Oct 26 2012

Apple Cider Doughnuts

Posted by Laurie - Simply Scratch in Baking, Step-by-Step Recipes

One of the many things I love about living in Michigan (besides having a baseball team in the World Series *wink* GO TIGERS!) is the many cider mills. They usually have hayrides, lots of fresh pressed apple cider, paper bags full of a variety of crisp apples and let’s not forget those freshly fried doughnuts, which are personally my favorite.

Aimee’s recipe for Apple Cider Donuts pretty much has all the above wrapped into one delicious doughnut. See, the apple cider is actually IN the doughnuts and they’re baked, which for some people (meaning me) is a lot less stressful then deep frying. But all this goodness doesn’t just stop there.

After the doughnuts cool, you dunk them into the most delicious glaze. And even that has cider in it—and it’s beyond amazing. And just when you think you’re done, you’re not. After you dunk the doughnuts in the cider glaze, you dip them in cinnamon sugar. I’m not joking. It gives your teeth a little textural “crunch” before they sink into the soft glaze-dripped doughnut. Oh.My.Word.

Now scroll down and see for yourself. I just hope you have cider on hand because I’m pretty certain you’ll want to make these as soon as possible!

The ingredients are pretty simple and straightforward. Besides picking up the apple cider, I had everything else on hand.

Start by combining the all-purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large mixing bowl.

Then measure and add in nutmeg and allspice, then ground cinnamon. This right here smells amazing already!

Give it a good whisk or stir to break up any lumps and so everything is blended. Scoot that off to the side for just a moment.

You could do the next step directly in the same bowl and not bother dirtying another bowl, but I couldn’t help myself. Combine eggs, applesauce (I used unsweetened), real vanilla extract and then pour in the apple cider.

I combined all these ingredients by using a fork just until the eggs were whipped.

Since I used a different bowl for the wet ingredients, I then poured the wet ingredients into the dry.

Stir until combined. Easy-peasy.

I quickly and heavily buttered my doughnut pan, so I didn’t risk these doughnuts sticking.

Then I used a spoon and filled each doughnut section.

As you can see I’m not the neatest. But I didn’t have a large re-sealable bag on hand to pipe in the batter like Aimee suggested. To be honest, that would be a whole lot easier (and cleaner), but spooning it in worked too. Now just bake in a preheated 325ºF oven for 10 minutes. I rotated the pan halfway to ensure even baking.

I let the doughnuts cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before carefully removing them from the pan. I used a rubber spatula and they came out wonderfully. I then let them cool for a bit and moved on to making the cinnamon sugar and the cider glaze.

Combine a tablespoon of cinnamon with sugar. Make sure to use a big enough bowl that a doughnut will fit nicely in for dunking.

To make the glaze, start by measuring out powdered sugar and then pour in the apple cider. The recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of cider, but I needed to thin it out a tad more so I used a total of 3 tablespoons.

Then add in allspice.

Whisk until completely combined and there are no lumps remaining.

Dunk the doughnuts into the glaze. Ohhh yeah!

And then immediately dip it into the cinnamon sugar.

See what I mean? Now just set on a wire rack set over a sheet pan or paper towels so the glaze has a place to drip and repeat with the rest.

You can let the glaze cool a tad. But really, why even wait another second?

You guys. These doughnuts are nothing short of perfect. The texture of the doughnut is soft and moist, while the flavor of cider is not missed at all. Store them in an airtight container and they’ll last for days! Making these perfect for a fun snack in lunches or well, breakfast the next morning!

A big thank you to Aimee for sharing this phenomenal recipe! This is definitely a recipe our whole house loved and will be making for years to come. And I can bet you all will just love these too!

Please take a minute to stop by Aimee’s amazing blog Shugary Sweets where she not only dishes up an array of clever treats to suit any sweet tooth but other delicious easy to make recipes as well. You can also find her recipes here on Tasty Kitchen in her recipe box!

Note: the only change I made was to 3 tablespoons of apple cider (instead of two) in making the glaze.

Printable Recipe

Apple Cider Donuts

by Shugary Sweets on October 6, 2011 in Breakfast

See post on Shugary Sweets’s site!

4.83 Mitt(s) 6 Rating(s) 6 votes, average: 4.83 out of 5

Description

Bake these donuts for a perfect fall breakfast!

