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This easy gluten free apple cider donuts recipe is the cure for what ails you when you go to the apple orchard, but can't buy their sweet-smelling baked goods!
Why you'll love these donuts
Every fall during my gluten free son's young life, we'd go apple picking. And every fall, the smell of apple cider donuts would hang in the air and had the power to make my gluten free son and me downright miserable.
So we did the only thing that makes any sense at all: bring our own gluten free apple cider donuts. And pick up some more apple cider while we're at the orchard, so we can make more donuts when we get home!
For a whole batch of these baked apple cider donuts, you only need 6 fluid ounces of cider. Of course, you can use apple juice if you don't have cider, but rich, spiced cider gives these donuts the true flavor of everything that's frying at the orchard that we can't have!
How to get the cinnamon sugar mixture to stick
When I first posted this recipe in 2012, you can see from the comments that some readers had trouble getting the cinnamon sugar topping to stick to the donuts. I find that the easiest way to get the topping to stick is to toss the donuts in the cinnamon sugar when they're still hot enough from the oven that you can barely touch them.
If that's just not comfortable for you, remember to press the donut in the cinnamon sugar mixture on all sides rather firmly when the donuts are as warm as possible. I tend to flip them over multiple times in the topping mixture until they're well-covered, and then not handle them again until they're completely cooled.
If you forget to work quickly after baking, or you're just not able to work with the donuts while they're hot, you can brush the donuts very lightly with melted butter before pressing them into the cinnamon sugar. Some simple syrup would also work.
A few words about baked donut pans
All baking pans and tins are generally not created equal. They vary in size, shape, color, and material.
Those differences affect baking in plenty of ways. But most of the differences aren't that significant, and you as the cook are usually able to sense for what sort of adjustments you need to make for your particular pans.
Donut pans vary in all the same ways, but their shape is even more significant. If you're making a fried gluten free donut, you're not using a pan to shape them. But if you're making baked donuts like these apple cider donuts, they take on the shape of the pan itself.
The shape of your donut pan wells
For properly shaped donuts, you want your pan to have a prominent raised center that reaches nearly as high as the sides of the donut. Otherwise, as the donuts rise in the oven, the hole will close on top, leaving only a divot underneath.
To combat a donut pan that has a short raised center, you can still preserve a donut-with-a-hole shape. Just fill each well about 2/3 of the way, or about as high as the center is raised.
My favorite donut pans for baked donuts are these 6-cavity nonstick donut pans by Wilton (affiliate link). It's the pan you see in the photos.
It has the perfect shape and size, and even though it's somewhat dark in color, it doesn't bake the donuts too quickly (which dark pans have a tedency to do). I use this pan in all of the baked gluten free donuts recipes here on the blog.
Ingredient substitutions
I haven't tried making these donuts with anything other than the ingredients specified in the recipe, which I recommend you also follow faithfully. However, in case you have additional dietary restrictions, here are my suggestions for making these donuts without other common allergens:
Dairy free
The only dairy in these gluten free apple cider donuts is from the unsalted butter. It can most likely be easily replaced with Earth Balance buttery sticks, although I haven't tried that. Earth Balance tends to be rather salty, though, so I'd eliminate the salt as an ingredient in the donuts, though.
Egg free
There are two eggs in this recipe, and they are responsible for a lot of the structure and texture of these soft, tender donuts. You can try replacing them each with a “chia egg” (1 tablespoon ground white chia seeds + 1 tablespoon lukewarm water, mixed and allowed to gel).
Sugar-free
If you'd like to try to make these donuts with a sugar alternative, you can try replacing the granulated sugar with Swerve brand granulated sugar replacement or Lankato monkfruit granulated sweetener.
Pay attention to the texture and viscosity of the batter, though, as those alternative sweeteners tend to absorb a lot of moisture. You may need to add some more cider.
FAQs
Yes! Apple cider is gluten free because it's the same as apple juice, except cider is unfiltered so it contains pulp. Cider is often unpasteurized, too, so it won't stay fresh for nearly as long as apple juice. Keep in mind that cider made from apples or another fruit is not the same thing as hard cider, which is made from apple juice that has been fermented with yeast. Hard cider is typically gluten free, unless the yeast is made with a gluten-containing yeast, much like gluten free beer.
Yes! If you can't find apple cider, you can make these donuts with apple juice. There is, however, a difference between the two. Technically, apple cider is raw apple juice that hasn't been filtered to remove pulp. For the donuts in the photos and video in this post, I used cold pressed spiced apple cider from the refrigerated section at Trader Joe's. In the past, I've made them with raw apple cider from the orchard, and also with plain apple juice. The more flavorful and aromatic the cider, the more the donuts, too.
Yes, you can bake this batter in a muffin pan as muffins, but the only way you can get a donut shape is with a donut pan.
No! This batter only makes baked donuts, not fried. This batter would not hold its shape at all during frying.
And remember, if you can't bring a batch of these donuts with you to the orchard, you can make them fresh as soon as you get home!
Gluten Free Apple Cider Donuts Recipe
Equipment
- 2 6-cavity nonstick aluminum donut pans I recommend the Wilton brand
Ingredients
For the donuts
- 1 ½ cups (210 g) all purpose gluten free flour blend, (I used Better Batter; please click thru for appropriate blends)
- 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 (100 g (weighed out of shell)) eggs, at room temperature, beaten
- ¾ cup (6 fluid ounces) 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.
- Transfer the batter to a piping bag fitted with a plain tip or to a squeeze bottle.
- Squeeze 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 turn them around 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.
Video
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Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Wow!!!! These are incredible. Honestly, they are better than traditional cider donuts with wheat flour. Added a dash more cinnamon. Will absolutely make these year after year. Thank you!!!!
These were okay, I think the spices needed more action and I did make the mistake of using store bought cider, noted! I may try again with fresh cider, but it might be even better if the cider is simmered to a reduction and cooled before adding
These donuts are so easy and amazing! They were a huge hit at our house. Thanks for a great recipe.
You’re so welcome, Michelle. Thanks for sharing your experience, and I’m so glad you loved the donuts!
My daughter has been Celiac for 3 years. Your site is the first one I try when I’m looking for a recipe because they’ve been consistently good recipes. This one is no exception. My husband and I tried one of these and we could hardly tell the difference between them and the gluten-version I’d also made using a diff recipe. Excellent. They are very soft and luscious. 5 stars from my 16 year old.
I used silicone donut pans and they worked very well, for anyone who has them.
p.s. this pairs extremely well with Apple Butter!
That’s so great to hear, Liz! 5 stars from a teenager are hard to come by!
These donuts were soooo delicious. They are better than what you get at your local pumpkin patch (my husband said this too). I recently had to go gluten free and was disappointed about missing out on these donuts in the fall season, but these beyond satisfied that fall craving. Will definitely be making these again.
So glad you enjoyed the donuts, Kate! These are always my answer to fall apple picking and smelling all the donuts. So glad they fill that for you, too!
I don’t have a donut pan, so can I use mini-muffin pans instead?
Hi, Lyn, I discuss in the text of the post that you can use a muffin tin to make this batter, but I haven’t tried a mini muffin tin so I don’t know what the baking time would be.