apple and cinnamon Archives · Jess in the Kitchen

Apple Pie Donuts

How is an apple pie donuts recipe created in the last month of the year in Wisconsin? Picture this:

It’s December 20th and my mini me gets to bring a treat to school for the holiday party. All year, she has brought apples for a snack for herself, so she naturally chooses apples (and candy canes) as her treat. So off to the store we go to buy bags of apples for her and her classmates. Then a winter storm hits and school is canceled, canceling her party and leaving us with A LOT of apples.

Don’t get me wrong, my family eats a lot of fruit, but I had JUST finished creating apple sauce with the last of our fall apples and I wasn’t sure what to do with them. Then I spied my donut pan (a gift for the Mr. with a donut cookbook a few Valentine’s Days ago), and got to thinking, “I haven’t played with a donut recipe in a lonnnggg time.”

And that winter storm? It was still going so I had nothing but time on my hands. I set to work.

If you know me, you likely know I live for more simple, from scratch recipes with a healthy twist. I wanted these donuts to have the flavor of apple without a whole lot of chunks of apple in them. So out went some of the butter and oil I usually add and in went applesauce (Healthy and flavor! Big win!). To give a greater apple pie flavor, I amped up the cinnamon and nutmeg. And the frosting? Oh my goodness, it’s the best part. To give an apple flavor, I swapped more applesauce for the milk and it worked SO well. I can’t wait for you to give them a try!

Ready to get baking? Let’s go!

Your Ingredients for Apple Pie Donuts

3 tablespoons butter, melted
½ cup unsweetened applesauce
½ cup packed light brown sugar
¼ cup white sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
½ cup plain Greek yogurt (or low sugar vanilla)
2 tablespoons milk
2 ¼ cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¾ teaspoon salt
½ cup apples, diced finely

Donut Frosting

2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
2 cups powdered sugar

Your Steps to Apple Pie Donuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a regular donut pan with non-stick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Stir in applesauce, milk, and yogurt. Whisk until smooth. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Add to wet ingredients and stir until fully incorporated. Fold in the apples.

Divide the batter among 16 donut cavities, filling ¾ of the way full. Bake for 12-14 minutes, until firm to the touch or passes the toothpick test (a toothpick inserted comes out clean). Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove the donuts from the pan and place on a cooling rack.

While the donuts finish cooling, mix donut frosting. Using a fork, cream the butter. Add vanilla and mix until combined. Mix in applesauce, still using the fork. Whisk in the powdered sugar with the fork until smooth.

When cool, frost or dip each donut in the frosting. It is a great consistency that you can dip it like a glaze but it will hold up like a frosting. Cover them anyway you choose!

Apple Pie Donuts

Love apple pie? These baked apple pie donuts with a great frosting will give you that warm comforting feeling you get from pie and ice cream!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 16

Course Appetizer, Breakfast, Dessert, Sweets

Cuisine American

Servings donuts

Equipment

Donut Pan

Ingredients

3 tablespoons butter melted
½ cup unsweetened applesauce
½ cup packed light brown sugar
¼ cup white sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
½ cup plain Greek yogurt or low sugar vanilla
2 tablespoons milk
2 ¼ cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¾ teaspoon salt
½ cup apples diced finely

Donut Frosting

2 tablespoons butter softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
2 cups powdered sugar

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a regular donut pan with non-stick cooking spray.
In a large bowl, combine butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Stir in applesauce, milk and yogurt. Whisk until smooth.
In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.
Add to wet ingredients and stir until fully incorporated. Fold in the apples
Divide the batter among 16 donut cavities, filling ¾ of the way full.
Bake for 12-14 minutes, until firm to the touch or passes the toothpick test (a toothpick inserted comes out clean).
Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove the donuts from the pan and place on a cooling rack.
While the donuts finish cooling, mix donut frosting. Using a fork, cream the butter. Add vanilla and mix until combined. Mix in applesauce, still using the fork. Whisk in the powdered sugar with the fork until smooth.
When cool, frost or dip each donut in the frosting. It is a great consistency that you can dip it like a glaze but it will hold up like a frosting.

