Gluten Free Apple Cider Donuts

By Nicole Hunn | Published: September 12, 2023 | Posted In: Desserts, Donuts, Thanksgiving Recipes

4.99 from 100 votes

Prep Time : 15

Cook Time : 12

Tender gluten free apple cider donuts smell like the best donuts at the apple orchard, with plenty of cinnamon and freshly ground nutmeg and rich, flavorful apple cider baked right into the batter.

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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!

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Why you'll love these gluten free apple cider 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 a cinnamon sugar mixture to stick to your donuts

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—feel free to shop around!). 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.

Gluten free Apple Cider Donuts: 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:

How to make gluten free dairy free apple cider donuts

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.

How to make gluten free egg free apple cider donuts

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).

How to make sugar-free gluten free apple cider donuts

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

Is cider gluten free?

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 beer.

Can you make gluten free apple cider donuts without apple cider?

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 (source).

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.

Can I make these baked donuts without a donut pan?

You can make this baked good without a donut pan, perhaps as muffins, but you can't make this recipe into a donut shape without a donut pan.

Can I fry the batter in this recipe?

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!

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Gluten Free Apple Cider Donuts

Tender gluten free apple cider donuts smell like the best donuts at the apple orchard, with plenty of cinnamon and freshly ground nutmeg and rich, flavorful apple cider baked right into the batter.

Course: Dessert, Donuts

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 15

Cook Time: 12

Yield: 12 donuts

Author: Nicole Hunn

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.

Notes

Originally published on the blog in 2012. In 2018, images mostly new, video new, recipe tweaked only slightly. In 2023, additional text resources added.