Caramel Apple Donuts Recipe

There's something that autumn and festivals (and especially autumn festivals) have in common: delicious caramel apples. These candy-dipped apples offer the perfect combination of fresh fruit and creamy, sticky caramel, giving you a decadent treat that offers some decent nutritional value, too. And that's exactly what you'll experience when you make these baked caramel apple donuts which are perfect served as a breakfast alongside coffee, or as a snack or dessert when you're craving something sweet. They feature real, grated apples in the dough and a decadent caramel glaze that's perfect on its own or sprinkled with the toppings of your choice. 

"My favorite thing about these donuts is the caramel glaze," says recipe developer Jessica Morone of Jess Loves Baking. "While it's a bit of work to make homemade caramel, it's really delicious and totally worth the effort. I didn't end up using all of it on the donuts, so I actually saved the rest to dip cut-up apples in because of how delicious it is." So grab your apples and other supplies and get to baking — you'll have 12 donuts ready to eat in only 40 minutes.

For this recipe you'll need to gather the ingredients for the donut batter and the caramel glaze. Most of the ingredients are fairly common if you do a lot of baking, so make sure you check your kitchen to see what you have on hand before hitting the store. 

For the batter you'll need all-purpose flour, baking powder, apple pie spice, kosher salt, sugar, buttermilk, eggs, unsalted butter, and a cup's worth of grated apples. 

For the glaze you'll need more sugar, butter, and kosher salt, as well as heavy cream and sifted confectioners' sugar. 

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Spray 2 (6-well) donut baking pans with non-stick cooking spray.

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, apple pie spice, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl whisk together the sugar, buttermilk, eggs, and melted butter.

Add the flour mixture into the bowl with the wet ingredients and whisk together until fully combined.

Add the shredded apples to the bowl and stir to combine.

Pipe the batter into the prepared donut pans, filling each well about ¾ full.

Bake in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes, until donuts are puffed and lightly golden. Invert them onto a wire rack to cool.

Meanwhile, add the remaining 1 cup granulated sugar to a large heavy bottomed saucepan. Heat on medium-low heat, stirring frequently. The sugar will form clumps and then dissolve completely.

Once the sugar has completely dissolved (the liquid will be a dark amber color), add the butter to the pan and whisk until butter is completely melted.

Remove the saucepan from the heat. Whisk in the heavy cream and salt until fully combined. Pour the caramel into a medium bowl and let cool for about 10 minutes.

Once the caramel is cool enough to handle, whisk in the sifted confectioner's sugar until smooth.

Dip the cooled donuts into the caramel glaze. If desired, top with chopped nuts, sprinkles, or candy of your choice.

Let the donuts sit until the glaze sets. For a harder set glaze, refrigerate the donuts for about 20 minutes. Then serve.

This recipe calls for a cup's worth of unpeeled, grated apples. This is an important part of the recipe, but it's really up to you whether you peel the apples before shredding them. "I didn't peel my apples before grating them up, so they don't really break down when you cook them. They are a bit more like when you put shredded carrots in carrot cake. But if you don't like the texture of the apple skins, you can peel them before grating them, then they will break down more while baking the donuts," says Morone. 

Just don't try to save time by dicing the apples rather than shredding them. "Shredding the apples is the special method because it means you get an even distribution of apples throughout the donuts. Dicing them could cause a lot of the apple pieces to sink to the bottom of the batter," she says.

The caramel glaze is one of the most critical parts of this recipe, but it's not quite the same as the caramel sauce you might buy at the store. "Adding powdered sugar to the caramel makes it a bit fluffier and lighter than just using straight caramel," says Morone. "Also, it helps set more into a donut glaze than if you just used caramel." 

Morone used candy corn as the topping on her caramel apple donuts, but it's not the only option. "Toppings are fun so you can really do anything you want. A lot of normal caramel apples have chopped peanuts on them, so topping these donuts with chopped peanuts is a great idea. I also think sprinkles make these really festive and pretty," Morone suggests. That said, she also emphasizes that these donuts are delicious without adding anything — feel free to serve them with nothing more than the caramel glaze itself.