Apple Fritter Doughnuts
A few weeks ago when I made the pumpkin doughnut muffins, I talked about my lack of doughnut consumption while growing up. I guess you could say I’m trying to make up for lost time. I have been borderline obsessed with the doughnut recipes that I’ve come across on Pinterest over the past couple of months, however there is one recipe that has been alluding me… the apple fritter doughnut. Believe it or not, the first time that I tried one of these beauties was earlier this year while taking a tour of a new grocery store. I had previously seen these doughnuts at other grocery stores and bakeries, and I’ve had my grandma’s apple fritters before, but once I took my first bite of an apple fritter doughnut, I immediately realized I had been missing out big-time. What an insanely delicious treat – it’s part fritter, part doughnut, packed full of apple chunks, and covered in a sweet glaze. Otherwise known as heavenly pillows of fall-spiced bliss.
I have seen tons of recipes for apple doughnuts, apple cider doughnuts, apple fritters, and about a million variations of each, but for some reason I had the hardest time nailing down a recipe for apple fritter doughnuts. I had certain requirements – they couldn’t be round with a hole in the middle, they needed to have that bumpy, craggly surface, and they needed to be covered in that barely sheer glaze that grabs hold of every bump, nook and cranny.
I finally found a string of posts on a recipe forum website and was able to piece together a recipe from what I found there. The result was exactly what I had hoped for – a prominent apple flavor… chunks of apple… a soft interior… a thicker exterior… a bumpy surface… and the perfect glaze.
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While I may not have been a doughnut aficionado as a child, I can certainly work to amend that as an adult. I think these apple fritter doughnuts are a fabulous first (or second? or third? or fourth?) step, and a gateway to even more fabulous fried treats!
What is your favorite type of doughnut?
One year ago: Pumpkin Cookies with Brown Butter Icing
Two years ago: Homemade Cracker Jack
Four years ago: Buttermilk-Chocolate Chip Crumb Cake
Five years ago: Bostini Cream Pie
Apple Fritter Doughnuts
Ingredients
For the Dough:
- 2¼ teaspoons (2.25 teaspoons) instant yeast
- ⅔ cup (162.67 ml) whole milk, warm to the touch
- 3¼ cups (406.25 g) + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, divided
- 4 egg yolks
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup (78.67 ml) apple cider
- ¼ cup (56.75 g) unsalted butter, melted
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) ground cinnamon
For the Apples:
- ¼ cup (56.75 g) unsalted butter
- 2½ pounds (7) Granny Smith apples (about 5), peeled, cored and finely chopped
- ¼ cup (50 g) light brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) ground cinnamon
- 1 cup (236 g) apple cider
- ¼ cup (59.75 g) apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon (1) vanilla extract
For the Glaze:
- ¾ cup (60 g) powdered sugar
- ¼ cup (59.5 ml) apple cider
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) kosher salt
For frying
- 2 quarts (1.89 l) vegetable oil
Instructions
- Make the Dough: Place the yeast in a mixing bowl. Pour the milk over the yeast a let sit for 5 minutes. Add 2 cups of the flour to the yeast and milk mixture, but do not stir. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place until the surface of the flour cracks, about 30 to 40 minutes.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar. Add the apple cider, melted butter, vanilla, salt, cinnamon, 1¼ cups of the flour and whisk until combined, then add to the yeast mixture. Using an electric mixer, with paddle attachmnt, beat the dough on low speed for 30 seconds, then increase the speed to medium and beat for 1 minute. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of flour and mix on low speed for 30 seconds, then increase to medium for another 30 seconds. The dough will be VERY soft and sticky. Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and set in a warm place until the dough has doubled in size, about 1½ hours.
- Make the Apples: Melt the butter in a 12-inch skillet over medium heat. Heat the butter until it is bubbling, then add the chopped apples, tossing to coat them with butter. Add the sugar and cinnamon and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the apple cider and vinegar, increase the heat to medium-high, and cook until all of the liquid has evaporated, stirring occasionally, about 10 to 15 minutes. Off the heat, stir in the vanilla extract and transfer the apples to a baking sheet to cool.
- Assemble the Doughnuts: Scrape the dough out onto a well-floured surface and pat into a rectangle 2 inches thick, flouring the surface as necessary. Spread half of the apples over the dough, leaving space around the edges. Fold the dough into thirds (like a letter) by folding the bottom up and then the top down.
- Use your hands to again pat the dough into another rectangle about 2 inches thick. Spread the remaining apples on top and fold into thirds again.
- Gather the dough together in a rough ball and return it to the oiled bowl. Cover and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a large Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium heat to 375 degrees F.
- Scrape the dough out again onto a well-floured surface and gently pat it out to ½-inch thickness, flouring the surface and the dough as necessary. Using a pizza cutter, bench scraper or sharp knife, slice the dough into 1-inch pieces in a checkerboard pattern. Shape 4 ounce portions of the dough into round mounds and allow to rest for 10 minutes.
