You’ll love this grown-up version of a pumpkin patch apple cider donut and in case you are wondering… yes, they are delicious.

Yield: 10 donuts

1 quart of neutral oil for frying (canola, vegetable, sunflower, grape seed, rice bran)

Donut dough ingredients

• 1 cup (207g) sugar
• 5 tablespoon (75g) butter, soft
• 2 ea. (100g) eggs
• 3 ½ cups (490g) all-purpose flour
• 1 ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp nutmeg
• ½ cup (117 g) buttermilk
• ⅓ cup (74 g) cider reduction

Cider reduction ingredients

• 1 ½ cups (360g) unfiltered apple cider

Brandy glaze ingredients

• 1 stick (113g) butter, melted
• 4 cups (385g) powdered sugar, sifted
• ½ cup (104g) Distiller’s Workshop Brandy

Cider Reduction Instructions

In a small saucepot, bring the 1½ cups (360g) of apple cider to a boil.  Turn down to medium heat and reduce to ⅓ cup (74 grams) and set aside.

Donut Making Instructions

Measure flour, salt, leaveners, and spices together and whisk to combine.

With a hand-held mixer or a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy ~3-5 minutes.  Add eggs one at a time, scraping the bowl after each addition. Add dry ingredients in one addition and mix until 90% combined.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add buttermilk and cider reduction and mix on low speed until the dough comes together.

Line a sheet pan with parchment paper and lightly dust with flour.  Place dough on a parchment-lined pan, flour the top of the dough, and pat out gently. The dough will be relatively sticky, so use flour as needed.  Place another piece of parchment paper on top and gently roll with a rolling pin until the dough is ½ inch thick. Place the sheet pan of dough in the fridge and let chill for at least 30 minutes to let the dough firm up- this will make punching the donuts easier.

Using a donut cutter, or a 3 inch and 1 ¼ inch round cutter dipped in flour, punch out the donuts.

Re-roll the trim pieces and repeat the cutting process.

In a 3-4 qt pot, heat one quart of oil to 370°F.  The ideal frying temperature is 350°F, but adding the donuts will drop the temperature, so starting a little higher does the trick. Adding 3 donuts at a time, fry for 1½ minutes on each side.  Remove donuts from oil and place on a paper towel-lined tray/plate or a glazing rack to cool.

While donuts are cooling, mix together the glaze.

Glaze Instructions

In a bowl, mix together the melted butter and powdered sugar.

Mix in the Brandy.  The glaze should be a touch thicker than school glue, so add more Brandy to adjust the consistency if needed.

When the donuts are barely warm and cool enough to handle dip in the glaze and return to the glazing/cooling rack or tray to finish cooling/setting.

*If you’re thinking “10 donuts will be too many for me to eat” just fry what you want and freeze the rest. Place the remaining raw doughnuts on a sheet of parchment and freeze, then pop them into a freezer bag once they are hard.  The next time you want donuts, just pull them out the night before, lay them out on a covered tray or a plate, and defrost in the fridge overnight.

The frozen dough will last up to a month in the freezer.