Before December starts, I have a few more recipes on my fall baking bucket list, including these apple cider donut cookies. I’m not a big donut fan, generally, but there’s something truly transcendent about eating a fresh apple cider donut (usually on a farm). It’s soft, warm and toasty, full of cinnamon and a hint of tartness from the apple. The smell immediately reminds me of apple picking and crisp, sunny days.
These cookies embrace all of my favorite elements of an apple cider donut but they’re much easier to make and don’t require frying. They are a bit soft, have a nice chew, and are dusted with a generous coating of cinnamon and sugar. The key to incorporating some apple flavor into these cookies (just like with the donuts, it’s a pretty subtle flavor) is to reduce a relatively large quantity of apple cider until it is highly concentrated and a bit thick. This allows for more flavor without having to add too much moisture to the cookie.
I also brown butter for these cookies to lean into the toasty flavor and provide an opportunity to bloom the cinnamon and nutmeg in the hot butter. Browning butter also reduces its moisture content, allowing me to replace that lost moisture with apple cider for more flavor. To get the full apple cider donut effect, the cookie dough is rolled in a cinnamon sugar mixture and then right when they come out of the oven, more cinnamon and sugar is sprinkled on top.
Apple cider donut cookies
Course: Cookies and barsDifficulty: Baking session32
cookies30
minutes10
minutesThese fall cookies are inspired by apple cider donuts and are soft, chewy, and warmly spiced, with a slight tartness from the apple, and a generous amount of cinnamon sugar on top.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups apple cider
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
1/4 cup (53g) packed brown sugar
1 egg, room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups (188g) all-purpose flour
- For the cinnamon sugar coating
1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
Instructions
- Reduce the apple cider. Pour the apple cider into a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Continue to boil vigorously, checking on the apple cider occasionally, until the liquid has reduced to about 2 Tbsp. Remove from the pan and let cool.
- Brown the butter. Add the butter to the same saucepan that you were using. Heat over medium heat until fully melted. Continue cooking, stirring frequently, until the butter is golden brown and smells nutty, and the butter solids are a dark amber. Immediately remove from the heat and stir in the cinnamon and nutmeg. Pour the mixture into a mixing bowl.
- Allow your butter to cool down for a few minutes. Then, beat in the granulated and brown sugars until well-combined and aerated. Check that the mixture does not feel too hot to the touch. Then add the egg, 2 Tbsp of reduced apple cider, and the vanilla. Beat until well-combined.
- In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Cover and refrigerate the dough for 20-30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Stir together the cinnamon, sugar, and salt in a small bowl.
- Spoon out the dough, one tablespoon at a time. Roll into a ball, roll to coat in cinnamon and sugar, and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Press down lightly with the palm of your hand to flatten a little bit. Bake for 8-11 minutes, or until the edges are set and lightly golden but the center is still soft. Immediately after removing, use a spoon to sprinkle additional cinnamon sugar over the top. Let cool completely.
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