- Make the Glaze: While the dough is resting, mix together the glaze. Whisk together the powdered sugar, apple cider, vanilla and salt in a medium bowl set over a small saucepan of simmering water over low heat. Heat and whisk occasionally until the mixture is warm to the touch. Remove from the heat.
- Fry the Doughnuts: Very carefully drop each mound of dough into the hot oil, only adding as many as will comfortably fit in the pot so they are not crowded (I found I could do 4 or 5 at a time in my 7¼-quart Dutch oven). Fry until the underside is golden brown, about 3 minutes, then using a spatula or spider skimmer, carefully turn them over and continue to cook until the other side is golden brown as well, another 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the doughnuts to a paper towel-lined pan or a cooling rack. Repeat with the remaining doughnuts, allowing the oil to come back up to temperature between batches.
- After removing each batch of doughnuts, allow them to sit for about 5 minutes, then brush with the glaze. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
Made these for my husband on Saturday. I’ll admit to a lot of tweaks to fit what I had in my fridge. I halved the recipe, used orange juice instead of apple cider (couldn’t tell a difference!) and made them half whole wheat (because I always do). The only problem I had was that my mounds of pieces kind of disintegrated when I put them in the hot oil. I ended up with lots of small cubes of fried dough surrounded by loose pieces of apple. I squished the last few together even more and they still didn’t hold very well. I’ll definitely make them again, but I’m going to have to experiment with shaping them to figure out how to get them to stay together. Thanks for the recipe!
These were really good…I did the same thing and looked over the picture that shaped them into mounds. I didnt realize it until I looked at the comments. Very good non the less. Oh yea I skimped on the vanilla bean, but next time I won’t I thing its probably needed. I just used vanilla extract.
Thx for the recipe
incredible!! My kitchen’s a mess and they’re a bit labor intensive but WOW…..will be making again.
I did mess up one thing though…..the last step of forming where you combine the 1″ squares so I have lots of smaller donuts but maybe that’s why I love them even more……more surface to get kinda crunchy.
Hi! I’d like to make this recipe tomorrow but don’t have any apple cider (though I do have apple cider vinegar). Do you think I could replace the apple cider in the dough with apple juice or water without affecting consistency of the final result? I’m kind of new to baking and unsure of the chemical reactions between ingredients lol. Thank you!
Hi Mariem, I think you could substitute apple juice for the apple cider without sacrificing too much flavor or consistency.
Thank you Michelle! I will try it today and let you know how it turned out :) I appreciate the fast answer!
They turned out wonderful! Even better than at the shop :) Thanks a million!
I will definitely be trying this recipe, but your wonderful blog has inspired me to ask about another kind of donut. Bavarian Creme! Duncan donuts used to have them, but all of those donut shops disappeared in our area. One grocery store used to sell them, but then they stopped. I’m not talking about the ones that have chocolate on the top – just a donut that is filled with the most wonderful pudding-like filling ever! If there is any chance you could come up with a recipe for that one to add to your collection, I would be thrilled! Thank you.
Hi Laurel, Thanks so much for sharing your request, I will definitely add Bavarian cream doughnuts to my list!
Hey there!
They came out good although a little cakey for what I’m used to. I have relatively limited baking experience, but I think that maybe mixing the wet into the dry just until incorporated, then starting the first rest, and just folding the apples in with a spatula afterward would yield a more familiar fritter consistency for me.
Mixing it as per the recipe (or maybe just how i did it) developed the gluten a little too much. Usually (with savory ‘fritters’) the dough is so moist and unwieldy that you have to quenelle it into the oil.
Regardless, everybody loved them. Somebody said ‘these are like Southern fritters’ if that means anything. ;-)
Also I think my apples would have been sauce had I waited for all the liquid to cook down, but admittedly I used Galas not Granny’s. I pulled them when they had lost their crunch, but still had texture and spooned them onto paper napkins to dry before layering them into the dough mass as instructed. The remaining jus I reduced and made an apple caramel glaze for the finished doughnuts instead. It was surprisingly (accidentally) yummy.
Hey Michelle,
So I’m at the end of step two and while I haven’t given up hope, you say the dough should be VERY soft and sticky. Sticky. Check! But Soft it is not unless I have a different definition of soft. Should this be like Ciabatta dough? Like do you define soft by high moisture content? I double checked the amounts and everything was exact to the best of my knowledge. I have it proofing now, but it seems pretty firm. Is there a fix you’d recommend if I biffed it?
Hi John, I have not yet made ciabatta bread, so I couldn’t compare it to that. I mean soft as in, can’t pick up in one solid mass, soft. This was a pretty forgiving recipe, so I would keep going. Let me know how they turn out!
The ingredient list for the doughnuts calls for 3 and 1/4 c. flour + 2 T. However the direction part for the doughnuts only says to use 1 and 1/4 c. flour then later says to add the other 2T. What happens to the other 2 c.?
Hi Melissa, The other 2 cups of flour is used in the very first paragraph of the recipe, under #1.
These look amazing.
After you cut the checkerboard, how do you form the mounds? Are you combining squares to get to 4 oz.? Could you just cut larger squares?
