These Cinnamon Apple Baked Donuts are not only cute for fall, but they’re bursting with all the season’s goodness. Apple Baked Donuts are loaded with fall flavors and a tenderness that melts in your mouth.
Apple season is here in full force. And it’s fully caught me off guard.
I usually have an Apple Orchard Day on the calendar for our family every year. It’s one of the happy things that helps me [somewhat] graciously glide from my favorite summer season to the coolness of fall. I don’t have anything against fall, but for us Minnesotans, fall is like one tiny month quickly followed by six big months of winter.
A girl’s gotta have something to look forward to when it’s time to ditch her fave flip flops for the next 7 months.
Anyways, I totally forgot about our annual apple day this year. Because of traveling out of town, then hosting visitors back in town, then traveling back out of town. And all the other things in between.
When I finally remembered to ring up our local apple farms last week, I was ultra thrilled that fresh apples are ripe for the picking right now. And, why yes, they do have Honeycrisps for the plucking. 😍
It went down like this…
We immediately hustled to our most favorite family owned apple farm. We romped around rows of crisp, delicious Honeycrisp apple trees. I personally did not romp, because I wore boots that have somehow become too small for my feet.
Silly Bulldog was in tow because said farm is way cool with their dog policy. Bulldog found a long lost twin and the two of them had a little stubby-tail waggin’ fest. Plenty of puppy slobber included.
Hubby and I sampled the goods:
1. Housemade hard apple cider using Honeycrisp apples = yum galore.
2. Local winery tastings = not yum because grapes don’t flourish like apples in the upper midwest. But whatever, it’s all about the experience.
The boys picked enough apples to overflow their bags. Someone made me buy a bunch of honey sticks. Another talked me into a bag of spicy cashews (huh?!) But nobody had to twist my arm about bringing home a box of apple donuts.
I absolutely had to make my own apple baked donuts after that. Of course. I used my silicone mini donut pan, which works fabulously. You can use whatever donut pan you have – I offered some notes in the recipe below.
I made three batches of tender, melt-in-your-mouth cinnamon apple baked donuts. It lasted us 1.5 days.
These cinnamon apple baked donuts are best eaten pronto, if you want the slightly warm and fresh baked texture underneath that crisp cinnamon-sugar coating.
However. That being said, seriously nobody will be mad about it if you whip out some leftover donuts the next day. Enjoy 😊
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Cinnamon Apple Baked Donuts
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 7 mins
- Total Time: 22 mins
- Yield: 35 mini donuts 1x
- Category: breakfast
Description
These Cinnamon Apple Baked Donuts not only look cute for fall, but they’re bursting with all the season’s goodness. Apple Baked Donuts are full of cinnamon apple flavor and a tenderness that melts in your mouth.
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- ¾ cup whole milk
- 2 large eggs
- 2 TB regular butter, melted
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 small OR 1 large apples; peeled, grated, and squeezed dry
- For Cinnamon-Sugar Coating:
- 4 TB regular butter
- ½ cup sugar
- 1–2 tsp cinnamon (depending on how much cinna you like)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F and set rack on middle or lower middle position. Grease mini donut pansand set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
- In another bowl, whisk together milk, eggs, 2 TB melted butter, vanilla extract, and grated apple (I use the largest holes of box grater; then squeeze out as much juice as you can. Save juice for drinking – yum.)
- Use rubber spatula to fold wet ingredients with dry ingredients, gently folding just until combined; do not over-mix or it won’t be as tender. Spoon or pipe batter into greased mini donut pans until batter is level with the top of pan. Use damp fingers to gently smooth out the tops.
- Bake about 7 minutes or until lightly golden. Cool in pan just until they are able to be easily removed. Set donuts on wire rack to cool while you make the cinna-sugar coating.
- Whisk together the sugar with desired amount of cinnamon in a small bowl. Melt butter in another small bowl. When ready to serve, dip donuts in melted butter and roll generously in cinnamon sugar. Serve immediately.
Notes
I love using Honeycrisp Apples for recipes, as it imparts a big and bright apple flavor without turning to mush. If you can use Honeycrisps, I highly recommend it. Otherwise, Granny Smith works well too.
Do not dip in butter/roll in cinnamon sugar until ready to serve, as it maintains its crisp coating when eaten right away (though leftovers are still yummy.)
Batter is deliberately not too sweet, since cinnamon sugar coating provides a lot of the sweetness. If you want a sweeter batter, add a bit more sugar into dry
ingredients.
