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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 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
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
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
Notes
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
With every doughnut recipe you post or have in your book, i’ve thought “hmm, I don’t really need a doughnut pan in my life” but you did it! You got me! I’m getting a doughnut pan. :)
These look great! Btw, I just got my copy of your new book (this time I got a hard copy instead of the kindle). I love it!!! Trying to decide what to make first, too many great choices. I especially like that your personality comes through even more in this book – its one of the reasons I love reading your blog. I can’t wait till school gets out so I can try some of these. Thanks!
Not every GF recipe I try is successful, but more often than not, Nicole hits the spot. This one was my test recipe for today. There are only 2 of us here so I halved the recipe but that’s the only change I made. And they were absolutely positively scrumptious! I didn’t have a donut pan so I have been shopping since the recipe was posted. Two stores I visited were out. Then I went to Kohl’s and with coupons and Kohl’s cash, I bought the babycakes donut maker for all of $7.24. That’s a deal I couldn’t pass up. And in my Texas kitchen, not turning on the oven is usually a good thing. I can see many wonderful donut memories made with my grandkids, Nicole’s GF donut recipes (including the chocolate donut recipe in the new book), and my new kitchen appliance. Thank you Nicole!
I have been reading the new book as if it were a novel–and loving it just as much. I have to take dinner rolls to a few GF attendees at a conference in Fort Worth on Friday night and I was struggling to find the perfect recipe that will compare with what everyone else is eating at the conference. The Dinner Rolls with Yeasted Refrigerator Bread is the perfect recipe. And what’s even better is that the rolls still tasted good on the second day while most GF dinner rolls just get heavy a few hours later. These are still delicious. I have to take some other meal items on Friday and Saturday too. All of my recipes are from Nicole or the Better Batter site.
I love the make or buy idea! I’m thinking pasta. I buy soooo much gluten free pasta. Thanks for all your hard work!
Ugh…I was BB&B today to get a donut pan to make the chocolate donuts in my lovely new cookbook and opted for the regular pans over the mini pan set they had. Do you think these would be ok in the regular pan?
These sound yummy! I’ve been looking for an excuse to buy the USA Pans donut pan!
P.S. – Love your new cookbook! Even more than I love the first one!
So, I’m one egg short for this recipe (talk about unprepared for the storm, I know). It’s wrong to send my husband out to the store in a hurricane, right? :) ok I’m joking but only just cause I really would love these right now! We even have cider fresh from a lovely mill upstate. Sigh.
In other news, LOVE the new cookbook!!
Oh boy, when I go into town wednesday i”m getting a digital scale and a mini donut pan..My husband is having a great time gaining back the 46 lost pounds.We both Thank You and are enjoying both of your cookbooks.Now if I could just not be to tempted to try everything.
Is the batter stable enough to use just one pan and then refill it when each batch is done? Some GF batters should not sit for awhile before baking.
Beautiful donuts, Nicole! I will definitely have to buy a donut pan and fast-track these up my “to-make” list. Congrats on your new cookbook, too :)
Do you think these would bake up well in a larger doughnut pan? I am looking at the super micro ones and they are just so tiny! I wondered if the texture would be off with a bigger doughnut, though. I have had trouble in the past with my Better Batter baked goods ending up raw in the middle. When they cook through they are TDF, but when they don’t – blech. So, do you think it’s smarter to stick with the super de duper ultra tiny micro mini doughtnut pan? :)
Time to go buy a donut pan! YUM! Just got your new book this AM! Can’t wait to dive in!
Your new book came on Friday and as soon as I got my hands on it I sat down and read it cover to cover. You would have thought it was Christmas or my birthday! I don’t have a donut pan (yet – but it is on my Christmas list) so will sub in my mini muffin pans and make donut holes.
Hi, Rebecca! Donut holes sounds perfect! Thank you so much for always being so kind and supportive. It means a lot to me!
xoxo Nicole