Also, do you think the final resting stage can be more than 10 minutes? Would it hold for an hour or two? Could I put it in the fridge?
Thanks
Hi Jonathan, I just kind of lumped them into mounds. Yes, you combine the squares to make the 4-ounce mounds. I would not cut large, 4-ounce squares, as combining the squares is what gives the fritters their characteristic “bumpy” exterior. I wouldn’t let the dough sit for longer than 30 minutes or so at room temperature, but you could pop it in the refrigerator for up to an hour or so, covered with plastic wrap so the dough doesn’t dry out.
I actually made these today and they were a m a z I n g!
Thankyou so much for posting. I to had a hard time finding a recipe such as this one.
Better than your local donutshop!
I so can’t wait to make these, and I know one but not satisfy!
These look seriously amazing. I could eat about 5 of these right now!!
I love the new site. I can’t wait to try this recipe, but I noticed the measurement for the apple cider vinegar is missing in the apples portion. Could you please help?
Hi Jamie, I apologize for that error, it should be 1/4 cup.
Believe it or not, apple fritters are my favority donut. I have been searching for a great recipe and now I think I’ve found it…thanks!
Brand new to your site. I love it.
The fritter looks soooo good! Definitely making it.
After Hurricane Sandy last week and the coming Nor’Easter Wednesday, these fritters are just begging to be made, eaten and enjoyed with not even a hint of guilt.
Here’s my question, if you don’t want to fry all these at once, can the apple-dough mixture be individually frozen and used some other day?
Hi Cheryl, I’m not sure how well these would freeze since the dough is extremely soft and hard to work. I would probably plan on making them all at once, and then freezing any leftovers that you don’t eat within a day.
HOLY COW!! I have been looking for a wonderful apple fritter recipe. I opened a small bakery in Wrangell Alaska! 2000 people is our population,there hasnt been a bakery here in over 15 years. I dont bake any bake any better or wordse than anyone ele,just happand to be able to put together a small bakery!!!! Iam so excited..will let everyone know how popular they are ..Lorena
The best of luck to you on your new venture!!
Hi Michelle…..
I tried twice to make these yesterday and had the same result both times. The dough came out like a thick batter and didn’t really rise much. When I tried to put in the apples and fold the dough it just got all gooey and the apples wanted to break through the dough. I ended up throwing away both batches. Any idea what I may have done wrong? I really would like to make these cuz I really love apple fritters. One other thing, is the recipe right when it says to pat the dough out until it is 2 inches thick or was that a fraction issue too?
thanks for your help
Geno
The dough is very soft and sticky, for sure. I used quite a bit of flour to work with the dough. You won’t be able to shape these like you would other types of doughnuts or buns. And yes, 2 inches thick is correct.
I have been looking for an apple fritter doughnut recipe for a long time, thank you so much for finding one…The end results look exquisite!!! These are on my next week’s baking schedule for sure.
Those look amazing! I saved the recipe and surely will make those any time soon
OMG!! OMG!!! I tried to lift my jaw off the desk but I’m droolin’ so bad that it keeps slipping out of my hands! Would you believe I’ve never had an apple fritter, much less an apple fritter donut?! When I saw your breathtaking photo, I stopped dead in my tracks and made a bee line for your website! Thanks so much for searching and refining this recipe…I absolutely cannot wait to try it. I have Pink Lady apples right now that were destined for a French apple pie but that picture of yours changed everything!!!! Thanks for a WOW recipe!
Holy cow, these sound amazing. I adore apple fritters, and these look far better than the ones usually found in most doughnut shops.
Even at my “older age” – I’m a little scared of the hot-oil-frying concept…but this recipe has really made me seriously think about pulling out the dutch oven and the oil!
These look better than any apple fritters I’ve seen yet!
I wish I had more to say, but the only word that is going through my head is “wow”. Thank you so much for sharing these, I will definitely be trying them soon!
Oh wow, these look amazing – I wish I had one right now!
Love your site makeover too :)
Apple fritters are one of my favorite treats, especially those with a yeast dough. I even ordered some from Stan’s Doughnuts, along with blueberry fritters and they were out of this world even after being shipped. Definitely going to have to give this a try. It will be my first doughnut and deep frying adventure
Blueberry Fritters????? Never heard of that! one! I bet that would be absolutely incredible! Anyone know of a recipe for that?
Michelle, I for one am very excited you are making up for a no-doughnut-childhood! I am so blown way Michelle – that first picture made me stop shoving popcorn in my mouth and crave a big fat fritter doughnut RIGHT now. Sounds so much better no? MY favorite donuts are maple frosted or vanilla frosted w/ sprinkles, but these look like they would top all of that lol
They look amazing!! Thanks for sharing :)
You are the best !!! I have been looking for a recipe like this for years..as these are the only apple fritters I have loved in the past..I didn’t realize that there was such a thing as apple fritter donuts.
Thanks so much..and I do like your new look..Sharlene
Apple Fritters are my favorite! I also really like the basic cake doughnut with chocolate frosting and sprinkles. :) Your pictures are making be drool, by the way.