Packed with cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice, these vegan Baked Apple Cider Donuts are a perfect way to welcome in the fall. Made in just 25 minutes for a delicious treat.
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It’s Apple Cider Donut time!
Have I mentioned how much I love fall?
With the kids finishing the first month of school, temperatures beginning to drop, and the days getting noticeably shorter, I couldn’t be more excited. Fall is both a wonderfully nostalgic time for me, as I reflect on past years and old family traditions, while simultaneously representing new beginnings and fresh starts. There is a world of potential ahead of us!
So, for the next few months, you will find me over here in pure bliss.
But before I get too lost in the glory of it all, where we we?
Oh right, Apple Cider Donuts!
These Apple Cider Donuts are actually one of my very first recipes I made for My Darling Vegan. Way back in 2013, when my life looked drastically different, I first whipped up a batch. Despite the inconsistency of life, these donuts have been a constant. And you guys have loved them, too!
So I figured it was time to give them a little make over.
First off, if you don’t have a donut pan, I highly recommend you get one!
This is the one I use.
I love my dont pan because it is:
Totally affordable. Just $13.50 for 2 on Amazon.
And, more importantly, a kitchen tool I use ALL THE TIME. With a donut pan you can make all the baked donuts you want this fall, such as:
- Vegan Maple Bacon Donuts
- Orange Poppy Seed Donuts with Chocolate Ganache
- Double Chocolate Pistachio Donuts
- Cinnamon Spice Donuts
- And, of course, these Apple Cider Donuts
So grab one today. I don’t want you missing out on donut season!
How to make Apple Cider Donuts:
These apple cider donuts are so straight-forward it’s nearly impossible to get them wrong. The process is simple.
- Mix your dry ingredients together
- Next, in a separate bowl, combine your wet ingredients
- Add the wet to the dry and mix until just combined. You don’t want to over mix or your doughnut will become tough rather than tender.
- Pipe your batter into your prepared donut pan. The batter will be soft, so a piping bag is the best option here. If you don’t have one, you can make a makeshift piping bag by pouring your batter into a ziplock bag, cutting of the tip, and piping from there.
- Finally, bake the donuts! While the donuts bake, prepare your apple cider glaze and cinnamon sugar topping. Once the donuts are ready, pull them out of the oven and flip them onto a wire cooling rack. Let cool 10 minutes before dipping them into your glaze and sprinkling them with cinnamon sugar. This cooling time is necessary otherwise the donuts might crumble and the glaze will definitely melt off.
Wasn’t that easy?
Not only are these Apple Cider Donuts nearly fail-proof. They are also delicious, tender, and incredibly quick to throw together.
They can be made in just about 20 minutes for a soft and tender donut that is filled with apple and cinnamon flavors, making it the perfect treat to start off this fall.
So, let’s get baking!
Packed with cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice, these vegan Baked Apple Cider Doughnuts are a perfect way to welcome in the fall. Made in just 20 minutes for the perfect autumnal treat.
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp. nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp. allspice
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 1/3 cup apple cider
- 1/4 cup apple sauce
- 1 tbsp. coconut oil, melted
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp apple cider
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a donut pan and set aside.
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In a small bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt. In a separate bowl whisk together maple syrup, apple cider, apple sauce, coconut oil, and vanilla extract. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix until just combined.
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Spoon or pipe batter into the prepared donut pan, filling each mold about 3/4 full.
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Bake for 8-10 minutes, until donuts springs back when gently pressed. Remove from oven and let cool in pan for a few minutes before transferring doughnuts onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
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To make the glaze, whisk together powdered sugar and apple cider in a small shallow bowl. In a separate bowl, combine ingredients for cinnamon sugar topping.
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Once doughnuts have cooled, dip the tops of each doughnut into the glaze. Immediately sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.
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Let glaze harden and enjoy!
Recipe Video
If you give these donuts a try, let us know what you think in the comments below. Or snap a photo and share it on Instagram. Make sure to tag @mydarlingvegan so I can see your creations!
As a fellow pale-skinned, freckle-faced Oregonian, I agree 100%! I LOVE the cool, cloudy fall 🙂 And I can’t wait to try this recipe 🙂
Ah, a kindred spirit! I only recently started admitting I didn’t like summer when I realized I spend most of it indoors hiding from the sun. 🙂
Hi there! I have nominated you for the Shine On Blogger award, because I think your blog is just plain groovy. As per the instructions given to me, you now need to tell us seven things about your lovely self, and then nominate seven other bloggers that you think take the cake! If you want to see how I did it, the link to my post is here:
http://freshpickedvegan.wordpress.com/2013/09/03/shiny/
Thanks for sharing your vision with the world!
