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
These look like the yummiest treat! Question for you about the flours: I do not have oat flour, and wonder if this can be substituted with maybe white whole wheat, or is it possible to pulverize “old fashioned rolled oats” in the food processor for the oat flour? Thank you!
You can easily make oat flour with rolled oats, for sure! I have a post all about it, here.
And yes, you can also substitute all purpose flour, or white whole wheat might be nice.
These look wonderful and I love that they can be made ahead! In one picture it appears (I may be mistaken) that you have buttered and sugared the muffin pans, but in the next photo, the pans are buttered but not sugared. Do you recommend sugaring the pans? I can’t wait to make these!
I don’t think sugaring the muffin tin is a good idea, because you really want the sugar to adhere as thickly as possible when you roll them, and if you sugar the pan it might make a little crust that would prevent that.
Oh these are the seriously the most perfect fall breakfast ever!
These were really good!! I love them!
I have to declare – these muffins look soooo “I-don’t-care-if-it’s-fall-or-not-I-just-want-these-muffins”! 🙂 That cider crust is something special, let me tell you that! And the fact that I can make them the night before make them even better.
It was life changing when I discovered you can make most muffin batters the night before 😉
This looks sooo good! What size scoop do you use to scoop the batter? I need to purchase a few scoops for my kitchen, too!
Thanks Lorri ~ I use my 2-inch ice cream scoop for muffins. Hope you love these as much as I do 🙂
These look so delicious that I can barely write this comment – so keen to run to the kitchen and make a batch! Great post, too!
I am here for this! I love how you coated the entire muffin with cinnamon sugar. I can’t wait to try these.
The coating is magic, it actually keeps the muffins nice and fluffy and moist overnight, too, so it’s a win win 🙂
These look wonderful! Really creative recipe. Really good too, I bet. Thanks!
Love these muffins and perfect timing Sue to roll out this recipe- it’s just what we need this week! Thanks so much!
Pinning !!
Thank you, I think you’re going to be pleased with these!