These baked caramel apple cider donuts are a delicious fall treat!Â
I can officially (officially) announce that it's Halloween and it's time to eat pumpkin. Which would be a good thing to announce except that I'm kind of a pumpkin and fall foods freak and started on September 2nd. I will eat my way through pumpkin, apples, squash, zucchini and everything fall for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
I kind of feel like the The Very Hungry Caterpillar story once the day after the day after Thanksgiving hits except I don't get the option to go into a sleep coma after devouring fall foods for months on end and turning into a butterfly. If shedding pounds were THAT easy we'd all sign up for that diet plan. I like the theory behind it though, it's got a wonderful concept to it and one that scientists everywhere should look into.
Today though, since none of us gets to do that, it's time to enjoy some healthier and lighter Halloween desserts. I'm featuring the fabulous Nicole from Crazed Mom. I'm highlighting her today as a member of the Secret Recipe Club. Each month we get to highlight a member and share one of their favorite recipes with our readers.
Nicole has some fun healthier fall dessert recipes. Some of my favorites I found were:
L-R: Crunchy Pumpkin Pie Roasted Chickpeas, Chocolate Pumpkin Mini Trifles, Easy Pumpkin Parfaits with Greek Yogurt
Ingredients
- 1 cup all purpose flour (we used gluten free oat flour)
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- â…› tsp nutmeg
- â…› tsp allspice
- ½ tsp salt
- â…“ cup maple syrup
- ½ cup apple cider
- 4 tbsp oil
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1½ cup caramel candy squares (like Brach's)
- 1 tbsp whole milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease your donut pan, then set aside.
- In a mixing bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt.
- In another bowl, mix together the maple syrup, cider, oil and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, stirring until combined.
- Spoon the mixture into the donut pans, filling each space approximately â…” of the way full.
- Bake donuts for 8-10 minutes, or until donuts spring back when lightly touched (cooking time may need to be adjusted depending on if you are baking with mini or full sized donuts).
- Remove donuts from oven and allow to cool in pan for approximately five minutes before removing donuts from pan and transferring to a cooling rack to finish cooling completely.
- Frost when cooled
- In a microwave safe bowl, combine the milk and caramels. Heat for one minute. Remove mixture from the microwave and stir. Continue to heat at 30 second intervals until caramels are fully melted.
- Spoon glaze over the donuts.
These look lovely. I've never been a big fan of donuts - too much sugar; too much fat; almost instant headache - but these baked ones have all kinds of possibilities.
I had your blog this month. I did pick up on the fact that you're a huge fan of all things pumpkin and Fall foods, so your blog was absolutely perfect for an October SRC reveal. 🙂
A good doughnut is hard to beat, and these look terrific. Wonderful flavour combination
Never made doughnuts, they scare me... but, since it's almost Halloween, maybe I should go for it... October, perfect month to be scared! 😉
Have a great Reveal Day!
These look amazing, and I love that they are baked. I know my grandkids would love them. I love fall foods too, now if only fall would come here!
Wowie, these look awesome. The glaze idea is genius. I'll have to make these soon!
Oh wow these incredible!!!! Love that these are baked - might be time I try to make some doughnuts 😀
LOVE the glaze and love the fact that they are baked too, so I am saving this to make soon! They look amazing, great SRC pick! Karen
I seem to be the only food blogger without a donut pan. Must remedy that! Great SRC recipe!