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Whole wheat apple cider donuts are the best fall treat! A tender apple cider dough rolled in cinnamon sugar gives the perfect flavor with a bit of crunch. These donuts are cooked quickly in a countertop donut maker, so you can skip the messy oil!
It’s time for my favorite season and all of the delicious baking that comes with it!
My daughter and I love to bake together year-round, but there’s something extra special about fall baking.
Every year, we make batches and batches of pumpkin muffins, whole wheat apple cider cake, pumpkin rolls, and Dutch oven apple crisp. Luckily, all of the boys (and my husband) are more than happy to help us eat it all!
One of our other cherished fall traditions is a trip to the pumpkin patch. Our local patch always has warm apple cider donuts for sale, and we look forward to them every year.
I recently bought an electric donut maker, and I knew apple cider donuts were the first thing I’d make with it.
They turned out even better than the ones at the pumpkin patch, and now we get to have them whenever we want!
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Baked donuts: Making these donuts in an electric donut maker uses far less oil than frying. It’s also less messy and much easier!
- Fall flavor: Apple cider donuts feel like the peak of fall treats. The tender apple cider-flavored dough and the crunchy cinnamon sugar are the perfect way to celebrate the season.
- Freshly milled flour: These donuts are made with fresh soft white wheat flour, giving them that delicious fresh and nutty flavor you only get from milling your own!
Ingredients
- Fresh milled soft white wheat: This is my go-to flour for softer, more tender baked goods, like blueberry muffins and homemade donuts.
- Apple cider: This is where you get that delicious apple flavor in the dough! You want 100% apple cider without any added sugar.
- Cinnamon sugar: Rolling the donuts in a cinnamon sugar mixture is a must! It adds a tasty flavor and texture to the donuts and completes the quintessential fall flavor.
- Butter: Since these donuts are not fried, the cinnamon sugar needs a little help sticking. Dipping them in melted butter is the most delicious way to achieve this!
Find the full list of ingredients with measurements in the recipe card below!
How to Make Whole Wheat Apple Cider Donuts
Step 1. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a medium-sized mixing bowl.
Step 2. In a separate bowl or measuring cup, mix together the apple cider, sour cream, melted butter, sugar, brown sugar, egg, and vanilla.
Step 3. Add the wet ingredients into the mixing bowl with the dry ingredients. Stir well until combined.
Step 4. Heat up your donut maker and add a small drop of oil to each mold. Fill each mold with about ⅛ of a cup of donut batter.
Step 5. Let it bake for 1 ½ minutes, flip and bake an additional 1 ½ minutes. Remove to a cooling rack and repeat with the rest of the batter.
Step 6. Once all the donuts are done, combine the sugar and cinnamon from the topping and set in one bowl. In a separate bowl, place your melted butter.
Step 7. Dip the donuts into the butter, and then the cinnamon sugar. Enjoy!
Tips + Notes
- I made these donuts using a Dash mini express donut maker. It made the process very simple, similar to making homemade waffles in a waffle maker. If you don’t want to purchase one, they could also be baked in the oven in a mini donut pan.
- Greek yogurt works great as a substitute for sour cream. Make sure it’s plain and unsweetened, or you’ll add too much sugar to your donuts.
- If you don’t want to use freshly milled flour, you can use all purpose flour in place of soft white. Use 1 ¼ cups of all-purpose flour and leave the rest of the ingredients as they are.
- Be sure to weigh the flour after you mill it; don’t just weigh the berries.
Storage and Freezing
Apple cider donuts are best served fresh out of the donut maker, but leftovers can certainly be saved for later. Keep them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Be sure they are completely cool before storing, or the steam will accumulate and melt the cinnamon sugar. If you know you will be storing some of the donuts, it’s a good idea to store them without the cinnamon sugar and add it just before enjoying them.
Whole wheat apple cider donuts can also be frozen, with or without the cinnamon sugar, for up to 3 months. Keep them in a freezer-safe bag and remove as much of the air as possible. Thaw at room temperature and reheat as desired.
Recipe FAQs
Yep! If you don’t want to make this recipe with freshly milled flour, you can substitute all purpose. Use 1 ¼ cups of all purpose flour, keeping the rest of the recipe the same.
I don’t recommend it, but it could work in a pinch. Apple cider has a much stronger flavor than juice, which gives the donuts that delicious apple flavor. The texture of the donuts will vary, and the flavor will be a little flat if you substitute juice.
I buy all of my wheat berries and other whole grains in bulk from Azure Standard. I’ve tried several different sources and found them to have the best price and quality. You can read more about where to buy whole grains in my post about the best places to buy milling grains.
New to freshly milled flour? You’re going to fall in love with the freshness and flavor of whole grain baked goods! Before you get started, you can learn all about how to mill your own flour and how to bake with whole grains.
Find your next recipe in my list of best freshly milled flour recipes, or check out some related fall recipes below.
Related Recipes
- Fried Cinnamon Sugar Donuts
- Cinnamon Sugar Muffins With Fresh Milled Flour
- Cinnamon Rolls with Fresh Milled Flour
- Best Pumpkin Bread Recipe
- Iced Ginger Cookies
If you tried these Whole Wheat Apple Cider Donuts or any other recipe on my website, please leave a star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. Thanks for visiting!
Whole Wheat Apple Cider Donuts
Equipment
Ingredients
- 175 g soft white wheat flour
- ¾ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ cup apple cider
- ¼ cup sour cream
- 6 tbsp butter melted
- ½ cup pure granulated sugar
- ¼ cup brown sugar lightly packed
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- oil for greasing the molds
For the Topping
- 2 tbsp butter melted
- ⅓ cup sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a medium size mixing bowl.
- In a separate bowl or measuring cup, mix together the apple cider, sour cream, melted butter, sugar, brown sugar, egg and vanilla.
- Add the wet ingredients into the mixing bowl with the dry ingredients. Stir well until combined.
- Heat up your donut maker and add a small drop of oil to each mold. Fill each mold with about ⅛ of a cup of donut batter. Let it bake for 1 ½ minutes, flip and bake an additional 1 ½ minutes. Remove to a cooling rack and repeat with the rest of the batter.
- Once all the donuts are done, combine the sugar and cinnamon from the topping and set in one bowl. In a separate bowl, place your melted butter.
- Dip the donuts into the butter, and then the cinnamon sugar.
- Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- I made these donuts using a Dash mini express donut maker. It made the process very simple, similar to making homemade waffles in a waffle maker. If you don’t want to purchase one, they could also be baked in the oven in a mini donut pan.
- Greek yogurt works great as a substitute for sour cream. Make sure it’s plain and unsweetened, or you’ll add too much sugar to your donuts.
- If you don’t want to use freshly milled flour, you can use all purpose flour in place of soft white. Use 1 ¼ cups of all-purpose flour and leave the rest of the ingredients as they are.
- Be sure to weigh the flour after you mill it; don’t just weigh the berries.
