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Baked Apple Donuts

Baked Apple Donuts, made with fresh apples and coated in cinnamon sugar are the perfect fall treat. These baked donuts are easier to make than fried versions and so yummy, you’ll be asking yourself why you waited so long to make them!

I can think of very few things that are better than starting a fall morning with a delicious apple donut. This simple joy is my idea of a picture-perfect start to a weekend.

My simple, homemade Baked Apple Donuts have all the things I love about donuts- they have a crispy, sweet exterior and a tender, cake-like texture. The cake donuts are also big on apple flavor. They are filled with diced apples, apple sauce, and apple pie spices like cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg. The crunchy cinnamon-sugar coating takes that flavor up a notch, making these anything but boring.

They are the perfect fall treat to enjoy with a cup of hot coffee or hot apple cider.

These baked donuts are also significantly easier to make than fried donuts. There’s no need to watch over a pot of hot oil as you cook donuts up in batches. Instead, you can pop a whole pan in the oven, and let them cook up at once. In just half an hour, you have a delicious fall breakfast or dessert.

Platter of Baked Apple Donuts with a cinnamon sugar coating.

  • These donuts are delicious! They are loaded with apple flavor from fresh apples, apple sauce, and apple spices.
  • They make the perfect fall breakfast treat or dessert.

  • Baked donuts are easy to whip up in under 30 minutes!

  • You can make the batter in one bowl. Also, since you don’t need to fry these, clean up is much easier!

Ingredients in Baked Apple Donuts

  • Egg: Helps create a perfect cake texture.

  • Butter: Melted butter is used in the donut batter as well as the cinnamon sugar coating.

  • Sugar: White granulated sugar.

  • Milk: Whole milk or 2% milk is best for this recipe.

  • Apple sauce: Adds apple flavor to the batter.

  • Apple: Finely chopped or grated so that it can be evenly distributed in the batter.

  • Apple pie spices: ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, ground clove.

  • Salt: Enhances flavor.

  • Leaveners: Baking powder and baking soda.

  • Flour: All purpose flour.

**Note: Ingredient quantities and full instructions are in the recipe card at the end of this post.**

How to make Baked Apple Donuts

  1. Prep. Preheat oven to 375F and grease your donut pans.

  2. Mix the wet ingredients and sugar. In a large bowl, whisk together the egg, melted butter, sugar, apple sauce and milk.

  3. Add the apples and spices. To the wet ingredients, add the finely chopped apple, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ground clove and mix well.

  4. Add the dry ingredients. Sprinkle in the baking powder, baking soda, and flour, mixing the batter until everything is combined. The batter will be thick.

  5. Pipe into a donut pan and bake. Place the batter in a piping bag or a plastic ziploc bag with a corner cut off and pipe the batter into the donut pan, filling each cavity 3/4 of the way full. Bake for 12 minutes or until the toothpick inserted into the middle of a donut comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack.

  6. Coat in cinnamon-sugar. When you are ready to enjoy the donuts, mix the cinnamon and sugar in a bowl to make the coating. In a separate bowl, place the melted butter. Dip the donuts one at a time in the melted butter and then roll them in the cinnamon sugar to coat them evenly. Enjoy.

Storing leftovers

Once cooled, leftover donuts can be placed in an airtight container and stored at room temperature. They are best consumed within a day.

Freezing donuts

You can freeze the baked donuts for future snacking. To freeze, once they have cooled, place them in a freezer bag and freeze for a couple of months.

If you know you are not going to consume the donuts when you make them and plan on freezing them, I recommend leaving the cinnamon sugar coating off of the ones you freeze, and completing this step after you thaw them. This will ensure the cinnamon sugar coating is nice and crisp when serving.

These baked apple donuts are delicious with a hot cup of coffee for breakfast or as a fall dessert with a cup of hot apple cider. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do!

Love baked donuts? You may also like:

Baked Old Fashioned Glazed Donuts

More delicious apple treats:

Apple Cake (Greek Milopita)
Healthy Apple Oat Muffins
Classic Apple Pie
Apple Pie Bars
Apple Roses with Puff Pastry
Puff Pastry Apple Tarts
Apple Cinnamon French Toast Bake
Apple Ginger Galette

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Platter of Baked Apple Donuts with a cinnamon sugar coating.

Baked Apple Donuts

Catherine
Baked Apple Donuts, made with fresh apples and coated in cinnamon sugar are the perfect fall treat. These baked donuts are easier to make than fried versions and so yummy, you'll be asking yourself why you waited so long to make them!
5 from 2 votes
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 12 minutes
Total Time 27 minutes
Course Breakfast, Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 12 servings
Calories 288 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 1 egg
  • 2 tablespoons butter melted
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup apple sauce
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 3/4 cup finely chopped apple or grated
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground clove
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 cups all purpose flour

For the cinnamon sugar coating:

  • 1/3 cup butter melted
  • 1 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 tablespoons cinnamon

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 375F and grease your donut pans.
  • In a large bowl, whisk together the egg, melted butter, sugar, apple sauce and milk.
  • To the wet ingredients, add the finely chopped apple, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ground clove and mix well.
  • Sprinkle in the baking powder, baking soda, and flour, mixing the batter until everything is combined. The batter will be thick.
  • Place the batter in a piping bag or a plastic ziploc bag with a corner cut off and pipe the batter into the donut pan, filling each cavity 3/4 of the way full. Bake for 12 minutes or until the toothpick inserted into the middle of a donut comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack.
  • When you are ready to enjoy the donuts, mix the cinnamon and sugar in a bowl to make the coating. In a separate bowl, place the melted butter. Dip the donuts one at a time in the melted butter and then roll them in the cinnamon sugar to coat them evenly. Enjoy. [Note: If you don't intend on enjoying the whole batch at once, I recommend only applying the cinnamon sugar coating to the ones you wish to consume immediately. As they sit, the cinnamon sugar coating can lose its crunch so I like to do it close to the time I serve them.]

Note: Metric ingredient measurements are provided as a courtesy using a third-party calculator and are rounded to the nearest unit. The recipes provided on this site have not been tested with metric measurements and their accuracy cannot be verified.

Nutrition

Calories: 288kcalCarbohydrates: 53gProtein: 3gFat: 8gSaturated Fat: 5gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 33mgSodium: 261mgPotassium: 60mgFiber: 2gSugar: 35gVitamin A: 256IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 70mgIron: 1mg

The nutritional information provided is based on third-party calculations and is an estimate only. Accurate nutritional facts will vary based on the particular brands used, portion sizes, measurement accuracy and more.

Keyword apples, baked donuts, doughnuts, fall
Tried this recipe?Leave a star rating and comment below to let us know how it was!

2 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    When applying rhw cinnamon sugar, do you dip in melted butter and then i to cinnamon sugar or just drop the warm donut into a bag and shake?

    • Herbs and Flour

      Hi Char! I dip them in the butter and then into a bowl with the cinnamon sugar in it.

5 from 2 votes (1 rating without comment)

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