History

Apple Hill on the Camino-Placerville road in El Dorado County took shape in the 1960s when an apple-grower cooperative banded together to keep family farms in the Sierra foothills viable. The cider-donut tradition came from the Northeast US apple-cider mills and travelled west with the apple farmers; by the 1980s every Apple Hill farm had a donut stand and a press. The October season runs four weekends with traffic backed up on US-50 east from Sacramento, and the donut, fried in apple cider with cinnamon-sugar dredge, is the photograph everyone takes across the long-running grower anchors of the cooperative.

Common allergens: Gluten, Egg, Dairy

Make it at home

Yield 12Hands-on 30 minTotal 2 hrDifficulty Intermediate

Ingredients

  • 500ml fresh apple cider
  • 300g plain flour
  • 1.5 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 0.5 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 100g caster sugar
  • 60g brown sugar
  • 100ml buttermilk
  • 50g unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 large egg
  • Neutral oil for frying, 2L
  • 200g caster sugar with 2 tbsp cinnamon (for dredge)

Method

  1. Reduce the apple cider in a saucepan over medium heat from 500ml to 120ml, about 25 minutes. Cool completely.
  2. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg in a bowl.
  3. In a second bowl whisk both sugars, the reduced cider, buttermilk, melted butter and egg until smooth.
  4. Fold the wet into the dry just to combine. Cover and chill 1 hour.
  5. Roll the dough 1.5cm thick on a floured surface. Cut 12 donut rings.
  6. Heat oil to 175C. Fry 90 seconds per side until deep gold. Drain on a rack 30 seconds.
  7. Toss each warm donut in the cinnamon-sugar dredge. Eat the same hour.

Tip from the editors. Reduce the cider hard so it tastes like apple syrup. If the reduction is too thin the donut tastes like a plain spice donut.

Where to eat apple hill apple cider donut

Apple Hill Apple Cider Donut in Sacramento

Freeport Bakery ★ 4.7

Bakery$land-parkTue-Sun 08:00-15:00, closed MondayCalifornia cakes and pastries

Freeport Bakery on Freeport Boulevard in Land Park, Sacramento, runs a long-standing California cake counter with Lemon Zinger cakes that travel by post.

Worth the queue: Lemon Zinger Cake

2966 Freeport Boulevard, Sacramento, CA 95818

Pushkin's Bakery ★ 4.6

Bakery$midtownDaily morning to afternoonGluten-free and dairy-free baked goods

Danny and Olga Turner's Pushkin's Bakery on 29th Street, midtown Sacramento, opened 2013 as the city's defining gluten-free and dairy-free bakery counter.

Worth the queue: Salted Pecan Cupcakes

1820 29th Street, Sacramento, CA 95816

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