Apple Doughnuts

Besides it being National Cookbook Month, October is also National Apple Month. I had no idea! Apple pie is probably the most popular choice when it comes to apple-based desserts, but if you can have it in doughnut form, why not? These apple doughnuts are deep fried but light and fluffy with a warm and spicy apple filling. Perfect way to celebrate National Apple Month!

To make the apple filling, put the finely chopped apples, sugar, lemon juice, cornstarch, and spices in a small saucepan and cook over medium-low heat until the apples turn jammy. The amount of sugar you add depends on how sweet your apples are. I used kougyoku apples, which are very tart and firm, perfect for apple pies. Start with 3 tablespoons of sugar, and taste the cooked apples and adjust as needed. When finished cooking, pour it into a bowl and let it cool completely.

The doughnut base is the same one from my homemade doughnuts and blueberry cream cheese doughnut recipe. I love this recipe because I just throw everything into my bread machine and press a button, and all the hard work is done for you.

If you're looking for a gluten-free apple donut, try this apple fritters recipe!

Place the bread flour, sugar, salt, milk powder, yeast, butter, egg, and water into a bread machine and set it on the dough setting.

Place all of the dough ingredients into a bread machine and set it on the dough setting. The dough setting kneads the dough for 10 min, rest for 10 min, kneads again for 10 min and lets the dough rise for 30 min. This might be helpful to keep in mind if you're kneading this by hand or using a stand mixer.

When the dough is done, take it out onto a floured surface, cover with plastic wrap and let it rest for 10 min. Roll it out to about ½in (1.3cm). Cut out 3in (8cm) circles. Place the doughnuts on pieces of parchment paper, cover the doughnuts with plastic wrap, set it somewhere warm and let them rise again until it doubles in size. Heat your oil to 356°F (180°C) and fry each doughnut about a minute and a half on each side. Take them out onto a wire rack lined with paper towels to drain any extra oil. Coat the doughnuts with granulated sugar while they're still warm.

Put the apple filling into a piping bag with a piping tip. Because the filling is chunky, I had to use a bigger piping tip. And because I had to use a bigger piping tip, I had to use a small knife to slice a hole into each doughnut. Insert the piping tip and fill each doughnut with the filling.

These apple doughnuts are really fluffy and the spicy filling almost reminds me of apple pie. With a fruit based filling, these doughnuts were quite light compared to cream filled ones, and I easily ate two after dinner.

Ok, it was really three.

Are you making anything to celebrate National Apple Month?