My number one most favorite thing about living in New York City is visiting the city’s green markets.

Scattered around Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx, and set up on different days of the week, the markets are teeming with plants and freshly cut flowers, seasonal bounty, and countless goodies like maple syrup cotton candy that you’ll want to buy and eat.
At the end of my block there is a market on Sundays, ideal for a Sunday morning stroll.

There’s Martin’s Pretzels, selling their good old-fashioned salty snacks, the kind that exude a fine pretzel-y dust when bitten into. The sorghum and honey stand, with honeys drawn from NYC rooftop gardens. Fresh baked breads from She Wolf Bakery, pickles, and fresh local seafood to name a few.

The sidewalk is bustling with children, puppies, adults of all ages, lining up to get their pick of the most beautiful eggplants and microgreens anyone’s ever seen. It’s a celebration of the artisan, and the natural world, in the city where people live.

I rarely buy more than a single item, as much as I’d like to. My budget keeps me saintly, and besides, taking in the idyllic visuals in the early morning light is more than enough of a treat in itself.
There is one treat, however, that I’d be hard-pressed to resist. The apple cider donut, and maybe some warm apple cider to go with it.

Magic in Your Mouth

Before I moved to New York, I’d never heard of an apple cider donut before. I didn’t even really knew what that meant. I’d heard of apple cider of course, but it wasn’t something I’d ever really had. Native Floridians don’t consume autumnal things in the way that northerners do.
It was Sunday during my first week in the city, and while rising out of the 66th Street Subway on my way to work that November morning I spotted ‘apple cider donut’ scrawled on a paper sign and my curiosity piqued. I had to know.
It was tender, fluffy, soft, and completely coated in cinnamon sugar. Every bit as magical as I’d hoped and imagined. Autumn in New York filled my mouth and opened up a whole new world. I was Jack Skellington in Christmastown.

Since then the Apple Cider Donut has held a special place in my heart. It warmed my first few days in the intimidating city. I would took one to Central Park and watched the leaves gently drifting to the ground in the golden and dim autumn light. Eating apple cider donuts from the Green Market has become a well established personal institution. But I still wanted to give making my own version a shot.

cinnamon sugar doughnut holes

Easy as Fry

Contrary to my name which contains the word ‘fries’, I’d never fried anything in my life up until about 8 or so months ago. A monstrously hot vat of popping, sputtering oil? It seemed… scary. And what kind of oil? And how hot?
Luckily, we live in the age of the internet; a vast library of information just waiting to be searched. Everything you could ever want to know is right here, at your fingertips. It’s incredible.
So, after a few simple google searches I started to dabble in frying.

The first thing I ever fried were potato chips. I got an instant read thermometer, which did the job, but was extremely tedious to hold in the oil while it slowly crawled up to temperature. You can see this technique demonstrated in my fried green tomatoes video . The ‘instant’ in instant read thermometer is so misleading! An instant read should really be reserved for use with meat, for which it is well-suited. The first batch of chips came out phenomenal, while the next batch came out very oily because the oil was too cold. That night I also learned the value of a wire rack, as the fish I fried with the chips completely sogged on one side from resting on a plate. Tragic. But I learned!
You may prefer a candy thermometer that clips onto your pot, put I don’t have that either.
Instead, I upgraded to an infrared laser thermometer that reads surface temperature, and is truly instant.
Even when frying in a shallow pan, the temperature can be taken easily, and is also great for reading your pan’s temperature for searing. It’s my favorite kitchen tool, and I feel really cool and futuristic pointing it at things. Get you one of these and you won’t just feel insanely cool too, you’ll also be an instant frying wiz kid.

Since that first time around the fry block I’ve fried chicken (obviously, it’s the best), churros, rice noodles… wow is that all? I have a lot of frying to do.
Anyway, despite my small experience, I feel very comfortable frying now, especially with my trusty sci-fi laser gun at my side.

how to make homemade doughnuts

Let’s Do This

Making these donuts wasn’t difficult, but it was time consuming (I think the video will give you a good sense of what you’re in for). It seems like the kind of dish that would become easier the more often you make it. Regardless, these fried balls of dough are worth the effort. I thought the green market donuts were magical, but these little guys multiply that magic 10 fold, no fooling.