Thanks for the nomination Lou. And now I know about your blog, so even better!
I am so glad it’s gonna start cooling down soon. My tea drawer is ready for cool mornings. These donuts would be perfect for dunking in some black tea!
Ah… I remember all those fall events as well–and a few others besides! This recipe looks amazing. I don’t have a donut pan, but imagine I could improvise and make them square cakes or muffins… but the donut is so classic here! Love your pictures and everything about this blog.
Thanks Mom!
I was thinking about mentioning a muffin option as I think it would work well – you would want to double the batch because muffins will use more batter and I imagine you’d want more than 3-4 muffins.
I did make this recipe in a muffin pan and it was a great success!! The little muff-onuts, as I lovingly call them, turned out so light inside with a soft, thin crispy layer on the outside. I hand-greased each muffin tin with a bit of extra virgin coconut oil and there was no coconut flavor imparted to the final product, so no worries there. I came out with 12 muffins (approx 1in. tall each after baking) and they easily came out of the pan with no problems to finish cooling on a cooling rack. I also substituted apple butter for the apple sauce because I happened to have some on hand, and this worked just fine. I cooked them for 10.5 minutes at 350 degrees and the oven was fully preheated when I put them in there. So, if you’re like me and don’t own a donut pan and don’t want to buy one, then no fear– you can use a muffin pan and you will still have great results!
Thanks for sharing how it worked out Allison! I have had some other people mention the apple butter and I think it’s a good idea – it gives a stronger apple taste.
These donuts are making me drool just thinking about them. They look so pretty!
Do you think this recipe would work using a GF all-purpose flour?
I would think so. As far as I know GF AP flour is supposed to substitute pretty well in basic baking recipes. If you try it, let us know how it turns out!
I tried it this morn using gf all purpose flour and the apple sauce didn’t allow the doughnuts to rise that much…..but they were good anyway! Is there something else we can sub for the applesauce?
Give me a week or two and I will be incredibly excited for fall, but I’m currently still relishing all things summer (probably due to the unseasonably cool weather we’ve had recently). Once that happens however, I’ll be giving these a try — the donuts look fantastic!
It’s totally understandable that many people are still enjoying the final days of summer- we do still have 3 weeks until it’s official. Enjoy the end of your summer while I enjoy the beginning of my fall! 🙂
I’ve been scouring the internet for the ideal-sounding cider doughnut recipe, and I think I’ve finally found it! This recipe sounds as spectacular as your photos look– can’t wait to give it a try!
I’m glad you found me Kailley. Hope you like the doughnuts!
Sarah! These look absolutely phenomenal. I was looking through the blog at work and all my co-workers were standing behind me freaking out over how awesome they look. We have been going through a doughnut phase here at work where we talk about them all the time. My buddy Marcus has been hankering non-stop for the doughsant/cronut hybrid pastries that are all the rage lately!
Anyway, these look amazing! Definitely want to try them out. 😀
Thanks Matt! I haven’t heard about the doughsant/cronut yet, but that sounds AMAZING! I may have to try out some recipes…
Hi Sarah,
I made this last night so they would be ready for breakfast this morning… I have to say that I Absolutely love them!!!… I didn’t chance any ingredients ( i think changing the recipe makes it lose its “essence”), anyways, I posted on Instamatic and mentioned you.
What I’m having a little hard time though is with the glaze… It looks to me like the donut absorbs the glaze… I tried adding more confectioners sugar, but i don’t want them to be too sweet.. any suggestions? I want them to look like yours 🙂
Hey Venus,
I’m glad you liked them. Did you wait until the donuts were completely cooled before dipping them? Perhaps I should clarify that. Also if it still seems too runny, you can add more powdered sugar (or less apple cider) and because the donuts themselves are very sweet I think it would be okay. Hope that helps!
Hi,
I just made your recipe today!!! Absolutely phenomenal!! Even though I didn’t have some of the ingredients, I am amazed how amazing these were. I can only imagine how delicious they would be if I following it exactly.
Instead of allspice (which I didn’t have,) I added a pinch of ground cloves. I also didn’t have maple syrup so I just substituted coconut sugar and added some extra apple cider. I can’t believe how moist and delicious they were. Thank you so much!! I’m not a baker by any means, but this recipe was so easy and fantastic.
Savita, thank you so much for letting me know how you liked them – and I’m so glad you did. Your comment makes me think I should make another batch this week…
Sounds delicious ! Just curious if you mixed the batter by hand or used a stand mixer which I have? Thanks, can’t wait to try this recipe.
