Healthier Baked Apple Cider Doughnuts Recipe & Zumba Fun (2024)

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I bought a doughnut pan about a year ago with good intentions. But good intentions don’t yield fresh-baked doughnuts. Some QT in the kitchen does, though! I experimented with a sour cream doughnut recipe several months ago but didn’t quite love the finished result. After taking another break, I finally returned to doughnut baking this month, inspired by those amazing apple cider doughnuts from the apple orchard. While those doughnuts were delicious, they were also fried, which besides being not-so-healthy take a lot more work. As much as I love coming up with recipes and cooking yummy eats in my kitchen, I generally have a lazy side to me.

So, I give you a…

Healthier Baked Apple Cider Doughnuts Recipe

It took me roughly 3 (4 if you count those sour cream doughnuts) batches before I settled on this recipe. In researching baked doughnuts, I found most recipes started with 1 cup of flour. But, I found this to yield way too much batter for my doughnut pan, resulting in something that looked less than doughnut-like (click). In wanting to keep measurements simple, I jumped straight down to 3/4 cup flour and adjusted other ingredients till I liked the finished result. Hope you like it, too!

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Healthier Baked Apple Cider Doughnuts Recipe & Zumba Fun (9)

Healthier Baked Apple Cider Doughnuts {Recipe} & Zumba Fun

★★★★4 from 1 reviews

  • Author: Diana of thechiclife.com
  • Prep Time: 10 mins
  • Cook Time: 8 mins
  • Total Time: 18 mins
  • Yield: 6 1x
  • Category: Dessert
  • Cuisine: American
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Description

Baked Apple Cider Doughnuts are surprisingly easy to make and yield a healthier option to the traditional fried version. Made with sweet apple cider and spiced cinnamon, these will make your house small like fall and make your heart feel happy. These doughnuts are light and fluffy, though you can skip the vinegar for a more cake-like texture (pictured below). Did I mention they are pretty fast, too? Wouldn’t you like from-scratch doughnuts in only 20 minutes? I know I do! *Vegetarian, Vegan options listed below*

Ingredients

Scale

  • butter, oil, or non-stick spray (to prep baking pan)
  • 3/4 cup Unbleached All-Purpose Flour (I’ve also used spelt flour with great results)
  • 1/4 cup sugar, plus 2 tablespoons (preferably raw sugar)
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon, plus 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup apple cider
  • 1 large egg (or sub flaxseed egg)
  • 2 tablespoons milk (or sub vegan milk substitute)
  • 1 tablespoon canola oil
  • 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon white vinegar

Instructions

  1. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F. Rub a 6-count doughnut pan with butter (or brush with oil or use non-stick spray).
  2. In a medium-large bowl, add flour, 1/4 cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, and salt. Whisk to combine.
  3. In another medium-large bowl, whisk together apple cider and egg. Add milk, canola oil, vanilla extract, and white vinegar and whisk to combine.
  4. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and gently mix until just combined (careful to not over-mix).
  5. Evenly distribute in doughnut pan. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until doughnuts are cooked through (when a toothpick inserted into the doughnut comes out clean). (Mine were perfect at 9 minutes, but oven temperatures can vary, so check at 8 minutes)
  6. In a small bowl, whisk together (or stir with fork) 2 tablespoons sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon until cinnamon is evenly mixed in. When doughnuts are safe to tough, but while they’re still warm, dip each side into the cinnamon-sugar mixture, pressing and twisting to get good coverage.
  7. Serve and enjoy!

Recipe Card powered byHealthier Baked Apple Cider Doughnuts Recipe & Zumba Fun (10)

More Healthier Donut Recipes

Try these other delicious donut recipes:

  • Healthier Baked Pumpkin Donuts Recipe
  • Healthier Baked Chocolate Pumpkin Donuts Recipe
  • Healthier Baked Cinnamon Spelt Donuts Recipe

Delicious doughnuts!

By the way, here’s what they’ll look like if you skip the vinegar (photo just above this line) in this Healthier Baked Apple Cider Doughnuts Recipe. The result is still delicious, but more dense and cake-like. We preferred the fluffier version, but now you have both options so you can decide for yourselves.

In other news, one of my Zumba classes got moved to a new location with a stage. A STAGE! I’m so excited. I’ve never taught a class with a stage before, so I think this will be great…mostly for my class participants so they can more easily see what I’m doing! I remember when I first started doing Zumba, the hardest part was just seeing what the instructor was doing (since I was hiding in the back and all). Not gonna lie…the cool lights and better room acoustics are a nice perk.

We did our kick-off class this week, and my 3 favorite songs were:

  1. Booty Shake
  2. Mueve la Colita
  3. El Alacran (we do a dance-off to this song!)

***

I’ll be sharing some Facebook-exclusive photos soon, so be sure to like The Chic Life on Facebook so you can see that and more FB-exclusive content.

Thanks for reading and for your patience this past week! Hope you enjoy thisHealthier Baked Apple Cider Doughnuts Recipe.