Ingredients

FOR THE DONUTS:
2 cups Flour
¾ cups Sugar
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Salt
¼ teaspoons Nutmeg
¼ teaspoons Allspice
½ teaspoons Cinnamon
½ cups Apple Cider
¼ cups Applesauce
2 whole Eggs
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
FOR THE TOPPING:
2 Tablespoons Apple Cider
1-¼ cup Powdered Sugar
¼ teaspoons Allspice
¼ cups Sugar
1 Tablespoon Cinnamon

Preparation Instructions

In a large mixing bowl add flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, allspice, and cinnamon. Mix until blended. Add in the apple cider, applesauce, eggs, and vanilla extract. Beat for about 2 minutes until smooth and creamy.

Lightly grease a doughnut pan (I use Norpro brand). Pour batter into a large Ziploc bag, seal the bag, and snip off the corner. I find this the easiest and cleanest way to get batter into pan without dripping. Pipe the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake doughnuts in a 325ºF oven for about 10 minutes, until they spring back when touched. Remove from the oven and cool slightly before removing from pan.

To make the glaze, whisk together the apple cider, powdered sugar and allspice until completely smooth.

In a separate bowl, mix sugar and cinnamon.

Dip each doughnut into the glaze (top of doughnut only) and then into cinnamon/sugar mix. The glaze will run down the sides and coat nearly the whole donut. Allow to dry on a cooling rack. Enjoy!

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Laurie is the force behind Simply Scratch, a blog that documents her efforts to find and create recipes that are made simply from scratch. (We think it’s sweet that her mother-in-law helped her set up her blog and get started.) We love her recipes; they’re not just tried and true, but they look gorgeous as well. Check out her blog and you’ll become a fan too.

Aug 29 2012

Roasted Red Pepper Pizza Sauce

Posted by Laurie - Simply Scratch in Step-by-Step Recipes

It all started when I went off searching for a pizza sauce. I wanted, no needed a sauce with flavor, flair … and with roasted red peppers. So I typed in the words “roasted red pepper pizza sauce” into the Google search bar on my desktop, and wouldn’t you know it, up popped the link to Leanne’s recipe in Tasty Kitchen. Call it luck or call it fate, I’ll call it all that AND I’ll call it the best pizza sauce I’ve ever had. Period.

You know as well as I do that homemade pizza sauce is always a key factor when making a great pizza. But homemade pizza sauce that calls for roasted red peppers is not only brilliant but amazing and it’s so easy to make too! Just throw it all in a food processor and you’ll have a thick and flavorful sauce for your pizza in seconds.

The ingredients are simple enough: an onion, a jar of roasted red peppers, tomato paste, a garlic clove, oregano, basil and the ever important salt and black pepper. You could make this 100% from scratch by roasting and peeling your own red bell peppers (I’d say you would need about 2 large or 3 small) but who wouldn’t like a little help in the kitchen every now and again?

Start by smashing and peeling one garlic clove.

Toss the garlic into a food processor. If you have a mini one then that will be just the perfect size for this recipe.

The original recipe calls for white onion, and since all I had on hand was the Spanish variety, I made a slight alteration. Also, since the Spanish onion was the size of a softball on steroids, I only used a third of that big guy.

Next just give the onion a rough chop. Nothing perfect or pretty, it just helps the food processor out a tad.

Add in the diced onion and secure the lid. Give it a quick pulse to mince up both the garlic and onion.

I only had a 12-ounce jar of peppers in my pantry, so I used what looked like 6 ounces to me and added it into the food processor.

Whether you end up adding 6 or 8 ounces of peppers, it shouldn’t matter. You really can’t screw this up.

(P. S. Charred bits make me happy.)

All that’s left to do is add in the 6 ounces of tomato paste.

Then the black pepper, a dash of salt and a teaspoon of both dried basil and dried oregano.

Secure the lid one last time and give it a go on high speed until completely blended.

It should still be thick and a little on the chunky side, where you can still see flecks of the spices and a little bits of onion. And if you wanted to add a little heat, just throw in a pinch or two or three of red pepper flakes and your mouth will be happy.

Pour the pizza sauce into a container that has a snug fitting lid and refrigerate until ready to use. This recipe makes a little over a cup of pizza sauce.

I, of course, had to make pizza right away. After a finger-swipe tasting of the sauce, I simply could not wait.

And as I smeared the tasty sauce on the un-baked pizza dough, I admired its color and texture. It really is a thing of beauty!

Now, since you’ve seen this scrumptious sauce, I’m guessing you’re craving pizza. So don’t wait another minute! Make it for lunch, make it for dinner! I just know it’ll be a huge hit in your home as it was in mine.

A big “thank you” goes out to Leanne for sharing this recipe with us. I know I’ll be making this pizza sauce for years to come; in fact, I’m sure I’ll never go back to making regular pizza sauce ever again. It’s hands down one of the best I’ve had the pleasure of making (and eating)!

Printable Recipe