I just mixed it by hand. The batter is a small amount so it seemed easier to do it by hand. Either would work, you would just want to make sure not to over-mix it in a stand up mixer.
These came out picture perfect and tasted amazing! Thank you for the great recipe Sarah. 🙂
These look amazing!!
Is it possible to somehow make these without a donut pan? I don’t have one. Could I just cut the center out with something and then bake them on a cookie sheet?
Thanks Christina! The dough is pretty soft, so it would be hard to make without a donut pan. You could try piping it in a donut shape on a parchment lined cookie sheet – that would work better than cutting a hole out of the middle. You could also use the batter to make muffins – but then you would want to double the batch because it only makes 6 donuts (to fit in the pan) and muffins will take more batter.
Good luck! Let me know if anything works out.
Ooh, I like the muffin idea! I think I am going to try that this weekend, thanks!
The muffins came out great! I ended up baking them longer than the donuts (about 20 minutes total). The kids love them!
These doughnuts look awesome and I love that they’re baked instead of fried! I too don’t have a doughnut pan, but I imagine I could just use a muffin pan like others have mentioned. These would be awesome on one of our cool Chicago fall evenings along with a mug of mulled apple cider. Yum!
Sounds perfect!
I may be just a little bit obsessed with this recipe right now. I’ve made them a BUNCH of times – always with a combination of white whole wheat flour and whole wheat pastry flour. One of the times I was…a bit distracted, forgot the apple sauce, and then wondered why the batter was so dry (the batter is usually so fluffy and perfect) so I dumped in extra cider and they came out…not bad at all! And another time, the maple syrup bottle was nearly empty so I mixed what was left with a simple syrup I’d made previously – and THAT worked very well. Thank you SO MUCH.
Thanks Maria! I’m so glad you like this recipe. Thanks for the feedback.
I can’t wait to try this recipe! How many doughnuts does it yield?
6, which is sadly the only size of donut pan I’ve found.
So happy I found your website! I was wondering what kind of apple cider you used?
I’m glad you found me too! I’m not sure of the brand. I buy the apple cider that’s in the non-refrigerated juice section. It’s usually right next to the apple juice. But any apple cider (or apple juice) would work for the recipe.
Great recipe, Sarah! I made these for my friend’s son, who has multiple life threatening food allergies. All of the ingredients were on his safe list. I omitted the maple syrup because I didn’t have any on hand. I just bumped up in the cider and added a splash of soy milk to replace that moisture. They came out perfectly. 🙂
I’m so glad you found something for your friend’s son to enjoy! Thanks for sharing.
These taste perfect! 😀 My kids (3 and 1) had so much fun helping me make them! I don’t have a donut pan so I used a muffin tin that I oiled and floured. They turned out to be giant donut holes. (No complaints really) I baked them for 15 minutes. The only other thing I changed was using oat flour because that’s all I had and I couldn’t wait! And 1/3 amount of the maple syrup because again, I couldn’t wait. I will be making more soon, for sure! With all ingredients. 🙂 I love the glaze! So simple but, so delicious. I have to remember it for all the treats this time of year. Great recipe! I loved how quick, easy yet delicious it was! Thank you, thank you!
Thanks Faith! I’m glad they turned out so well.
I made these today as donuts and a couple weeks ago as muffins (just bought a muffin pan). They’re great! I threw in a tablespoon of apple butter instead of the canola oil. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Looking forward to trying this recipe. I just made pumpkin donut holes using a mini muffin pan.
What kind of a dough does this make? I’m living in on-campus housing so I’ve got a pretty minimal kitchen and I’d like to keep it that way, so I don’t have a doughnut mould and I don’t really want to get one 🙂
I have normal pans/trays; does it have enough substance to drop on a tray and make a sort of filled-doughnut shape? Or should I get something with walls, like a cupcake tray?
Thanks!
A muffin/cupcake pan would work best. It’s a soft batter (like cake) so unfortunately would not hold a shape. Good Luck!
wow, thanks for your prompt reply! I’ll try it with a cupcake tray, then, and post back how it worked. Thank you!
Made these for my daughter’s preschool class, one of the kids has an egg allergy so these were perfect. Used a Wilton mini donut pan and got just under 3 dozen, nice rise, very light and fluffy.
I skipped the glaze and went for a light dust of cinnamon sugar, have you ever seen a room full of 3 year olds on too much sugar? Without the glaze they were a little light on the cider flavor, next time I’ll boil down a cup to make it stronger (ie cider syrup) and use apple butter in place of the apple sauce.
I like the idea of reducing the cider – I will certainly try that next time as well!
