Easy Baked Apple Cider Chai Donuts

If you’re short on time, these easy baked apple cider chai donuts only take a few minutes to whip up and you can be enjoying delicious apple cider and chai fall flavors in under an hour! A perfect Sunday morning treat.

While I’ve started to get over my yeast-breads aversion since beginning my blog, I still prefer to bake without it. I just never know if it’s actually going to do what it’s supposed to, and time and again I’ve ended up with breads and baked goods that just don’t live up to my expectations.

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These donuts, however, will never disappoint. They’re super easy to make take under an hour to make – this includes baking and cooling time!

If you don’t like chai, you could easily make these apple cider donuts – just omit the chai concentrate and double the cider. You could also cut the recipe in half for a small batch if you’re only feeding a couple of people.

SHOPPING LIST FOR EASY BAKED APPLE CIDER CHAI DONUTS

• All purpose flour
• Chai concentrate
• Apple cider
• Brown sugar
• Baking powder
• Salt
• Butter
• Egg
• Cinnamon

LET’S TALK ABOUT THESE DONUTS:

Flavor: these are a traditional apple cider donut flavor, the better the apple cider, the stronger the flavors will come through. The chai flavor is subtle but a lovely accompaniment to the apple cider.

Texture: these donuts are cake donuts, so they wont have the lift and airiness that comes with a yeasted donut, but if you like cake donuts these are fantastic. They’re moist and dense with a tender crumb. The cinnamon sugar topping adds just the right amount of crunch to every bite.

Ease: this is a super simple recipe – 3/10 on the difficulty scale. You’ll need three bowls total to make all of the elements of the recipe.

RECIPE HIGHLIGHTS:

• Apple cider
• Chai
• Easy to make
• Delicious fall flavor
• Can be doubled or cut in half depending on your needs

FAQ’S

Can I omit either the apple cider or the chai? Absolutely – if you’d like these to be just apple cider or just chai donuts, just omit the liquid you don’t want, and double the other.

How do I store these? These are best the day you make them. They don’t store very well because the moisture from the donut causes the cinnamon sugar mixture to get a little on the soggy side. If you need to store them, just cover them lightly with parchment or foil, and I would only keep them for 1 extra day.

What if I don’t have a donut pan? There are a million web pages that will tell you how to make donuts without a donut pan. Honestly – they all seem like kind of a pain to me. If you don’t have a donut pan, I would just make these as muffins instead. You’ll probably get about 8-10 muffins out of the amount of batter – bake them at 350 for about 20 minutes – start checking them for doneness after 15 minutes. Once they cool, just finish preparing them with the cinnamon sugar mixture as you would have the donuts.

TIPS AND TRICKS:

The best way to serve the donuts is with my apple cider syrup – recipe coming soon!!

Buy the best apple cider you can afford – this is the main flavor in these donuts, and you want to be able to taste it.

Don’t overmix the batter – your donuts will end up tough. Mix until just combined.

I used trader joe’s chai concentrate, but Tazo chai is available in most grocery stores, and would work just as well.

You can just dunk the donuts into the melted butter, but I find that brushing it on with a pastry brush gave me the most even coverage.