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!
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 16 minutes
Course Appetizer, Breakfast, Dessert, Sweets
Cuisine American
Servings 16 donuts

Equipment

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!

LOOKING FOR OTHER GREAT RECIPES?

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

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:

For the Freezer Apple Pie Filling

Sliced apples and five simple ingredients combine to make this perfect for the freezer apple pie filling.
4 from 3 votes
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 4 pies

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!

Apple Pie Filling Quick Apple Bars

Apple pie filling frozen in the fall provides the delicious base for these quick and easy bars.
4 from 3 votes
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 9

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.
Keyword apple bars, apple pie filling, apples, dessert
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!