Keyword apple and cinnamon, apple pie, apple recipe, apples, baked donuts, Breakfast, donut recipe, donuts

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

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Check out the delicious breakfast inspiration below or head right to my breakfast page!

December 30, 2022January 27, 2023

JessLeave a comment

Homemade Applesauce: Slow Cooker Style

Growing up, I don’t remember either of my parents making homemade applesauce. That isn’t to say they didn’t do it, but I certainly have no memory of it. It wasn’t until I was almost entirely through college that I even realized canning and preserving food was something commonplace. I didn’t start my own journey with homegrown and preserved food until late into my twenties, after my son was born.

After we purchased our home in 2009, we immediately set to work to plant a garden and get trees started for our own mini orchard. At that point, I still had no idea where my future in home preservation was headed. My in-laws are avid canners and freezers of food they produce in their garden. I don’t know if it was a push by my husband or a curiosity of mine, but I became interested. Slowly, I started by canning pickles and jams. Then tomato sauce. Then my in-laws brought me bushels of apples from their own orchard (ours are JUST starting to produce enough to preserve them. For now, we eat ours and preserve gifted apples). I became interested in making homemade applesauce. Then apple jelly and apple pie filling.

Now, I’ve learned that preserving homemade applesauce doesn’t have to look like canning it (although I like to do a little of both). It can look like freezing it, which is a little less daunting for many. And while I love a low simmer on the stove, a slow cooker does the trick and takes the pressure off of worrying if it’s going to burn. Big win, right?

So if you’re ready, I am excited to share my homemade applesauce recipe for freezing.

Your Ingredients for HOmemade AppleSauce

8-9 pounds of apples (between 27-36 apples)
2-3 cinnamon sticks (optional)
1 cup of water

Note: I never add sugar. Apples are sweet enough on their own that I don’t think you need it. If you want to add sugar, I recommend starting low, say, ½ cup. You can add it later, but you can’t unsweeten applesauce after you add it.

Directions for Slow cooker Applesauce

Gather a bowl and a 7-8 quart slow cooker. Peel, core, and slice your apples. Place the scraps in the bowl for Apple Scrap Jelly (yes, you didn’t know you were also making jelly, but here you are, getting ready to!). Set aside (or compost them if you must.)

Place the sliced apples in the slow cooker. Add cinnamon sticks and water. Set on high for 3-4 hours. Every 30 minutes or so, stir and mash a bit with a potato masher or pastry cutter to break down the apples. Cook until apples are soft.

Remove the cinnamon sticks. Now, you have a decision to make: chunky or smooth?

Chunky Applesauce? Continue to mash with the potato masher until you like the texture.

Smooth Applesauce? Hit it with an immersion blender until you get the texture you love.

Allow to cool for approximately an hour. Ladle cooled applesauce into freezer safe containers (I love these container from Arrow). Label and store in the freezer. My mom likes to ladle her applesauce into freezer bags. She likes that they lay flat in the freezer. You do you. (Yes, I know I started by saying my mom didn’t preserve food. She does now. Maybe I inspired her?)

This recipe should result in about 6 pints of applesauce.

Tools of the Trade

In my post, I talk about my immersion blender (a favorite tool of mine!), my Arrow freezer containers (a go to for apples, portioned leftovers, apple pie filling, and so much more!), and I love my Crock pot. I mean, you can’t go wrong!

Slow Cooker Applesauce

Apple season equals time for homemade applesauce! Get out the slow cooker and some freezer safe containers and get set to create!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 4

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Preserving

Servings pints

Equipment

Ingredients

8-9 pounds of apples between 27-36 apples
2-3 cinnamon sticks optional
1 cup of water

Instructions

Peel, core, and slice your apples. Place in the slow cooker.
Add cinnamon sticks and water. Set on high for 3-4 hours.
Every 30 minutes or so, stir and mash a bit with a potato masher or pastry cutter to break down the apples. Cook until apples are soft.
Remove the cinnamon sticks.
If you prefer chunky applesauce, continue to mash with the potato masher until preferred texture. If you prefer smooth applesauce, blend with an immersion blender.
Allow to cool for approximately an hour. Ladle cooled applesauce into freezer safe containers. Label and freeze.

