Apple Cider Donuts - French Crullers Recipe
Glazed Apple Cider Donuts ( French Crullers Recipe) - the best easy fall treat you will ever make! Fried, airy and light apple cider donuts with a delicious apple cider and maple syrup icing that will make you want to lick your fingers!
Ingredients
For the donuts
- 3/4 cups apple cider 180 ml
- 1/2 cup water 120 ml - or milk
- 1/2 cup butter 120 g
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup flour 130 g
- 4 eggs M
- 1 egg yolk
For the glaze
- 2 tbsp apple cider
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 cup icing sugar 125 g
- 1.5 l oil for frying
Instructions
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Mix the first eight ingredients in a medium-sized heavy pot and place over medium heat. Let heat up and stir constantly until the butter is melted and the mixture is hot.
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Take a wooden spoon. Add all the flour to the pot in one addition and mix in the flour with your wooden spoon. Keep mixing. The batter should form into a large mass - it will form a ball eventually. Keep it on the heat for another 3 to 5 minutes and keep stirring. The dough ball should start to leave a white residue on the bottom of the pot.
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Remove the pot from the heat and keep mixing until it’s no longer hot to the touch. This should take another 3 to 4 minutes. Maybe even a bit longer.
Mix in the eggs one at a time. At first, it will look like the dough does not want to combine but just keep working at it. You might not need all the eggs.
Once your pastry is ready, set it aside and prepare your baking trays. Line them with parchment paper and draw circles of 6 to 7 cm. This will be your template for piping the crullers. This recipe makes about 12-14 crullers so make sure you have enough squares to accommodate them.
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Fill a piping bag fitted with a large star tip with your cruller/choux dough. Pipe large circles on each parchment square. Freeze them on the tray until your oil heats up.
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In a large and heavy-bottomed pot, heat your oil to 350F. Keep your thermometer closeby so you can adjust the temperature as needed.
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To fry, place each cruller in your hot oil. I recommend using a spider strainer to add and remove them from your pot. Don’t fry more than 3 crullers at a time.
Fry the crullers for about 3 minutes on each side. You’ll know they’re done when they have a deep golden and small bubbles form on the edges. They should also feel lighter than the frozen ones.
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Transfer them on a cooling rack. Place your cooling rack over a big sheet pan lined with paper towels so the oil drips onto that and not your counter.
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For the apple cider maple glaze, simply whisk all of the ingredients together. If it’s too thick, add another tablespoon of apple cider or rum. If too thin, add more icing sugar.
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While the crullers are still warm, dunk them into the glaze and return to the cooling rack.
Continue frying and glazing the rest of your crullers. Serve them right after they’ve had time to cool down a bit.
Recipe Notes
- Use a good apple cider for this Apple Cider Donuts recipe. I recommend unpasteurized ciders.
- Cut up the butter into small pieces so that they will melt evenly in the choux mix. If you place a whole block in the pot, the cider and water could evaporate before your butter has melted.
- The longer you cook the choux ball in the pot, the more eggs you would need to add as you would have cooked out a lot more moisture.
- Let the choux cool down about 4 minutes before adding the eggs. It should not be painful to touch.
- Continue adding the eggs bit by bit until you get a smooth, thick, glossy paste.
- You may not need all of the egg listed in the recipe. Once the choux mixture is smooth and falls reluctantly from the spatula to form a V-shape, it’s ready to be piped.
- Like most fried treats, crullers should be eaten right away. This is because you will lose that crisp outside as they sit on your counter.