If using regular-sized donut pans, bake time will still be roughly the same (7-8 min) as you will only fill each mold partway up, rather than all the way to the top.
kitchen essentials we love:
Cinnamon-Sugar Everything, please:
2. Cinnamon Sugar Candied Nuts Snack Mix
3. Apple Caramel Cinnamon Cake
4. Fresh Fruit Salsa and Cinnamon Sugar Chips: an Old Favorite!
I love donuts but I’m a bad cook. This recipe looks a wee bit complicated for me follow… Lolz…
Nevertheless, you’ve now tempted me for some warm donuts…
Good to know that you managed to enjoy the last days of autumn before winter sets in…
So the first thing I thought was these would be so good with the caramel sauce you shared awhile ago. Give it a candy apple feel. Hopefully this Saturday our farmers stand will have so delicous look apples because this is the perfect fall treat.
Cia, you read my mind. I actually made a fourth and fifth batch with homemade caramel sauce drizzled over it…wowzers! 🙂 Enjoy the short fall weeks!
Nothing screams autumn more than apples and cinnamon together. I have never tried an apple and cinnamon donut, they sound so delicious and fluffy.
Agreed…it’s the season for cinnamon and apples! The donuts are definitely yummy 🙂 Thanks for being here, Joanna!
Oh my goodness these look like a little bite of heaven!!!!! I would totally love to eat a whole plate of these hot and fresh but I can’t even have one… #diabeticgirlproblems …..
LOL, yikes, hopefully at least you can enjoy a couple slices of pure honeycrisp apples this fall. Thanks for coming over, Shell!
OMG it looks so delicious, perfect for the winter! Can’t wait to try during the Christmas holidays!
Enjoy and happy baking!
Yum Yum Yum. I am not a cinnamon lover but i would love to try this recipe.
These could be made without the cinna…they’d just be apple donuts then, right? 😉 Thanks for stopping by, Keisha!
Such a fun and festive recipe! Yum!
Thanks, Bethany!
My kids love apples so this would definitely be a fun treat for them 🙂 I am bookmarking your recipe for later!
My kids couldn’t keep their hands off the donuts! 😉
This looks like perfect desert for morning coffee. And I love apple with cinnamon, so I need to try this! Thank you for sharing.
Apples and cinnamon really help me through the cooler months 🙂 Thanks for coming over, Courtney!
I have never attempted to make my own donuts. They look so good! Cinnamon and apple together is so good!
Yes! Thanks for being here today!
How much liquid should there be once you’ve squeezed the juice from the grated apples?
Hi, Liz! That depends on the varietal of apples; the important thing is to squeeze out most of the liquid so the grated apples aren’t overly liquidy, if that makes sense
Cinnamon apple is a favorite flavor of mine when i comes to donuts. I am not sure if I will have the patience to bake them myself, and eat them all up quicker than baking them. Just reading the recipe and looking at your pictures is already mouthwatering.
LOL, that’s what we do…eat-bake-eat…you know 🙂 Thanks, Fred!
The cinnamon apple baked donut looks really delicious and also healthy. This would really be a good snack.
It totally it! 🙂 Thanks, Franc!
These look delicious! Cinnamon apple doughnuts are a great way to celebrate colder weather and the coming of fall.
Thanks a bunch, Katie! Happy fall 🙂
Those donuts look dangerously delicious! Honey crisp apples are expensive so they better deliver on the fab taste factor.
yes, they do their job 🙂 Thanks, Elizabeth!
This looks so good, I’m hungry already!!! We don’t have Honeycrisp apples where I’m from, but I think i can use Granny Smith like you suggested!
I guess once I taste snack like this, will change my hate to love to cinnamon. It looks yummy
Yes! And you can always go light on the cinna 😉
Mmmmm! Can almost smell the deliciousness!
It does make the kitchen smell amazing! 🙂
I actually read the step by step instructions for this because my bf is a fan of donuts (mainly the original from Krispy Kremes) and yours look delicious enough for him to like it! Nom~
Yay, Tiffany, hope he really loves it like we do! 🙂
I am a Southern girl living with Midwestern people in Asia, and they were all talking about orchard days, which is not something I’ve ever experienced. Their descriptions of apple doughnuts made me go look at recipes, and I made them tonight for a gathering. The responses were “OMG” and “SO GOOD” and “OH WOW” and I just wanted to tell you thank you 😉
Yay, Aubrey! So happy you all loved this 🙂 Thanks for coming over to let us know!
These were good but lacking something…maybe a little salt?
★★★★
Thank you, Lisa! A pinch of salt is always good 🙂 Thanks for coming back to rate the recipe – happy continued baking!
Pink Lady apples are my fave. Think I’ll give this a whirl in a week or two. Given my carb-limited diet will use half almond flour and Truvia instead of sugar. I’ll let you know.