As a red headed, pale skinned, freckled gal, I agree 🙂 Fall is the BEST! Top it off with the beautiful fall colors here in the Maritimes, and why would you ever need the other 3 seasons! I just stumbled across your blog and I cannot wait to start trying these recipes!! I am so thankful for people like you who help break the vegan stigma. Happy Fall 🙂
Happy Fall to you too, Mallory!
I just made these following the recipe exactly and they were SO delicious! Everyone loved them. I liked them so much that I made another batch the same day! One tip for people: if you double the donut recipe, you do NOT need to double the cinnamon sugar and frosting recipes. A single recipe of each will get you through at least two batches of donuts, probably more.
Also, I made these with a regular-sized donut pan and it made 6 donuts exactly. When I doubled the recipe, it made 12! (Math!)
p.s. I’m not vegan and neither were most of the people that I made them for!
Awesome Laurie! I’m glad they were such a big hit.
I love these! I had all the ingredients for them in my pantry. So good! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Oh I’m so glad you tried them out! Thanks for the feedback.
I just made these…my first try at baked donuts…and they were a huge hit. the whole family loved them! so happy this vegan version was amazing!!!! now i need to whip up six more!
I’m so glad they were a hit! Thanks for letting me know.
I made these and they were AMAZING! My family absolutely loved them! I didn’t have a donut pan, so I made cupcakes, and they were so fluffy and delicious!
YUM, these were so good! The whole fam loved them. Can’t wait to try your other donut recipes and check out your site. I got a donut pan for Christmas and was looking for some good vegan recipes!
I made this recipe today to use up some of my leftover spices! I substituted normal all purpose flour for GF all purpose and they were a huge success! I added in 4 tablespoons of white chia seeds and a teaspoon of vanilla to the sugar glaze. Huge hit. Excellent recipe. I had a mini donut pan so the mix made 10 minis.
Thanks! It’s great to know you could sub in gf flour with no problem.
Oh my goodness. These look awesome. I think it’s about time I picked up a donut tray and give these a try!! LOVE your site, by the way 🙂
Thanks Deryn! I hope you find a donut tray and can enjoy them.
Can I use a baby cakes donut maker.
I just googled babycakes donut maker (because I had never heard of it before) first of all, looks awesome. I probably should invest in one! Secondly because I haven’t used one before I can’t say for sure. I think it’s worth trying for sure though. Let me know how it turns out!
I made these donuts, and they were a HUGE hit! (Even my husband loved them). 🙂 Thank you so much for sharing!!!
I am baking for a large vegsn bake sale this Friday night.
This recipe sounds perfect! in fact, its 7am here and I am about to try it out. Sometimes, a girl just has to bake. I plan on writing a review after I’ve made them this morning. In case I forget, I just want to say thank you 🙂
Great! I’m glad you’re giving it a try. Enjoy.
I am seriously in awe. These look so good! FOR BREAKFAST TOO. Yummy.
I hope you enjoy them!
Would this work with coconut flour or almond flour? And is there any sugar substitute I can use?
Unfortunately, these did not work for me. The mixture baked, but turned out the consistency of a dense muffin. They did not taste like, or resemble a donut. I had to throw them out. I also had to cook them for longer than the recipe stated because they were still very pale and uncooked after 8-10 minutes.
I’m sorry to hear that. Without more information I’m not sure why that would have happened.
I don’t know what I did but they turned out more than bad. They tasted like flour and vinegar only.. I had to throw them all away.
These are so good!!! I am not vegan but try to eat fairly clean and liked that the base recipe used only maple syrup vs refined sugar. I did reduce down a cup of apple cider so it was more of a syrup. Also I used a 1:1. Gf flour, avacado oil instead of canola and dusted with some coconut Sugar with cinnamon and no glaze as these were for younger kids and less sugar is better 😉 they were delish! Wow!
Just made these yesterday, and have to say they were absolutely amazing! Thank you so much! For reference for other folks, I used fresh ground wheat: 4 oz of soft white and .25 oz of hard white. A bonus was that the 6-donut pan fits in my Breville Smart Oven, so no need to heat up the big oven. 🙂 THANKS AGAIN!!
Can I leave the oil out? I don’t ever buy oil anymore and do t want to start!
I’ve never made it without the oil. You couldn’t do it without substituting it for something else (without significantly changing the texture) and I don’t know what to recommend without personally trying it.
Made these yesterday and they were DELICIOUS! Doubled the recipe for sharing and couldn’t find apple cider so substituted some apple juice and lemon juice- can’t wait to make again!
Glad they were a hit!