Apple Spice Baked Donuts have all of the flavor of classic Apple Cider Donuts but are much easier to make and lower in sugar! The perfect fall treat.
In a recent Instagram poll, I asked my followers what fall treats they would be most excited about me lightening up. Apple Cider Donuts were one of the most popular. You know I’m always up for a challenge!
Reading over lots of older recipes, I found that the process to make the classic version is pretty complicated. You have to reduce the cider, making it essentially into a syrup. Then you wait for that to cool before you mix in all of your other ingredients.
I’m not saying all of that is super difficult to do, but considering how sugary cider can be and that I don’t like most sugar-free products, I thought the cider step could be taken out.
My approach was to use lots of apple flavor, thanks to apple sauce and freshly grated apple. Then, I bumped up the flavor of the batter with classic cider spices: cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves. The result is a tender, cake-like donut that tastes just like apple cider!
Probably the best part of the donuts is that crunchy cinnamon-sugar coating. To die for!
WHat do I need to make Apple spice baked donuts?
You probably have most of the ingredients already in your pantry and fridge!
- AP Flour
- Baking powder
- Baking Soda
- Ground spices: cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves
- Kosher Salt
- 1 apple
- Unsweetened apple sauce
- Brown sugar and granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- Greek yogurt
- Vanilla extract
Besides the spices, these are ingredients that I use in more of my donut recipes, so I tend to have them on hand. See below for more donut inspo!
DO these reheat well?
The simple answer is YES! But there are some alterations that you should consider.
One of the best parts of the donuts are the crunchy sugar coating. I’ve found that once you dip your donuts in the cinnamon/sugar mixtures, you have about 5 minutes until it starts to sink into the donut. They will still taste delicious, of course, but you won’t get the same texture.
You can bake the donuts ahead of time, then coat them when you’re ready to serve.
I like to make a batch, store them in the refrigerator, then reheat them individually every time I want one. I mix the coating and store it in an airtight container in my cupboard.
When I’m ready for a donut, I’ll reheat one in the air fryer at 350F for just a couple of minutes, then proceed with the coating processes as described in the recipe. It works much better that way!
Looking for more donut recipes?
Here’s a list of my most popular baked donut recipes:
I’d love to hear from you if you make this recipe! It makes my day when you share your pics on Instagram and tag me (@litecravings). Don’t forget to use #litecravingsrecipes to make sure I see it. If I don’t get a chance to scroll through my tags quickly enough, I won’t see your post. I always make a point to look through the hashtags, though, so I’ll see it there.
Apple Spice Baked Donuts
Ingredients
FOR THE DONUTS
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ground ginger
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1 sweet apple, grated (I used Gala)
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 3/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce
- 2 tbsp nonfat Greek yogurt
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
FOR THE CINNAMON SUGAR COATING
- 1/4 cup + 1 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Instructions
MAKE THE DONUTS
- Preheat oven to 350F. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt.
- Grate the apple using the large holes of a box grater. Squeeze as much moisture from the grated apple as possible,
- In a separate bowl, wish together the wet ingredients: grated apple, brown sugar, apple sauce, greek yogurt, egg, and vanilla.
- Slowly whisk the wet ingredients into the dry until just fully combined.
- Grease your donuts molds with cooking spray. Evenly divide batter between 9 donut molds or muffin tins. Mine came out to about 3 tbsp batter per mold.
- Bake until just cooked through, when a tooth pick inserted comes out completely clean, about 12-18 minutes. Mine were perfectly done at 16 minutes. Let cool for about 5 minutes.
- For the coating, mix together the remaining sugar and cinnamon.
- Once donuts are cooled, remove from donut pan and spray lightly on all sides with cooking spray. Dip the slightly moist donuts, one at a time, into the sugar coating just before serving.*
Hi.
could these be baked in the air fryer ?
i dont have donut pan, will it wirk if i do the round shape on a mat or fryer?
tks
I think that could work, too! Let me know how it goes.
Think I could sub canned apples for fresh?
As long as there is no added sugar and you drain them well, I think they’ll be fine. 🙂
Can i use Almond flour instead?
I haven’t tried that, but I bet it would work! Might be a little more dense but still yummy.
Do you pack your brown sugar or full the 1/4 cup loosely?
I pack it.
What could I sub in place of the Greek yogurt in order to make this dairy free?
Dairy free yogurt should work.
This looks awesome. I’m going to try this using Lakanto sweeteners. If I did my input into the calculator correctly, this brings it down to one point! Fingers crossed!
Love that! Hope they turned out well for you. 🙂