What is it about this season? It feels like a favorite song, every day. The weather is always perfect—sunny and crisp, rainy and cool, windy and nippy—it's always an occasion for sweaters and sometimes an excuse for Netflix. This season smells familiar, like pleather school bus seats and new binders and coats dug out of closets. It feels warm, not in a bare-skinned summer way but a deep-down, belly-warm way that feels like snuggling with loved ones and puppies and blankets. It's slippers on Sunday morning, it's denim and boots at the pumpkin patch, it's flannel sheets at the end of the day.

And, of course, it's apple cider. Apple cider with a hint of cinnamon and pumpkin pie and syrup, that is. In doughnut form, what could be better?

Be warned: these are highly addictive. Eat them for breakfast, then again with a scoop of vegan vanilla ice cream for dessert.



Note: We made mini doughnuts, but this recipe would also make 6 regular-sized ones. We adapted it from the lovely vegan baking blog The Sweet Life. 

Ingredients:

Doughnuts—

1/2 cup brown rice flour
3 tbsp. potato starch
1 tbsp. tapioca starch
(or 1 cup all-purpose gluten free flour mix—omit the xanthan gum too if your mix contains it)
1/2 tsp. xanthan gum
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1/8 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup apple cider
1/4 cup apple sauce
1 tbsp. canola oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Glaze—
1 1/3 cup powdered sugar, sifted
2 tbsp. apple cider

Topping—
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg

preheat your oven to 350˚F

1. Mix Your Dry, Mix Your Wet
In a small bowl, combine your flour, starches, xanthan, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkin pie spice and salt. In a separate bowl whisk together your maple syrup, apple cider, apple sauce, canola oil and vanilla extract.

2. Combine
Add your wet ingredients to your dry. Generously grease a doughnut pan—ours looks more like a bunch of teeny tiny bunt molds—and spoon or pipe your batter in, filling each about 3/4 full.

3. Bake + Cool
Bake at 350˚F for 8-10 minutes. You'll know they're done when you press the top of one and it springs back. Allow them to cool in the pan for several minutes before transferring them onto a cooling rack.

4. Make Your Glaze + Topping
Whisk together your sifted powdered sugar and your apple cider. In a separate bowl, combine your granulated sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Once the doughnuts are completely cool, spoon the glaze over them and immediately add the sugar mixture.

5. Serve Warm Or Room Temperature
These little pieces of heaven are delicious warm—just a little scoop of ice cream makes it an incredible dessert. They're also good at room temperature though, and would be perfect for a classroom or an office party. Let's be real, everyone loves doughnuts.

Yum, perfection. The sweet taste of fall.