An American 'Doughnut' in London

A brits take on classic American apple cider doughnuts

We are in that strange part of the year when it’s not quite Christmas but the nights are drawing in earlier and it’s getting colder and colder, its the time when all I want is hot chocolate, it’s the almost Christmas season. Whilst I might not be listening to Christmas songs or baking festive desserts just yet, it is cold enough that I want cozy, spice filled bakes. Specifically, I want apple cider doughnuts. When I was on my book tour, in the US, I saw these doughnuts literally everywhere, at farmers markets, supermarkets, bakeries and even airport concessions stands. For those of us this side of the pond the word cider means the alcoholic beverage, or hard apple cider as its known in the states. So the question is, what is American style apple cider. In NYC I bought a bottle at the farmers market, to finally taste it and get a definitive answer. Turns out is basically pressed apple juice. Not the stuff you find in supermarkets but a cloudy apple juice, something you might find at a farmers market or organic shop.

For my recipe I wasn’t in the mood for frying and as much as I love a fried doughnut I rarely get the oil out because of the smell and the hassle of disposing of the oil properly. So rather than making a traditional cake doughnut I decided to make some duffins, a doughnut muffin. A soft fluffy muffin that is baked and then brushed in butter and rolled in sugar, to give the effect of a classic sugar coated doughnut.

But when it comes to the recipe, where do we start? Simply subbing in apple juice to a muffin recipe isn’t going to add enough apple flavour so how do we boost that flavour? One of the easiest and most effective ways of doing this is a reduction, boiling down apple juice to concentrate the flavour in a way that you’ll still be able to taste it in the finished muffin. To make a fully flavoured muffin I found using a sharp apple juice worked best. I used a bramley apple juice because it’s tangy and sharp enough that when reduced it retains its punch nicely and adds amazing flavour to the muffins. To add the spice I was craving I made an apple pie spice blend and used some of that to make a simple spice sugar. For my first test of the recipe I only included spice in this sugar, but in the end I added a little cinnamon to the muffin batter itself to add another layer of flavour. And of course, because I cant help myself, I also browned the butter because if butter is added, why not brown it? The final element of this recipe is a little pastry cream piped into the centre of the muffins, because whilst not traditional in an apple cider doughnut, when I want a doughnut I want it filled with something delicious and creamy.