I have been craving apple cider donuts for so long and pass them up every time I’m at the store because I know I will eat them all.  But my willpower got the best of me and I had to make them at home.  I had homemade cider and an open bottle of bubbly, so I had to!  

Now there was one slight hiccup with me making apple cider donuts at home.  I don’t have a donut pan and I wanted to bake these and not fry them.  So we were going to try a hack with a muffin top pan, but I got sick of waiting for my sister to deliver it.  So, here’s our attempt at make-shift donut which honestly would have been much prettier as just a muffin top, but oh well.  The good news is these apple cider donuts taste delicious.

Bubbly Apple Cider Donuts

Bubbly apple cider donuts or muffin tops.

Ingredients

  • 1.5 cups Apple cider
  • 1 Egg
  • 1/3 cup Granulated sugar
  • 1/3 cup Brown sugar
  • 3 tbsp Butter (melted)
  • 1 tsp Vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup Bubbly
  • 1 3/4 cups All-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp Baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp Baking soda
  • 1 tsp Cinnamon 
  • 1/2 tsp Nutmeg

Sugar Topping

  • 3/4 cup Granulated sugar
  • 1 tsp Cinnamon powder
  • 1/2 tsp Nutmeg powder
  1. Preheat the over to 350F.
  2. Pour cider into a saucepan over medium heat until it’s reduced to 1/3 of a cup.  Do not stir.  It should thicken to a syrupy consistency.
  3. In your mixing bowl, combine egg, sugars, butter, vanilla and bubbly.  Mix well.
  4. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg. 
  5. Once your cider is syrup, pour your dry ingredients into your wet ingredients, add cider and mix to combine, but do not over-mix.
  6. Pour the batter into a donut pan or a muffin top pan.
  7. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
  8. Pull out of the oven and leave in the pans to cool a bit while you mix together the sugar topping.
  9. Dip it into the sugar mixture and if you’re feeling extra sugary flip it over and cover both sides in sugar.  

Now of course, you can take these apple cider donuts and fry them rather than bake them which might have been easier without a donut pan, but they’re delicious nonetheless.

Homemade Apple Cider

You can certainly use a store bought cider for this recipe, but I had made some last week for two reasons:  so that my house would smell amazing and to make some bubbly cocktails.  And it’s super simple.  Here’s what you need:

  • 64 oz Apple juice
  • 3 Clementines
  • 15 cloves
  • 3 cinnamon sticks
  1. Pour apple juice into a large pot or your slow cooker. 
  2. Take 5 cloves and poke them into one clementine.  Repeat the process with the other 2. And place into apple juice.
  3. Add 3 cinnamon sticks into the juice.
  4. Cook over low for 2-4 hours or warm on the crock pot.  
Homemade apple cider perfect for the Apple cider sangria recipe and the apple cider donuts.

When I pour into a container to store in the refrigerator, I always transfer the cinnamon sticks but I throw out the clementine with cloves.  

Of course, this apple cider works great in this recipe and also in the Apple Cider Mimosa as well.  

Single Serving Fall Sangria

I wrapped up a personal branding presentation the other day and was chatting with the ladies who invited me on.  And we got to talking about the struggles of sangria.  Mainly the fact that if you live alone, you really have to wait for an “occasion” to make sangria since it makes so much.  

I mean, to make a good batch of sangria, you’re committing to an entire bottle of red wine and an entire bottle of bubbly. And it would be a shame to create such an amazing drink and have to dump it because it won’t last all that long in the fridge.

Fall sangria recipe

So once we were done, I hopped right to it to figure out how to make the perfect single serving Apple Cinnamon Fall Sangria.  And here it is!

Ingredients:

  • 1/4 Apple
  • 1/2 oz Brandy
  • 1t Simple syrup
  • 4-6 oz Red Wine
  • 1/2 Cinnamon stick
  • Bubbly
  1. Dice up the apple into bite size chunks.
  2. In a large wine glass or small pitcher, combine the brandy and simple syrup.  Stir well.
  3. Add the apples and stir again.
  4. Add the red wine and stir.
  5. Add the cinnamon stick and cover with aluminum foil or plastic wrap.
  6. Refrigerate for 2-24 hours.
  7. Remove the covering, top with bubbly and enjoy! 
The perfect bubbly fall sangria.

This apple cinnamon fall sangria certainly pairs well with the apple cider donuts as would the apple cider mimosa we created with the pumpkin pancakes.

Leftovers

Here was the other question they asked.  What to do with the leftover wine and bubbly.  Because the whole point of the single serving sangria was not to waste an entire bottle of red wine and a bottle bubbly. 

Good news, red wine is good for 5 days after it’s been opened, so make sure to put the cork back or a wine stopper.  Store it in a cool dark place, I typically do my counter not near the stove or refrigerator that is not in direct sunlight.  

So, either mix up another batch of single serving Apple Cinnamon Fall Sangria tomorrow, use it to cook with or just enjoy a glass of red wine.  

And of course, you know my bubbly trick already, right?  Put a spoon right inside that bottle and it’s good for up to 3 days in the refrigerator.  And at that third day if you’re not going to drink it, back with it! You can find so many recipes here that all contain bubbly that you’re sure to love.

Bubbly spoon, the perfect trick to keep your bubbly bubbly!

Bubbly Supplies 

If you need any supplies for bubbly baking or bubbly cocktails, check out the Bubbly Side of Life shop on Amazon.  We’ve gone through and linked up our favorite items for you there…easy one stop shopping for you.  

We do earn a commission if you purchase anything from our shop, but good news, the prices are not increased because of this.