These Apple Cider Doughnut Muffins are here for you when you just can’t wait another second for Fall. They’re soft and tender inside, with that classic cider doughnut cinnamon sugar crust…so good!
These apple cider doughnut muffins were a joy to make from start to finish, but the moment I pulled them out of the oven was the best. The kitchen smelled of cinnamon, and it felt like Fall had arrived, even if technically it’s still summer 🙂
The texture of these doughnut muffins is rich and cakey, with a really nice ‘doughnutty’ crumb. If you know my Apple Cider Doughnut Cake you’ll know what I mean. The cinnamon sugar coating, added when the muffins are still warm, give them that classic cider doughnut vibe. They’ll be just perfect for your fall breakfasts and brunches.
it’s all about that cinnamon sugar coating
The cinnamon sugar coating is created by first brushing the warm muffins with melted butter. Then I literally roll them in a bowl of cinnamon sugar to coat them all over. That’s important because you’re going to want to get some of that sweet crust in every bite. It’s also why I don’t use paper muffin liners with this recipe, but you certainly can if you like.
Just like their bundt cake cousin, the batter for these apple cider doughnut muffins is so easy to make; a big bowl and a whisk gets the job done. There’s no need to haul out the heavy equipment.
why do I use oat flour in these cider doughnut muffins?
I use oat flour in these muffins both for flavor and texture…it’s naturally gluten free so it gives the muffins a wonderfully light crumb. Oat flour is readily available in most large grocery stores, and Bob’s Red Mill makes a good one, but it’s essentially oats that have been ground into a fine powder, so if you don’t have any on hand you can actually process rolled oats in a food processor or high speed blender, like a Vitamix, to make your own. For more details, check out my post on how to make your own oat flour!
I love to add oat flour to regular flour in lots of different types of recipes. It does wonders for my Irish oatmeal soda bread and my quick whole grain oat rolls.
Using a scoop ensures that all the muffins are a standard size. You don’t want to cheat anybody, trust me! I have several different sizes of scoops in my kitchen and I use them all the time.
can I keep this apple cider doughnut muffin batter in the fridge overnight?
What’s extra great about these muffins is that you can make them the night before…the batter is just fine hanging out in the fridge. This way you, and anyone lucky enough to be awake with you, can enjoy fresh warm just-out-of-the-oven muffins in the morning, just scoop and bake.
- Despite what you might have been told, it’s often ok, no even a good thing, to let muffin batter rest overnight in the refrigerator. Getting the batter straight into the fridge after mixing is ideal, it slows down the activity of the leaveners.
- It’s a win win, because you and the fam get to roll out of bed and into warm doughnut muffins on a crisp fall morning with practically zero effort.
admit it, you know you want more fall themed treats…
- Maple Walnut Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
- Dutch Apple Cake
- Fresh Ginger and Pear Cake
- Pumpkin Doughnut Cake
Apple Cider Doughnut Muffins
Equipment
- a muffin pan
Ingredients
dry ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup oat flour
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
wet ingredients
- 1 cup apple cider
- 3/4 cup applesauce, (you can also use apple butter)
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil, (corn, canola, safflower)
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
topping
- 6 Tbsp butter, melted
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon, use more depending on how cinnamon-y you want your coating
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F Lightly butter muffins pans.
- Whisk the dry ingredients together to combine.
- Whisk the wet ingredients together in another bowl.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry and whisk until just combined, don’t over mix.
- Scoop the batter into the muffin cups and bake for about 19 minutes.
- Meanwhile stir the sugar and cinnamon together for the topping.
- Let the muffins cool for about 5 to 10 minutes, then remove from the pan.
- Brush the muffin tops (and sides if you like) with melted butter, then roll in the cinnamon sugar to coat really well. If necessary, coat twice to get a good coverage.
Nutrition
This is a nice recipe. I did include the oat flour. (Pro tip: add a cup or so of oat flour to chocolate chip cookie dough.) I used two eggs, not three, and was very happy with the result. I wanted to use unsweetened applesauce but had only sweetened, so I decreased the sugar to 1 1/4 cups.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Mary!
Delicious and easy! But makes a lot, I made 18 standard muffins and 8 jumbo muffins. The batter was somewhat thin compared to other muffin recipes, but the resulting muffins were light and cake-like. Glad I tried it and will make these again.
Thanks Cathy!
I made these yesterday… soooo delicious!!! I didn’t have enough applesauce (I only had one kiddo squeeze packet LOL!) so I made up the difference with sour cream. YUM!!!
Haha, those squeeze packets come in handy! I once made carrot bread with carrot baby food!
Ah-ha, I’ve just found your homemade apple cider recipe, Sue so please ignore my question regarding apple cider. I should have known you would cover every eventuality, so many thanks for that!