"Donuts. Is there anything they can't do?"-Matt Groening
Around this time last year, I had the pleasure of visiting my brother when he lived in Hartford, Connecticut. One of my fondest memories of the trip (besides periodically pestering my brother by asking him if we could visit Stars Hollow*), was enjoying delightful apple cider doughnuts at a road side stand. The cider doughnut is a harvest tradition in the northeastern United States and can be found at cider mill stands along with mulled apple cider. Ask a Northerner and she will likely speak quite fondly of enjoying a nice apple cider doughnut after a day of picking apples. As a cider doughnut newbie, I was surprised that the doughnuts do not have a strong apple taste. They have a light, subtle sweetness, a bit of tang and a hint of delicious spices like nutmeg and cinnamon. Since I would not be visiting a stand this year, I thought what would Sookie St. James* do? Well, try a homemade version, of course. And I have to say, they may actually be better than the ones at the stands. I used this recipe from pastry chef Lauren Dawson that was printed in the Washington Post several years ago. It seems to be the go-to recipe for these doughnuts as they have been adapted multiple times on various recipe sites.
My only doughnut making experience prior to this was with baked doughnuts so I was a little intimidated by the idea of having to cut dough and deep fry. However, with the help of an inexpensive candy thermometer, I was frying in no time and the entire process start to finish was surprisingly straight forward. The recipe yields about 20 donuts when you use a 3 inch cutter. Since I do feel (slightly) guilty about promoting sugary, fried dough, I am obligated to also provide you this baked recipe. which seems to be quite good. But for the true cider mill stand experience, I do recommend frying.
The recipe also includes directions for making a nice, cider based glaze. I was pretty worn out from all the frying and instead sprinkled some with cinnamon sugar and others with powdered sugar. They were both equally delicious. The donuts are great warm or room temperature and make excellent goodies for this holiday season. You can package a couple in pretty bags with these individually wrapped mulling spice bags. Or if you are enjoying your doughnuts at home while trimming the tree, try this homemade mulled cider recipe.
*If the words Stars Hollow and Sookie St. James mean nothing to you, start watching this immediately.
image source: SD
-SD
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