apple + pie

In my family we don't have many traditions but there is one in particular that has held true throughout the years. Ever since I was a child we we've gone to Sky Top Orchard, located in the hills of Flat Rock, North Carolina. It's a lovely tradition filled with happiness, chocolate fudge and picking apples while also eating a few on the way. We have quite a few pictures of us as children standing next to the giant tree and scarecrow measuring how tall we've grown since our last visit. They also have a petting zoo and a bamboo forest we can trek through while pretending we're on adventures.

      

I guess you could say apples bring back memories from my childhood. We were able to visit the orchard last weekend and brought home a bunch of freshly picked apples among other things (mmm, fudge). I suppose you could say apples hold some fond memories for me. To me there's nothing better that you can do with apples than apple pie. It's a cozy classic. So why not turn it into a doughnut?

Apple pie is one of my favorite desserts. Honestly, I've never had a bad piece of apple pie. It's a pretty basic process. Cinnamon, apples, crust, bake. For this doughnut I wanted to use some of our fresh apples and a bit of the apple cider that we purchased as well.

To start off, I made a brioche dough. Brioche is stronger and can hold up to fillings better than a normal dough. I had grown tired of my last brioche recipe so I went on the hunt for a new one. This recipe is an adapted version of Amanda Powell of Cookie Named Desire. It's a very simple recipe but it ended up being delicious! Brioche is characterized by its richness, meaning it has a high proportion of fat (such as eggs and butter) compared to the rest of the ingredients.

This recipe makes about 10-12 doughnuts. You only need a round biscuit cutter for this recipe, none of those fancy doughnut cutters! This dough was so smooth and easy to work with. Absolutely recommend this recipe! After I finished making the dough, I had to allow it to chill and rest for at least an hour. This hour is when the fillings and glazes and toppings are created!

I chose two types of apples for the filling: Ida Red and Jonagold. The Ida Red was sweet with a whiter apple on the inside and the Jonagold was a mix of Golden Delicious and Jonathan, which provided a tart-sweet flavor and a more golden apple on the inside. You could use any type of apples that you want! First, I cored the apples and cut them into pieces. It didn't really matter what size the pieces were because they would eventually be pureed in a food processor for the filling.

I threw them into a sauce pan with cinnamon, apple cider, lemon juice, vanilla and sugar. After allowing them to cook for about 15-20 minutes, I poured them into my food processor and pureed until it was a nice, thick consistency: perfect for a doughnut filling.

My glaze was simple: apple cider and powdered sugar mixed with a little bit of the juices from the apple mixture on the stove. It was *amazing*. 

You could choose to forego my topping, which was a flame broiled sugared apple. You see, my brother has a fascination with crème brûlée. To make this dessert, you must fire the top of the custard to caramelize it, which provides an amazing crust to crack into as you devour it. (Can you tell I *love* crème brûlée as much as my brother?) I wanted to mimic this technique with my apple slice topping. I dipped the top of the apple in sugar and used a butane torch that my brother owns (hence the explanation on his love for crème brûlée) to caramelize the sugar on top of it.

After the doughnuts were fried, I dipped them into the apple cider glaze after filling them with the apple compote. These doughnuts are my favorite of my project so far. I'm sure there are many more great recipes to come!

Want to make these cozy concoctions yourself? Here's the recipe:



Brioche Doughnuts courtesy of Cookie Named Desire:

Author: Amanda Powell

Serves: 10 doughnuts

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups flour
• 3½ tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• ¼ cup milk, lukewarm
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut in cubes and slightly softened
• 
  

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a stand mixer, add the flour, sugar, sat, and yeast together. Mix a couple of times with the paddle attachment. Mix the eggs and milk together, then mix into the flour mixture. Mix until a dough starts to come together, then switch to a dough hook, (Note: you can use the dough hook throughout this step, but it will take longer for the dough to form).
2. Mix the dough on medium for about 4 minutes, then go down to low. Slowly add the butter, one tablespoon at a time. Wait until each cube is fully incorporated before adding another tablespoon.
3. Bring the mixer back to medium and mix for about 8 minutes. The dough should sound moist and look sticky. Resist all urges to add more flour! The dough should be sticky, but still easy enough to work with.
4. Gently turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and form the dough into a ball. Lightly grease a bowl and place the dough inside and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rise for an hour, or doubled in size. Deflate the dough and re-roll into a ball and allow it to rise another hour, or overnight in the refrigerator.
5. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll out until it is just under ½ inch thick. (you may want to rub some flour on top of the dough or on your rolling pin. If you decided to leave your dough in the fridge, allow it to rest at room temperature for about 30 minutes before rolling).
6. Use a doughnut cutter to cut out doughnuts (you can also use two round objects, as long as one is significantly smaller than the other, such as a 3 inch and 1 inch biscuit cutter). Re-roll as needed. I did not re-roll the doughnut holes and instead fried them separately and coated in powder sugar.
7. Prepare your oil. Use either a deep fryer or a cast iron skillet with deep sides. If you are using a skillet, the oil needs to be about 2½ - 3 inches deep. Bring the oil to 375 degrees F.
8. Fry the doughnuts, about 1 - 1½ minutes per side, or until a golden brown. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack that has two layers of paper towel underneath to catch the oil.
   
   for the filling:
   4 medium apples, cored and chopped
   1/2 cup granulated sugar
   2 tbsp lemon juice
   1 tsp cinnamon
   1 tsp vanilla
   3 tbsp apple cider or apple juice
   
   1. Combine apples, sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon, vanilla and apple cider in a pan and cook for about 15 minutes on medium heat, or until soft. Pour the mixture into a food processor or blender and puree until you reach desired thickness. Transfer to a pastry bag fitted with a filling tip and fill the doughnuts.
   
   for the glaze:
   2.5 cups powdered sugar
   5 tbsp apple cider
   3 tbsp of the juices from the filling mixture while cooking
   
   1. Combine powdered sugar, apple cider and juices together, mix until smooth. If it is too watery, you can add more powdered sugar. Dip the doughnut tops into the glaze and let harden.

Printable version of this recipe can be found here.

That's all! 'Til next time,