Apple Cider Donuts

Cider donuts from Honeypot Hill

One of my favorite things about fall is apple cider donuts.  They have to come fresh from an apple orchard from New England, though, preferably on a brisk, sunny day.  I've tried the ones they sell at super markets and even the state fair, but they're just not the same.

If you've never had one before, you might be disappointed to hear that they don't really taste like apple cider.  That said, they're still incredibly delicious and pair perfectly with a nice, cold glass of cider.  I like my cider donuts on the small side, coated with cinnamon and sugar, and, most importantly, fresh from the fryer so that they're still warm and crispy.  The interior should be cakey, but not dry, and never, ever greasy.

Luckily, even if you don't live in New England, you can make your own as long as you can get your hands on some real apple cider:  the cloudy, unfiltered kind that burns just a little bit on the way down your throat, not the weak, see through stuff they sell off-season.

Apple Cider Donuts (from Food52)
makes 10-12 donuts

1 cup apple cider
2 3/4 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
2/3 cups sugar
2 tablespoons non-hydrogenated shortening
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1/3 cup buttermilk
canola oil, for frying
1/2 cup sugar, for topping
2 teaspoons cinnamon, for topping

Bring the apple cider to a boil over high heat and cook it until it has reduced to 1/3 cup, 7-10 minutes. Set aside to cool while you prepare the rest of the donuts.

   
Sift the cake flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg.

   
In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix the shortening and sugar together on medium speed until sandy. Add in the egg and egg yolk and mix on high until light and thickened, about 5 minutes.
  
Mix the reduced apple cider and buttermilk together. Then add the flour mixture, alternating with the milk mixture to the mixer in three additions mixing until just combined. The dough will be soft and sticky much like cookie dough.

  
Transfer the mixture to a clean bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough for at least one hour or overnight.
   
When you are ready to roll and fry the donuts, heat a large pot or dutch oven with at least 2 inches of oil over medium heat until the oil reaches 370ºF on a candy thermometer.

Gently roll the chilled dough out onto a generously floured board or piece of parchment paper into a circle about 1/2'' thick and about 8'' wide.

Cut as many donuts as possible, making sure to flour the cutters before each cut.  If at any time the dough becomes too soft to handle, just put it in the refrigerator for a few minutes. Place the cut donuts on a parchment lined baking sheet and refrigerate for 15 minutes until they are slightly firm and easier to handle. While the donuts are chilling, stir together the cinnamon and sugar for the topping in a shallow, wide bowl.

   
Brush off any excess flour and fry the donuts for about 1 minute per side, being careful not to crowd the pan.  When the donuts are deep golden brown on each side, remove them from the oil, gently blot off excess oil and toss immediately in the cinnamon sugar.

I had a couple of issues with this version:  the finished product was a little too dense for my liking, the outside was only barely crispy, even fresh out of the fryer, and I had a hard time getting the cinnamon and sugar to stick to the donut.  My friends who got to try them liked them enough, though, so I probably just have really high standards when it comes to cider donuts.  Next time I might try Smitten Kitchen's version, which are fried in Crisco.

Next:  Pluot Lambic Sorbet
Previously:  Salted Butter Caramel Apple Pie with Vodka Pie Crust
Last year:  Caramelized Onion and Swiss Chard Quiche

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Salted Butter Caramel Apple Pie with Vodka Pie Crust

My church went apple picking last weekend, and I went with the express purpose of picking apples to make this pie.  Or more precisely, so I could make this pie crust from America's Test Kitchen.  I first made the vodka pie crust three years ago with Tammy.  It made the flakiest, most flavorful pie crust I had ever eaten, but it uses shortening, an ingredient I don't usually have on hand.  Luckily, my new roommate had some from when she made this same pie crust (it's her favorite, too!).

*photo by Tammy Hui

According to America's Test Kitchen, the addition of the vodka helps to keep the pie dough tender because it inhibits the formation of gluten while still acting like a binder for the dry ingredients.  The shortening also helps to prevent gluten from forming because unlike butter, it doesn't contain any water.  Yay, science! 

*Pro-tip:  If you don't have a rolling pin, the vodka bottle works!

I adapted the filling and salted caramel sauce from Sally's Baking Addiction.  Sadly, I took my sugar off the heat too soon, and my sauce is more of a blond sweet butter sauce than a caramel, but it still tastes uber delicious!

