never fried donuts before but want to try this recipe. About how much oil do you use in the Dutch oven? Even how many inches high of oil would be great info for a newbie like me. Thank you!
Kim says
No more than a couple of inches, but it depends on how deep your Dutch oven is. If it's more shallow, then I would do only an inch.
Melissa says
I would love to see a baked variation on this recipe! I have donut pans for baking, but I almost never deep fry anything, so I wouldn’t want to use so much oil just to try this recipe as currently written, as it would likely go to waste after frying the one batch. They sound delicious, though - I’d jump at the chance to try a baked version!
Kim says
Hi, Melissa! I totally understand not wanting to use the oil. When I was researching apple cider donuts, almost all the recipes on the internet were baked. But as I researched further, I found that true apple cider donuts are fried, so I wanted to create a gluten free version of what the true donut is. That's what I always strive to do, create gluten free recipes that are as true to the original recipes as possible.
If you have an air fryer, I think these donuts would work perfectly in the air fryer. You may also be able to use this same dough in a donut pan for baking by adding 1/4 cup more buttermilk and NOT refrigerating or freezing the dough/batter, but instead scooping or piping it into the donut pan. The dough is a pretty loose dough and I think adding 1/4 cup more buttermilk would turn it into more of a batter than a dough without refrigeration necessary.
I hope this helps, Melissa 🙂
Melissa says
Thanks so much for your suggestions, Kim! I’m looking forward to trying them. Thanks for everything you do to help recreate favorites in GF versions. I’ve become a regular visitor to your site and enjoy your posts.
Kim says
You are so welcome, Melissa 🙂 That's so nice to hear and I really appreciate the support!!! Having celiac disease has been a blessing in disguise for me because it's forced me to create recipes that I can then share with all of you, and I won't give up on recreating those foods I remember having before my celiac days.
If you think of anything you're missing that I haven't made yet, let me know. I'm always looking for new ideas 🙂
CHERYL COOK says
I tried them baked and they didn’t turn out. I added extra buttermilk as suggested but they were lead hockey pucks..
Kim says
Good to know. They're meant to be fried or air fried, not baked.