Notes

I never add sugar. Apples are sweet enough on their own that I don’t think you need it. If you want to add sugar, I recommend starting low, say, ½ cup. You can add it later, but you can’t unsweeten applesauce after you add it.

Keyword apple and cinnamon, apples, applesauce, freezer meals, preserving

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

October 13, 2021September 9, 2022

JessLeave a comment

For the Freezer Apple Pie Filling to Quick Apple Bars

Cortland, right off the tree. Does it get much better?

Garden season is giving way to orchard season and the apples are ripe for the picking in Northern Wisconsin. At our house, we have planted a few fruits every year over the last ten years, and have reached an “orchard” of about sixteen fruit trees, nine of which are various apple trees. I have to love my husband as he researches types of apples and makes sure we have apples through the whole season. A favorite go to recipe that I do every year is freezer apple pie filling.

It’s a simple recipe with minimal work that fills your freezer with fresh apples so that you can enjoy and create pies and crisps all year long in ten minutes flat! Who doesn’t love a dessert that looks and tastes like you were in the kitchen forever, but really, you had it put together basically during the commercial break of your favorite show? (Does anyone even have commercial breaks anymore? I guess I am getting old 😉 )

In all seriousness, if you are a person who LOVES hitting up the local orchards, you need this apple pie filling in your freezer. It will bring back all the good memories and joy the orchard brought you and your family as you hit it up in your flannels and boots 🙂

Your Ingredients

6 pounds of apples, peeled, cored and sliced after measuring out your weight
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Your Steps

Place sliced apples in a large kettle (I love my Dutch oven here). Mix sugar, flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a small bowl. Stir into apples. Let the apples and spices stand for 30 min to allow the juices to flow. Stir in lemon juice. Place apples on the stove and heat over medium heat until the mixture thickens, stirring often. This should take approximately 20 minutes. Pour into freezer safe quart containers (I love the Arrow containers I have linked below for this). Allow containers to cool with the lids ajar for 1-2 hours. Cover and label. Place apple pie filling in the freezer. When you are ready to use them, pull out of the freezer and place in the refrigerator 1-2 prior to using. Keep reading for a great recipe that uses these delightful containers of apples!

Oh, and save those peels and cores! You can make a great apple scrap jelly with those. Get the recipe here!

Prepped in 5 minutes flat Apple Bars

Ready to bake with this great apple pie filling, but not feeling a pie? Let me share what I love to throw together when I need a dessert and am short on time to prep.

Your Ingredients

1 ½ cups all purpose flour
½ cup oil (whatever oil suits you: olive, vegetable, coconut)
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons milk
¼ teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
¼ teaspoon nutmeg (optional)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 quart thawed apple pie filling

Your Steps

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. While the oven is preheating, combine all the ingredients besides the pie filling in a small bowl. It will be moist. Using your fingers, press the crust into an ungreased brownie pan (8×8 or 11×7). If you don’t have that size, a regular 9×13 pan works just fine too! It will just be a thin crust.

Spread apple pie filling evenly over the crust. That’s it. Place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes at 450 degrees. Lower the temperature to 350 degrees and bake an additional 20-30 minutes, depending on the size of your pan. Twenty minutes was perfect when I used a 9×13 pan. 30 minutes if you use a brownie pan instead.

If you are looking for a “healthy” apple bar, serve it up with vanilla Greek yogurt. But a scoop of ice cream right out of the oven would be delicious too!

Tools of the trade

This is my go to pan. I really appreciate that it’s between a brownie pan and a cake pan.

These are seriously awesome. They freeze well and double as leftover containers for us when we use whatever was frozen in them.