If you can, try to use a variety of apples for the pie so you have some sweet and some tart, some softer and some firmer.  I picked Macintosh, Golden Supreme, and Honeycrisp apples for this pie.

Salted Butter Caramel Apple Pie with Vodka Pie Crust
makes 1 pie

For the pie crust:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces and chilled
8 tablespoons vegetable shortening, cut into 4 pieces and chilled
1/4 cup vodka, chilled
1/4 cup ice water

Process 1 1/2 cups flour, sugar, and salt together in food processor until combined.  Scatter butter and shortening over top and continue to process until incorporated and mixture begins to form uneven clumps with no remaining floury bits.  Sprinkle remaining 1 cup flour over dough and pulse until mixture has broken up into pieces and is evenly distributed around the bowl.

Transfer mixture to a large bowl.  Sprinkle vodka and ice water over mixture.  Stir and press dough together, using stiff rubber spatula, until dough sticks together.

Divide dough into 2 even pieces.  Turn each piece of dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap and flatten each into a 4-inch disk.  Wrap each piece tightly in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

For the caramel sauce:
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup room temperature water
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
2 tablespoons heavy cream

Combine the granulated sugar, salt, and water in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar is dissolved.  Turn the heat down to medium-low and cook without stirring, until the syrup becomes a medium dark amber caramel, about 15 minutes.

Remove the pan from heat and immediately stir in the room temperature butter and cold heavy cream. Do not worry if the butter starts to separate; it will come together as the caramel cools. Transfer the caramel to a medium bowl and whisk until the caramel begins to come together.  Set aside.

For the apple pie:
2 teaspoons fresh lemon zest
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
6 large apples, cored, peeled, and thinly sliced (use a variety for better flavor, such as Macintosh, Golden Supreme, and Honey Crisp)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon milk

Put the lemon zest and lemon juice into a very large bowl. Add the apples and toss gently. In a small mixing bowl, combine the flour, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, and sugar. Pour over the apples and gently toss to combine. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 400°F.

On a floured work surface, roll out one of the balls of chilled dough (keep the other one in the refrigerator). Turn the dough about a quarter turn after every few rolls until you have a circle about 12" in diameter. Carefully place the dough into a 9"x2" pie dish. Tuck it in with your fingers, making sure it is smooth.

Fill the pie crust with the apples. There are a lot of apples, but pile them tightly and very high. Drizzle with 1/2 cup of the salted caramel, reserving the rest for topping.

Roll out the other ball of dough to a 10" circle.  Carefully place on top of the pie.  Fold over any excess dough and crimp all the way around.  Cut a few slits into the top with a sharp knife.

Make an egg wash by beating the egg yolk with the milk.  Brush the top with a very thin coating.

Place the pie onto a large baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes. Keeping the pie in the oven, turn the temperature down to 350°F and bake for an additional 40-50 minutes. If the top of your pie is getting too brown, cover loosely with aluminum foil. The pie will be done when the caramel begins to bubble up. A small knife inserted inside should come out relatively clean.

Allow the pie to cool for 4 hours before serving. Drizzle the pie with the extra caramel sauce to serve.

Previously:   Sweet Corn Ice Cream with Black Raspberry Swirl
Next:  Apple Cider Donuts

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Apple Cake Win

When I found myself in possession of 6 apples (from a combination of apple picking and Boston Organics), I knew it was time for me to redeem myself after this fail a couple of years ago.  But first I had to find a tube pan.  Luckily, I found one at TJ Maxx that not only was a springform and had a non-stick coating, it also had a second, flat bottom so I could use it was a regular cake pan!  And it was only $10!  Score!

I remembered my mistakes from before so I tried to follow the recipe more faithfully this time.  But I still couldn't resist trying to sneak in some white whole wheat flour and evaporated cane juice in an attempt to make it slightly healthier.  Thankfully, it worked out this time.  =)

 
Smitten Kitchen's Mom's Apple Cake

6 apples (I used half McIntosh and half Granny Smith apples)
1 tablespoon cinnamon
5 tablespoons sugar

2 3/4 cups flour (I substituted 3/4 cup of white whole wheat flour)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups sugar (I substituted a cup of Sucanat)
1/4 cup orange juice
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
4 eggs

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a tube pan.

