Apple Cider Doughnuts

Late October. The deer rut. I cannot hunt this season. Dr. Watt cleared light shooting only — twenty-two rifle, paper targets — but said no big rifle, no recoil, no field pulls. Caleb has offered to take a deer for me and process it. I said yes. Hannah will help him do the processing. We'll get our winter freezer stocked the way we always do. The world bends to accommodate the body.

I went to the stand with Caleb Saturday morning. I sat in the bottom of the stand on a folding chair. Caleb sat in the elevated platform. I watched. I drank coffee. He took a six-point at seven in the morning, clean shot at sixty yards. He climbed down, found the animal, started the field dressing. I helped where I could — I held the legs, I held the bag for the heart and liver. Caleb did the knife work. The work was clean. He has hands now.

Back at the workshop he and Hannah did the butchery. I sat on a stool and watched. I gave the occasional pointer. He didn't need many. He'd done the chicken work in his cooking class. The deer is a different scale but the principles are the same. He worked the carcass with patience. Hannah bagged. I labeled. By dark we had ninety-some pounds of meat in the freezer. The freezer is set for the winter. The principles are the same as they've been since Danny taught me.

Sunday I sat at the kitchen table writing. The journal. The blog. The same writing I do every week. The shoulder is doing better but the writing is still mostly left-handed because the right hand fatigues fast. The handwriting is poor. I type more than I used to. The blog gets typed straight in now. I have not written by hand in a while except for cards. The hand-written card is becoming a thing I have to make myself do.

The morning Caleb took that six-point, I had coffee in a thermos and nothing else—next year I’ll do better by both of us. Apple cider doughnuts are what that morning called for and what I’ll have ready the next time we walk out to the stand together in the dark. There’s something right about a warm, spiced doughnut in late October, the kind of thing Danny might have had waiting when he brought me home from the field the first time. The freezer is full. We earned a doughnut.

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 25 min | Total Time: 45 min | Servings: 12 doughnuts

Ingredients

1 cup fresh apple cider
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the coating: 1/2 cup granulated sugar mixed with 1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons melted butter (for brushing)

Instructions

Reduce the cider. Pour apple cider into a small saucepan over medium heat. Simmer until reduced to about 1/4 cup, roughly 10–12 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool completely.
Preheat and prep. Heat oven to 375°F. Grease a standard 12-cavity doughnut pan well with nonstick spray or butter.
Mix dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and salt. Set aside.
Cream butter and sugars. In a large bowl, beat softened butter with granulated sugar and brown sugar until light, about 2 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Mix in the cooled reduced cider and vanilla extract.
Combine. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in two additions, alternating with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the dry. Stir until just combined—do not overmix.
Fill the pan. Spoon or pipe batter evenly into the prepared doughnut cavities, filling each about 2/3 full.
Bake. Bake 12–14 minutes, until the tops spring back when lightly pressed and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.
Coat. While doughnuts are still warm, brush each one lightly with melted butter and roll in the cinnamon-sugar mixture until well coated on all sides. Serve warm.

Nutrition (per serving)

Apple Cider Doughnuts — The Morning We Sat in the Stand Together