Cast iron may be heavy, but does it ever cook nice. I also adore that it can go from stove top to oven for all my baking and roasting needs.

Looking for other recipes? Check out the page below:

Baking

For the Freezer Apple Pie Filling

Sliced apples and five simple ingredients combine to make this perfect for the freezer apple pie filling.

5 from 1 vote

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 10

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings

Ingredients

6 pounds of apples peeled, cored and sliced after measuring out your weight
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Instructions

Place sliced apples in a large kettle.
Mix sugar, flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a small bowl. Stir into apples.
Let the apples and spices stand for 30 min to allow the juices to flow.
Stir in lemon juice.
Place apples on the stove and heat over medium heat until the mixture thickens, stirring often, about 20 minutes.
Pour into freezer safe quart containers.
Allow containers to cool with the lids ajar for 1-2 hours. Cover and label. Place apple pie filling in the freezer.
When you are ready to use them, pull out of the freezer and place in the refrigerator 1-2 prior to using.

Keyword apple bars, apple dessert, apple pie filling, apple recipe, apples, dessert

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Apple Pie Filling Quick Apple Bars

Apple pie filling frozen in the fall provides the delicious base for these quick and easy bars.

Prep Time10

Cook Time40

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: apple bars, apple pie filling, apples, dessert

Servings:

Ingredients

1 ½ cups all purpose flour
½ cup oil whatever oil suits you: olive, vegetable, coconut
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons milk
¼ teaspoon cinnamon optional
¼ teaspoon nutmeg optional
1 tablespoon sugar
1 quart thawed apple pie filling

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
While the oven is preheating, combine all the ingredients besides the pie filling in a small bowl. It will be moist.
Using your fingers, press the crust into an ungreased brownie pan (8×8 or 11×7).
Spread apple pie filling evenly over the crust.
Place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes at 450 degrees.
Lower the temperature to 350 degrees and bake an additional 20-30 minutes, depending on the size of your pan.

September 25, 2020August 26, 2021

Jess6 Comments

Applesauce and Cinnamon Bread

I love an apple bread (or really, any apple baked good, let’s be honest), but peeling and coring apples is a tedious process I don’t love. Enter an applesauce and cinnamon bread. When I saw a version of this recipe on the back of a bran flakes box, I had to give it a try. I have modified it quite a lot to add more wholesome ingredients and cut down on some sugar. Believe me, the final result is equally delicious. The husband even gave it two thumbs up and was excited to eat it for breakfast this week. I always call that a big win!

As an aside, I love adding oats to all of my recipes, but I know that some don’t love them. I even have a friend who is allergic, which I didn’t even know was possible until recently. If you don’t want to add oats, you can certainly modify this simple applesauce and cinnamon bread to have 1 ½ cups of flour and 1 ½ cups bran flakes.

Your Ingredients

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup old fashioned oats
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup bran flakes cereal
1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
½ cup maple syrup or honey
½ cup milk
¼ cup chopped nuts (optional)

Your Steps

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 9×5 inch loaf pan with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine egg, applesauce, maple syrup, and milk. Whisk until well combined. Add flour, oats, bran flakes, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Stir until just moistened throughout. Fold in chopped nuts if adding.

Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool before removing from the pan. Enjoy!

Interested in other baked goods? Go ahead, check out my baking page!

Baking

Applesauce and Cinnamon Bread

The classic combination of apple and cinnamon combine with bran flake cereal and oatmeal in this quick bread.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 55

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American

Servings

Ingredients

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup old fashioned oats
1 cup bran flakes cereal
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
½ cup maple syrup or honey
½ cup milk
¼ cup chopped nuts optional

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 9×5 inch loaf pan with cooking spray.
In a large bowl, combine egg, applesauce, maple syrup, and milk.
Whisk until well combined.
Add flour, oats, bran flakes, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
Stir until just moistened throughout. Fold in chopped nuts if adding.
Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Allow to cool before removing from the pan. Enjoy!