Category Archives: Apple desserts

Apple desserts, favorites, Holiday Bakes, Uncategorized

Bon Appetit’s Amazing Apple Cider Doughnuts

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Two Carolines makes BA's Apple Cider Doughnuts .JPG
These Apple Cider Doughnuts go with tea, hot chocolate, hunger, anything because they are tops

Every Halloween season, I look forward to carrying on the family tradition of making donuts and wassail and sharing with my friends. I’ve always made my dad’s grandma’s recipe but this year, I saw a post from Bon Appetit about their Apple Cider Doughnut recipe and saw that it had APPLE BUTTER in the ingredients list and I was totally sold. You can keep the dough chilled in the fridge for a day, so it’s easy to make ahead, or do what I did and make two batches—cooking them one day apart.

Normally I like to alter a recipe that I find from another source if I post it to the blog—even just a little bit—but this was so perfect that I followed it exactly. So get to your local grocery store and get some cider and some apple butter and taste this glory!

Ingredients

  • 2 3-inch cinnamon sticks
  • 3 cups apple cider
  • ½ cup apple butter
  • ½ cup buttermilk
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • ¼ teaspoon baking soda
  • ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
  • 3½ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
  • 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, divided
  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
  • ¼ cup (packed) light brown sugar
  • 1¼ cups granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • Vegetable oil (for frying; about 4 cups)

Special Equipment

  • A 3¼-inch-diameter cutter, 1¼-inch-diameter cutter, deep-fry thermometer (my batteries ran out for my thermometer, so I sort of guessed and put the heat on med-high and tested a doughnut hole to make sure they were frying correctly)
  • I used my ceramic coated cast-iron pot and I had more even results with the temperature than other methods I’ve tried.

Directions

  1. Bring cinnamon sticks and apple cider to a boil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and cook until liquid is thick, syrupy, and reduced to about ⅓ cup, 20–30 minutes. Scrape into a medium bowl and whisk in apple butter, buttermilk, and vanilla until incorporated; set aside.

  2. Whisk baking powder, salt, baking soda, nutmeg, 3½ cups flour, and 1 tsp. ground cinnamon in a medium bowl. Using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter, brown sugar, and ¼ cup granulated sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating until well blended after each addition. Reduce mixer speed to low and add dry ingredients in 2 additions, alternating with cider mixture in 2 additions, starting with dry ingredients and ending with cider mixture (dough will be very soft and sticky).

  3. Scrape dough onto a parchment lined-rimmed baking sheet thoroughly dusted with flour (about ⅓ cup). Dust hands and top of dough with more flour, then gently pat dough to ¾” thick. (Dough will be really sticky!) Dust with more flour and tightly cover with plastic wrap; chill dough at least 3 hours.

  4. Whisk remaining 1 cup granulated sugar and 1 Tbsp. cinnamon in a small bowl until no lumps remain. (We ended up using more than this)

  5. Working on baking sheet, punch out as many rounds as you can with 3¼” cutter, then use 1¼” cutter to punch out center of each round. Gather doughnut scraps, reserving holes, and gently re-roll without overworking dough; repeat until all dough has been used (you should have 18 doughnuts).

  6. Set a wire rack inside a paper towel-lined rimmed baking sheet. Fit a large pot with deep-fry thermometer and pour in oil to a depth of 3″. Heat over medium-high until thermometer registers 350°. Working in batches (I did about 4 donuts at a time), fry doughnuts until deep golden brown, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer to prepared rack and let cool slightly. Fry doughnut holes until deep golden brown, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer to prepared rack and let cool slightly. Toss warm doughnuts and doughnut holes in cinnamon sugar.

    Do Ahead: Dough can be made 1 day ahead; cover and chill.

 

-CK 1.0

Apple desserts, breakfast, breakfast sweets, Cake, Uncategorized

Brown Sugar Apple Cake

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brown sugar apple cake

There are so many apple cakes out and about these days, and at least as many coffee cakes, and probably hundreds of cinnamon crumb type of cake situations, but I swear, this one wins on all counts.  I call it Brown Sugar Apple Cake because it has 2.5 cups of that sweet brown goodness.  So I might be failing a little when it comes to the expressed goals at our last twocarolines meeting to include more simple (hello- babka!) and healthy (um….nope) recipes.  I will keep those goals in mind in future postings, but for now, I will show you how to make what is truly one of the most delicious cakes in my repertoire. We usually eat it as a breakfast cake but it certainly has what it takes to star in a dessert cake show as well.  And you’re welcome to omit the apples, if you’re CRAZY! This cake won’t judge, it bakes up perfect either way.

For the cake:

1 stick butter

1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups peeled, cored and chopped apples (usually 2 large-medium apples)

Crumble Topping:

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

4 tablespoons unsalted butter softened

Brown Sugar Glaze:

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons water

 

Make the Cake:

  1. Preheat oven to 350.  Lightly grease a 9×13 glass baking dish with either butter or cooking spray.
  2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs 1 at a time, beating after the addition of each.
  3. In a seperate bowl mix flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
  4. Add to the wet ingredients, alternating with the sour cream and vanilla.
  5. Fold in the apples. Pour into prepared baking dish spreading out to the edges

Make the Topping:

  1. In a bowl combine the sugar, flour, cinnamon, and butter, and mix until it resembles course crumbs.  Sprinkle topping over cake.
  2. Bake until golden brown and set, 35-40 minutes.  Remove from the oven and let cool 5 minutes or so.

Make the Glaze:

  1. Combine the sugar, vanilla, and water and mix until smooth.  Drizzle the cake with the glaze and let harden slightly.

I think this cake is best after it’s cooled down completely, but if you can’t help yourself go ahead and serve warm.  It keeps as long as it’s sealed for a good 3-4 days.

Recipe adapted from Emeril Lagasse Apple Coffee Cake with Crumble Topping and Brown Sugar Glaze 

 

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