Apple Cinnamon Baked Doughnut Holes

Preheat your oven to 375 F.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg, milk, melted butter and vanilla extract. Set the wet and dry ingredients aside while you do some apple grating.

Grate the apple using the large holes on a box grater. (If you don’t have a box grater, relax. Just use a sharp knife to chop your apple very finely.) Use your hands to squeeze as much of the juice out of the grated apple as you can, and add the squeezed grated apple into the dry ingredients. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined. Do not over-mix, people! (Over-mixing creates overly dense doughnuts.)

Spray a 24-count mini muffin tin (recipe makes roughly 14 so you only need to spray that many wells) with non-stick baking spray. Evenly distribute the doughnut batter amongst the wells.

Bake your doughnut holes for 10-12 minutes until they are lightly browned. Remove pan from oven and set it on a rack. Allow the doughnut holes to cool for 1-2 minutes before removing them from the tin and placing them on a rack to cool for at least 10 minutes.

While your doughnut holes are cooling, prepare the topping. In a small pan over low heat melt the butter, then remove from heat and set aside to cool. In a separate bowl, combine the cinnamon and sugar.

When the doughnuts holes are cool, coat each one with butter (you can dip them in the butter or use a pastry brush) and then roll each in the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Don’t skimp on the cinnamon-sugar, friends. You want a really solid coating. Dig in and bliss out.

These doughnut holes are best served the same day. If you can, wait to coat them in cinnamon-sugar until just before serving to make sure the coating is nice a crisp.