Click here for more fabulous recipes and here for dessert ones, specifically

***

Reader questions: What’s your favorite kind of doughnut? I’ve always loved straight-up glazed. How do you like your doughnuts? Fluffy? Dense?

Healthier Baked Apple Cider Doughnuts Recipe & Zumba Fun (14)

Healthier Baked Apple Cider Doughnuts Recipe & Zumba Fun (2024)

FAQs

How many calories in a homemade apple cider donut? ›

How many calories are in an apple cider donut? The calorie count for our recipe is 347 calories per donut. However, calorie counts are always going to vary based on the ingredients and the amount of each ingredient used in the recipe.

What's the deal with apple cider donuts? ›

Apple cider doughnuts are very similar to traditional cake or buttermilk doughnuts but have the additional ingredient of cider or apple juice. The doughnuts are likely associated with fall because of the harvest of apples and farm animals.

Can you freeze homemade apple cider doughnuts? ›

Freezing: Place donuts on a baking tray and put in the freezer for 3-5 hours or until frozen. Without letting them thaw, place in an airtight container or freezing bag. Keep up to 3 months. Thawing: Leave at room temperature, uncovered, for at least 30 minutes.

Are apple cider donuts good? ›

Flavor: Flavor-wise, they're APPLE and CINNAMON and SPICE all over. They taste like they're straight from the bakery! Ease: A simple mix of wet and dry ingredients plus the apple cider concentrate makes these a snap to prepare for crisp fall mornings. No mixer, rolling pin, or donut cutter required!

What pairs well with apple cider donuts? ›

Nothing pairs better with our apple cider donuts than a nice, creamy slathering of our Chiles Family Orchards apple butter. If you're looking to branch out into more fall flavors, try our rich and scrumptious pumpkin butter. A good tip for this dessert is to heat up your apple butter and toast your donut.

What makes apple cider donuts different? ›

Cider doughnuts are cake doughnuts that get their flavor from cinnamon, nutmeg and apple cider used in the batter. They are a harvest tradition in autumn in the northeastern United States and are sometimes sold at cider mills.

How do you keep apple cider donuts fresh? ›

Recipe Notes

Storage: The doughnuts are best eaten the day they are made. Once cooled, they can also be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 2 days. Rewarm in a 325ºF oven for about 8 minutes.

Can you warm up apple cider donuts? ›

Yes, you can store apple cider doughnuts, but we don't recommend it as fried doughnuts are best eaten right away. If you want to enjoy these doughnuts later, store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to two days. Reheat them in the microwave for a few seconds to refresh.

What are apple cider donuts made of? ›

These sweet treats appear each fall. Like chocolate glazed donuts, they are a cake donut flavored with sweet apple cider and often coated with cinnamon sugar. The secret to apple cider donuts is boiling high quality apple cider until it becomes syrup-like in texture.

How do you reheat apple cider donuts? ›

How to Reheat Apple Cider Donuts? Apple cider doughnuts never really reheat well. You can put them in the microwave for about 15 seconds to soften them up, but you may need to coat them with cinnamon sugar again. Do not try to re-fry these doughnuts as they will simply get very greasy inside.

What are the most healthiest donuts? ›

Sugared donut

And it has one of the lowest added sugar values on the menu with just 4 grams of added sugar. Each sugared donut has 210 calories, 24 grams of carbs, and 270 milligrams of sodium. There are just 11 grams of fat and no cholesterol.

What is the best apple for cider? ›

The apple varieties that we generally find in stores and that are used for the making of modern-style ciders include McIntosh, Golden and Red Delicious, Goldrush, Honeycrisp, Cortland, Idared, Jonagold, Granny Smith, Gala, and Fuji.

Are Aldi apple cider donuts good? ›

The doughnuts had a sweet but not overpowering apple-cider flavor. In my opinion, the texture inside was soft but a little too dry. The next time I have one, I'll pair it with hot apple cider or dunk it in coffee.

How many calories does a homemade donut have? ›

Baked Donuts calories per serving are just 184 calories. Moreover, it hardly takes half an hour to get one batch of baked donuts ready.

How many calories in a glazed apple cider donut? ›

Glazed apple cider donuts, glazed apple cider by Detroit City Dairy, Inc.
Nutrition Facts
Calories220
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 12g15 %
Saturated Fat 5g25 %
27 more rows

How many calories in a cinnamon sugar apple cider donut? ›

Trader Joe's Apple Cider & Cinnamon-sugar Donuts (1 donut) contains 41g total carbs, 40g net carbs, 16g fat, 4g protein, and 320 calories.

How many calories are in a small apple cider donut? ›

Whole Foods Market
Nutrition Facts
For a Serving Size of 1 ea
How many calories are in Mini Apple Cider Donut? Amount of calories in Mini Apple Cider Donut: Calories 100Calories from Fat 45 (45%)
% Daily Value *
How much fat is in Mini Apple Cider Donut? Amount of fat in Mini Apple Cider Donut: Total Fat 5g-
16 more rows

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