Eating gluten free doesn’t mean having to give up delicious fall traditions. This excellent apple cider baked donut recipe from Gluten Free on a Shoestring is the perfect gluten free treat for when you come home from the apple orchard or cider mill.
If you don’t have a donut pan, you can try using a cupcake pan to make apple cider muffins instead of donuts, but you’ll need to increase the cooking time a bit.
Ingredients
For the donuts:
- 1 ½ cups (210 g) gluten free flour blend (see Notes)
- ½ teaspoon xanthan gum (omit if your blend already contains it)
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- ¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar
- 6 tablespoons (84 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- ¾ cup apple cider
For the topping:
- ⅓ cup (67 g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 325°F. Grease 2 standard-size 6 well donut pans and set them aside.
- In a large bowl, place the flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cream of tartar, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, nutmeg, and 3/4 cup granulated sugar, and whisk to combine well.
- Create a well in the center of the flour mixture, and add the butter, eggs, and cider, and mix to combine. The batter will be very soft.
- Use a piping bag or spoon to put the batter into the prepared doughnut wells until they are each about 3/4 of the way full. Shake the pan back and forth horizontally until the batter is in an even layer in each well.
- Place the pan in the center of the preheated oven and bake until the tops of the donuts spring back when pressed gently (about 12 minutes). The underside will be browned, but the tops will still be relatively pale.
- Remove the pan from the oven and allow the donuts to cool for about 3 minutes, or until they are no longer hot to the touch.
- While the donuts cool slightly, place the cinnamon sugar topping ingredients into a small bowl.
- Gently remove the slightly cooled (but still warm) donuts from the doughnut pan with your fingertips and coat in the cinnamon sugar until they are well-coated on all sides.
- Place the finished donuts on a clean sheet of parchment paper. Serve immediately, or at least within a day or two stored uncovered at room temperature.
- Freeze any remaining leftovers in a sealed, freezer-safe container.
Notes
The following flour blends have been tested to work in this recipe:
- Better Batter Original Blend (the flour used in the original recipe)
- King Arthur All Purpose Gluten Free Flour (sold at Heinen’s)
- Vitacost Multi-Blend Flour
- A blend of 40% (by weight) white rice flour, 30% superfine brown rice flour (MUST be superfine – use Vitacost or Authentic Foods brand, NOT Bob’s Red Mill), 15% potato starch (NOT potato flour), and 15% tapioca starch/flour.
You can also try using the original recipe author’s own flour blend (contains dairy).