Apple Filled Doughnuts

Freshly fried homemade doughnuts, there’s nothing like them!  Fill them with apple and you’ve got something special!  These Apple Filled Doughnuts are a sweet breakfast treat everyone will love!

I get inspired to try new recipes from all places in my life.  Over the Christmas season, the local German bakeries were filling their pastries with apples.  Everything from doughnuts to pastry dough to cakes and tarts, it all had apples in it and my husband and I were in love!  Several times a week we were picking up a delicious bakery treat loaded with apples.

The Baked Explorations: Classic American Desserts Reinvented cookbook by Matt Lewis & Renato Poliafito has been on my shelf for about a year.  I flip through the pages to look at the beautiful food photos but nothing had really inspired me yet to want to bake from it’s pages.

Well, that is until I had an epiphany.  What if I took the Baked recipe for farm style doughnuts and filled them with the apple mixture we loved so much from the holidays? YES YES!  That’s it… I’m inspired!  I must make this!

And so I did.  And these Apple Filled Doughnuts were AMAZING.  My only regret was that I didn’t’ make more.  Or… that I couldn’t eat more.  Ha!

The dough is very simple to make.  No yeast, no waiting… just put the dough together, roll it out, cut it, fill it, fry it and roll it in sugar!   Too easy not to try, right?

I really hope you do!

Happy Baking!

Apple Filled Doughnuts

Betsy Eves

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 7 mins

Total Time 17 mins

Course Breakfast

Servings 12 -16 doughnuts

Ingredients

  

Apple Filling

• 3 medium Gala apples cored & diced
• 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup dark brown sugar not packed
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1 Tbsp vanilla
• dash of salt
• 1 Tbsp cornstarch

Doughnuts

• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 eggs large
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 1/4 cup sour cream or yogurt
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter melted, browned and cooled
• vegetable oil for frying
• 1 1/4 cups sugar + 3 Tbsp cinnamon for rolling

Instructions

 

Apple Filling

• Core and chop the apples into small diced pieces and set aside.
• In a large pan on medium-high heat, melt the butter. Stirring constantly cook the butter until browned. The butter will begin to smell nutty and can burn quickly, so only slightly brown it.
• Add the apples to the butter and toss to coat them.
• Add the sugars, spices, vanilla and salt and stir to combine. With the heat on medium-high cook and stir the mixture until it begins to bubble. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 2-3 minutes or until the apples are tender but not mushy.
• Sift in the corn starch and cook 1 more minute until the apples thicken.
• Remove the mixture to a bowl to cool completely.

Doughnuts

• In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk and sour cream until smooth. Add the cooled butter and whisk until completely incorporated.
• Make a well in the center of the flour and pour in the wet mixture. With a rubber spatula, slowly fold the flour into the wet mix until it forms a sticky dough.
• On a well floured work surface, turn out the dough and lightly dust the dough with more flour. Knead dough 2-3 times then pat or roll dough out to 1/4 in thickness. Dough may be sticky, so use more flour as necessary.
• Place a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet.
• Using a 3 inch round cutter, dip the cutter into flour then cut out rounds of dough. Place the cut dough on prepared baking sheets.

Filling & Frying

• Pour enough oil into a deep skillet to make a layer at least 1 1/2 inches deep. Slowly heat the oil over medium-high heat to 350F degrees.
• While the oil is heating, you'll fill the rounds of dough with apples.
• Place 1 teaspoon of apple filling in the center of a round of dough. Lightly brush a small amount of water around the edge of the dough. This will create the glue to hold the dough together. Place a second round of dough on top and pinch the edges together. Pat the dough gently in your hand to create smooth edges. Place the doughnut back on the baking sheet. Repeat until all the dough is used.
• In a wide-mouthed bowl, whisk together the cinnamon and sugar for the rolling mixture. Line another baking sheet with 2-3 layers of paper towels.
• Once the oil has reached temperature, use a wire-slotted frying spoon to gently place 2-3 doughnuts in the hot oil. Do not over crowd the pot by putting more than that in the oil at a time.
• Fry the doughnuts on one side for 2-4 minutes or until they are dark brown. Then turn them over with tongs or the frying spoon and fry another 2-3 minutes until dark brown all over. (NOTE: You may want to try frying 1 doughnut first to get the timing & temperature down to ensure the dough cooks all the way through. With the apple filling, it's easy to undercook the doughnuts leaving gooey, uncooked dough in the center.) Use the frying spoon to lift the doughnuts out of the hot oil and place them on the paper towel lined baking sheet.
• Once the dough is cool to the touch, roll it in the cinnamon and sugar mixture and set aside to cool or until ready to serve. Repeat this frying and coating process with the remaining dough.
• Serve immediately.

Notes

Dough recipe from Baked Explorations by Matt Lewis