“Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes.” –Oscar Wilde

This was to be the weekend of the doughnut, with the ending being the elusive cronut, but alas, I forgot yeast at the store and did not wish to brave the rain (there was a small typhoon passing mainland Japan today), so they must wait for another day. Looking at the ingredients I had made me think of apple cider donuts from home, and so I got the brilliant idea to make these. I would like to point out that I am using brilliant sarcastically and rolling my eyes as I write this. This turned out to be an awful idea and an epic fail. Before I get to the failure, I would like to talk about why I choose to make these doughnuts. If you’ve had apple cider doughnuts, specifically from Hicks Orchards in Upstate NY, then there is no explanation needed. If you are some strange individual who did not have the privilege of growing up in upstate NY, first I would like to express my sympathy for your childhood and then I would like to urge you to go now.

Apple cider donuts are found all over the northeast part of the United States, and I have tried them from all over the northeast part of the United States, but there is still no place like Hicks. Their doughnuts are light and not that heavy dry cake type and you can taste the cider they use in their batter. Apple cider doughnuts were a staple in my youth. We looked forward to fall and these doughnuts like most children look forward to Christmas morning. As a family we got them every September and sometimes October as many times as we could convince our parents to drive out to get them. Hicks Orchard was like a 30 minute drive from our house. Once I got my license, I would drive to get them every weekend that Hicks was open. The drive was beautiful and the doughnuts are totally worth the gas it took, even when you were working for minimum wage for like 15 hours a week!

Despite my own failure, I encourage you to try, or just go buy them if you can; either way here is the recipe that I used:

Apple Cider Donuts!

Ingredients:

½ cup sugar

3tbsps. Butter- soft

1 large egg- room temperature

1¾ cups flour

1 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. baking soda

1½ tsps. Ground cinnamon

½ tsp. nutmeg

¼ cup buttermilk/heavy cream

1/5 cup boiled apple cider

½ tbsp. vanilla extract

• Use mixer with whisk attachment

• Beat sugar and butter until fluffy

• Add egg- beat 1 minute

• In medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg- set aside

• Pour buttermilk/cream, cider, vanilla into sugar/butter/egg mix- mix well

• Combine in flour mix

• Use mixer with whisk attachment

• Beat sugar and butter until fluffy

• Add egg- beat 1 minute

• In medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg- set aside

• Pour buttermilk/cream, cider, vanilla into sugar/butter/egg mix- mix well

• Combine in flour mix

Line pan with waxed paper/parchment paper

• Dust generously with flour

• Put dough on sheet, pat to ¾ inches thick

• Sprinkle with additional flour, cover with plastic wrap

• Freeze 10 minutes

• Cut out doughnuts (if you have the cutter)- place on second baking sheet

• Re-freeze 5 minutes

• Cook 3 inches oil at 370

• Cook until brown one side (about 1 minute)

• Flip and cook additional minute.

*Baker’s Notes:

Alright, you already know that this was a failure for me, so my real advice is to buy some or have everything you need! I didn’t have a doughnut cutter so I had to improvise and shape them myself. All I know is that the more I tried to cook them (after I shaped them), the more they fell apart. I do have to note that when they were made smaller and I allowed for a full 10 minutes in the freezer, with the additional 5 after shaping, I managed to get the two that you see in the picture. They tasted great and it smelled like Hicks Orchard in my house, when they were cooking, but they just fell apart. Try doughnut holes maybe that will be easier (if you don’t have a doughnut cutter). I was set on having them look like the doughnuts of my youth, so I probably should have been a little more adaptable, but we all have our things, so chalk it up to experience and move on!

#baking #recipes