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Quick Baked Apple Cider Donut Muffins

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These quick baked apple cider donut muffins taste like you spent all morning in the kitchen but actually took twenty minutes from start to finish. They’re unpretentious, fast, and taste like you spent way more effort than you actually did.

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 large egg (room temperature preferred, cold works too)
  • ½ cup apple cider concentrate (frozen, not shelf-stable)
  • ⅓ cup buttermilk (or 1 teaspoon vinegar + milk to make ⅓ cup, let sit 5 minutes)
  • ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted (for coating)
  • ½ cup granulated sugar (for coating)
  • 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon (for coating)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C). Grease a 12-cup muffin tin well with butter or nonstick spray, or line with paper liners.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, ½ cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and salt for about 15 seconds.
  3. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg until light and frothy, about 30 seconds. Add apple cider concentrate, buttermilk, ¼ cup melted butter, and vanilla extract. Whisk until well combined.
  4. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Fold gently with a rubber spatula just until no streaks of flour remain. A few small lumps are fine. Do not overmix.
  5. Divide batter evenly among 12 muffin cups, filling each about ¾ full.
  6. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. Tops should be golden and spring back when lightly pressed.
  7. While muffins bake, mix ½ cup sugar and 1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon in a small bowl. Melt ¼ cup butter in another small bowl.
  8. Let muffins cool in the pan for 2 minutes. Working one at a time, remove a muffin, brush all over with melted butter, then roll in cinnamon sugar until completely coated. Place on a cooling rack.
  9. Serve warm, ideally within 30 minutes of baking.

Notes

Don’t overmix the batter—mix just until flour disappears. Coat muffins while still warm (after 2 minutes cooling) for best sugar adhesion. Work quickly but gently as hot muffins are delicate. If butter solidifies, microwave for 10 seconds. For best texture, use all-purpose flour; whole wheat pastry flour yields denser results. If using salted butter, reduce added salt to ¼ teaspoon.

Nutrition

Keywords: apple cider donut muffins, baked donut muffins, quick apple cider muffins, fall muffins, easy muffin recipe, 20-minute muffins, cinnamon sugar muffins

Find it online: https://flurpchef.com/quick-baked-apple-cider-donut-muffins-easy-20-minute-recipe/