 
Peel, core and chop apples into chunks. Toss with cinnamon and sugar and set aside.

 
Sift together flour, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl.

 
In a separate bowl, whisk together oil, orange juice, sugar and vanilla. Mix wet ingredients into the dry ones, then add eggs, one at a time.  (I had to do this in my stand mixer because the batter was so thick.)  Scrape down the bowl to ensure all ingredients are incorporated.

 
Pour half of batter into prepared pan. Spread half of apples over it.

 
Pour the remaining batter over the apples and arrange the remaining apples on top.

 
Bake for about 1 1/2 hours, or until a tester comes out clean.

Like Deb said, this cake definitely gets better one the second day, "when the apples juices seep further into the cake."  I chose not to top mine with powdered sugar because I always end up either inhaling the powdered sugar or getting it all over my clothes, or both. =)

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Apple Tarte Tatin

I had a couple of apples plus a lemon from the last Boston Organics delivery, so when I found a box of puff pastry in my freezer that I had forgotten about, I immediately thought of trying to make a tarte tatin. I never took French, so I have no idea how to pronounce that, but it sure sounded good: apples caramelized in butter and sugar, then topped with puff pastry and finished in the oven.

I remembered Molly (of Orangette fame) had included a recipe for tarte tatin in her book, A Homemade Life, so I pretty much followed that version. It wasn't until I went to copy and paste her version on-line that I realized the book version of the recipe didn't exactly mention that the puff pastry was supposed to be "1/2 inch wider all around than the skillet". And you can see why below; the pastry shrinks as it bakes. But I don't think it really matters all that much once you flip it over. I also changed it up a bit by cutting the apples into sixteenths instead of quarters since I only had 4 apples. And instead of placing them rounded side down, I made a spiral patter with the slices on their sides.

Apple Tarte Tatin (based on Orangette's version here)
makes 8 servings

4 large apples, (I used Fuji)
Juice of 1 lemon
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
About 14 ounces puff pastry

Peel and core the apples and cut each into 16 slices. Toss the apple slices in a large bowl with the lemon juice and ½ cup of the sugar. Set aside for 30 minutes.

Melt 4 tablespoons of butter in a 9-inch oven-safe skillet over medium heat. Add the remaining 1 cup sugar, along with a few tablespoons of the apple-lemon juices. Stir to mix. Cook the mixture over medium-low heat, stirring regularly with a wooden spoon, for about 15 minutes, or until the mixture is a smooth, bubbly, pale caramel color.

Remove the pan from the heat and carefully add apple slices, arranging them neatly in a decorative pattern. Arrange a second layer of apples on top wherever they fit, closely packed. This second layer need not be terribly neat. Top the apples with the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, cut into dice.

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Cook the apples over medium-low heat for about 20 minutes, occasionally spooning the bubbling caramel liquid over them. Press them down gently with the back of a spoon — don’t worry if they shift a bit in the liquid; just move them back to where they were — and watch to make sure that no one area of the pan is bubbling more than another. Shift the pan as necessary so that the apples cook evenly. They are ready when the liquid in the pan has turned to a thick, amber ooze. The apples should still be slightly firm. Do not allow them to get entirely soft or the liquid to turn dark brown. Remove the pan from the heat.

On a floured surface, roll the puff pastry out to a thickness of about 3/16 inch. Using a sharp, thin knife, trace a circle in the pastry about 10 inches in diameter (1/2 inch wider all around than the skillet), and trim away any excess. Carefully lay the pastry circle over the apples in the skillet, tucking the overlap down between the apples and the inside of the pan.

Place the skillet on a rimmed baking sheet, and bake for about 30-35 minutes, until the pastry has risen, and is dry and golden brown. Remove the skillet from the oven, and let it to rest for a minute or two. Tilt the pan and look down inside the edge: if there is a lot of juice, pour most of it off into the sink. [Do not pour it all off, or the apples may stick to the pan.] Place a serving platter upside-down over the skillet and, working quickly and carefully (it’s hot!), invert the tart onto the platter. Rearrange any apple slices that may have slipped or stuck to the skillet. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Now if only I could figure out what to do with all the buttered apple juices I drained off....

