Friday flavor: Carol's Baked Apple Doughnuts

Doughnuts from Kate this week!  Doughnuts!  With that one word, I'm sold. I just told the husband that I wanted to head out to pick some apples this weekend - perfect recipe for it!  Thanks Kate!

~via Zack Klein~

Ok, I know I’ve already passed along a recipe from my mother, but this week, I am doing another tribute. I can’t help it! The woman is a fabulous cook. Plus, I truly can’t pass an apple in the market without thinking of her amazing Baked Apple Doughnuts. While these little delights are one of my favorite things about fall, I do have some mixed feelings towards the gross misnomer of the recipe title. These are not doughnuts. They are not even close. They are like a small, dense muffin, but they are amazing nonetheless. When I was a kid, friends would come over after school and my mother would tell us that she had a batch of baked apple DOUGHNUTS in the oven. As the smell of apples and cinnamon wafted through the house and thoughts of doughnuts as an after school snack danced in the minds of my friends, I would get a sinking feeling in my stomach. How could I explain to this kid that this magical creation my mother had made was not actually a doughnut, but more like a really dense muffin- muffins being a much less appealing snack to a third grader? The twenty-five minutes it took these suckers to bake was like torture for me. Once my mother pulled them out of the oven and I saw the deflated look on my friend’s face, the salesperson in me kicked in- “OK, I know it’s not a doughnut, but you HAVE to try one. They are SOOO good. I know it looks like a muffin, but TRUST me.” Somehow, I always convinced them and we sat happily at the kitchen table, munching away, with a mug of cider, warmed in the microwave with a cinnamon stick stirrer, to wash it all down.  

Over the years, I have considered changing the name of this recipe to Baked Apple Muffins, but that really doesn’t do justice to the end product. Plus, I sort of feel like I am being disloyal in changing the name. I kind of like how the title “Doughnut” can reel people in and get them excited, so that once they get over the sight of them coming out of the oven (they really aren’t that cute), they have to try them and then they’re hooked! 

~via Brainware 3000~

Carol’s Baked Apple Doughnuts
1 ½ C flour
1 ¾ t. baking powder
½ t freshly grated nutmeg (remember what I said about fresh nutmeg last week?!)
1/3 C shortening (yes, shortening. This recipe most certainly hails from Good Housekeeping, 1981)
¼ C milk
½ C melted butter
1 t cinnamon, divided into ½
½, plus 1/3 C sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 medium apple, chopped (I like Cortlands or Macouns)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 12 piece muffin tin or line with papers.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, nutmeg and ½ t of cinnamon. Cut in shortening until mealy. Add milk until just combined (don’t overmix!). You should have a pretty sticky dough at this point. Fold in the chopped apple. Fill muffin cups ¾ of the way. Bake approximately 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out from the center muffin clean.
Meantime, combine 1/3 C sugar and ½ t of cinnamon in a shallow bowl or dish. Once muffins come out of the oven, dip the top in melted butter, then in the cinnamon/sugar mixture.  Keep in an airtight container. Lasts 3 days.

~via tea and jam (you should check out all of tea & jam's photos - they are lovely!)~

I highly recommend a mug of cider to go along with these! Hope you can figure out a way to sell these to your friends, despite the confusing name!  Happy Weekend!