The recipe for the donuts was taken in part from a recipe by Bon Appetit, which includes apple butter. I wasn’t about to make apple butter in addition to these donuts, but the thought is intriguing, and I’m sure, delicious. The glaze is similar to a royal icing, using maple syrup and reduced cider in place of egg whites or water as the moisture element. If you aren’t into sweet things, forego the glaze and enjoy the donuts with the cinnamon sugar on their own. I love them both ways. You could also offer the glaze as a dip on the side, a la Dunkaroos.

Take your time making these, enjoy the process. Maybe make them with a friend. Let the intoxicating scent of boiling apple cider and cinnamon fill your kitchen. Eat them warm, and maybe eat too many.

If you have a lot left over, stop time by freezing them and reheat in the oven later. There’s nothing worse than a stale, dry donut, and I wouldn’t want to disrespect these by letting them sit out for two days. The glaze can be made ahead and frozen too, for up to one month.

apple maple glaze for doughnuts

apple cider donut holes

Print Recipe

Apple Cider Donuts with Maple-Apple Glaze

The donut portion of this recipe has been adapted from Bon Appétit's Best Apple Cider Donuts Recipe

Ingredients

Glaze

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp reduced cider
pinch salt
2 tsp milk, or 1 tbsp heavy cream (enough to make a spreadable glaze)

Donuts

2 cinnamon sticks (around 3 inches each)
3 1/2 cups apple cider
¾ cup buttermilk
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp + 2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
¼ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp nutmeg
3.5 cups all purpose flour + 1/3 cup more for dusting
1 tbsp + 1 tsp cinnamon divided
6 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
¼ cup packed brown sugar
1 cup + ¼sugar
Vegetable oil for frying (about 4 cups)

Instructions

Bring cinnamon sticks and cider to a boil in a large skillet over medium high heat, cook until liquid is thick and syrupy, and reduced to ⅓ cup (about 20-30 minutes) Reserve 1 tbsp of liquid for glaze.
In a medium bowl whisk together 1 egg, vanilla, buttermilk, and ⅓ cup reduced cider until well incorporated.
In a separate medium bowl, whisk together 3.5 cups flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, nutmeg, and 1 tsp ground cinnamon.
In a large bowl using an electric mixer, beat butter, brown sugar, and ¼ cup granulated sugar until lighter in color and fluffy (about 4 minutes) Add 2 eggs one at a time, blending well after each addition. Reduce mixer speed and add dry ingredients in two additions, and the wet ingredients in two additions alternating-- dry, wet, dry, wet. Dough will be very soft and sticky.
Dust a parchment lined baking sheet with ⅓ cup of flour. Turn out the dough onto the surface. Top dough with more flour and dust hands, then gently pat to ¾” thick. Dust with more flour and cover with plastic wrap. Chill at least 3 hours.
Mix together all glaze ingredients, stir until smooth. Add more milk or cream to reach desired consistency. Set aside.
Working on the baking sheet, punch out as many rounds as you can. For full size donuts, use a 3 1/4” cutter, and use a 1 ¼” cutter to punch out the centers. Leftover dough can be patted out once more and re cut. Avoid patting out more than once, as the dough can become tough.
Fry! Fit a wire rack inside a baking sheet lined with paper towels. In a medium bowl, whisk together 1 cup sugar and 1 tbsp cinnamon and set aside. In a large pot, pour 3” of oil. Heat over medium high until the thermometer registers 350F. Working in batches, fry donuts until deep golden brown, about 1-2 minutes per side for donut holes, 3 minutes per side for full size donuts. Transfer to prepared rack and cool slightly. Toss warm donuts in cinnamon sugar. Drizzle the glaze on top, or serve on the side for dipping.