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Apple and Pear Cake FAIL

I needed to use up some more apples and pears from my Boston Organics delivery, so I decided to try Smitten Kitchen's Mom's Apple Cake. Except I didn't have a tube pan. Or a bundt pan. And I only had 2 apples and 2 pears. And I accidentally bought white whole wheat flour instead of my usual unbleached all-purpose flour. A normal person might have decided these reasons were enough to stop, but oh no, I had to go ahead and try to make the cake anyways.

First conversion: I figured I could multiple all the ingredients by 3/4 to account for the fact that I only had 4 pieces of fruit instead of the 6 required for the recipe.

First fail: You know how people say baking is like chemistry and that everything needs to be measured precisely? Well, I had to adjust some of the calculated measurements just so I could measure them. And I ended up with a really, really, really thick batter. Like closer to cookie dough than cake batter. I don't think that's right.

Second conversion: Instead of using a tube pan, I used a normal square pan. In the original post, Deb says that you can probably make the cake in a 9"x13" cake pan if you don't have a tube pan. I figured since I was reducing the quantities in the recipe, I could get away with a 9" square pan.

Second fail: I think the reason this cake calls for a tube pan is because it take a long time for the middle to bake. And maybe longer because I had that ridiculously thick batter. The original recipe says to bake for 1.5 hours or until a tester comes out clean. Um, at 1.5 hours, the middle of the cake was just barely starting to set, and the edges were all getting burnt.

(By the way, The Kitchn just posted a hack on what to do if you don't have a tube pan!)

Third conversion: I only had 1/4 cup all-purpose flour left, so I used that and then used whole wheat flour for the rest of the flour. I figured, it's a cake with fruit so it's already slightly healthy anyways. Can't make that much of a difference right? Um, yeah. Don't ever do what I did, okay? Unless you like eat really dense cardboard.

But, I was still able to get some decent pictures of the thing. And I still did eat it. At least, the top half of it. The bottom half was unsalvageable. Hmmm, I should've taken a picture of what was leftover in the pan.

Anyways, instead of posting the fail recipe, I'm just going to link over to Smitten Kitchen again. Because she has the correct recipe AND gorgeous pictures.

ETA:  Three years later, I finally conquered this recipe by using the right ingredients and baking pan.

One year ago:  Maracons - A Lesson in Humility

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Apple-Pear-Cranberry Crisp

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! What are you thankful for this year? Me, I'm thankful that I got to travel to a lot of different countries (Czech Republic, Bolivia, Aruba, Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Egypt!), for new friends that I've made, and that my brother got married to a wonderful girl!

I almost always staying in Boston for Thanksgiving since my home in Ohio is really too far away to drive to and too expensive to fly to for such a short break. But it's become tradition to celebrate with other Thanksgiving "orphans", and this year I went over to Oeimae, Yumi (thanks for the invite!), and Judy's apartment in Brookline for yet another potluck. This time, I wanted to use up the two pears and two apples I had gotten in my Boston Organics delivery, so I decided to make a apple-pear crisp. But just those 4 fruits didn't seem to be enough for the 9"x13" pan, so I bought a bag of fresh cranberries to add to the mix for some color and tartness.

Apple-Pear-Cranberry Crisp
makes 24 servings

2 apples, peeled, cored, and sliced (I used Fuji apples)
2 pears, peeled, cored, and sliced (I used one Bosc and one Concord pear)
1 bag fresh cranberries
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 dash nutmeg
1 1/2 cups flour and 1 tablespoon flour, divided
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups oats
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cups butter, cut into pieces

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Toss the apple and pear slices with the cinnamon, nutmeg, and 1 tablespoon flour. Add the cranberries and sugar. Toss to mix. Place in a 9"x13" baking dish.

In a large bowl, add the remaining ingredients and cut the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles a coarse meal. You can also use a food processor to do this, but I enjoy doing it with my hands.

Spread the topping evenly over the fruit. Bake for 45 minutes. Serve with vanilla ice cream!

That last part of the recipe is key. Even though there's a whole cup of sugar in the fruit filling, the fresh cranberries are really quite tart. Eating this crisp with ice cream mellows out the fruit so that the sum is much greater than its parts.

This recipe can be adapted to other fruits as well. You can omit the cranberries and use more of the apples or pears. A peach or cherry crisp is another possibility, but you'd have to adjust the amount of sugar since those fruits are already quite sweet.

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