Apple pie donuts with homemade salted caramel sauce
Donuts topped (or filled – your choice!) with a tangy apple pie filling and finally drizzled with my homemade salted caramel sauce!!! ARE YOU READY FOR THIS??
Growing up in South Africa
We use to get these (the ones in this post) round, flat donuts, and these (not on this post) really long flat ones, sort of like chocolate eclairs. I’m sure there is some technical baking term I could use for them, but to be honest, I don’t really know their actual names, because we just called them plain ole’ doughnuts.
For today’s new recipe post, I chose to call them donuts because it seems that’s how most people refer to them. And I really want my post to be found by all you guys googling the things nearest and dearest to your hearts… like the word DONUTS, of course! *smile*
Now as far as I know, everyone likes donuts
But where, oh where, did these culinary beauties come from? According to the online Smithsonian magazine, the concept has been around for a while, originally simply called “oily cakes.” But by the mid 19th century, Elizabeth Gregory, a ship captain’s mother, deep fried some dough with some lemon rind, allegedly so her son could take them on voyages, the lemon rind providing vitamin C to suppress scurvy and colds.
The middle of the deep fried dough didn’t always thoroughly cook, so she threw some walnuts and hazelnuts into the center, and called the magnificent creation doughnuts! Her son gets the credit for cutting out the center, creating the holed donut we are now accustomed to. Some say it happened when he stabbed his snack onto one of his steering wheel’s spokes while things went haywire during a storm.
It wasn’t until the 1930’s
That donut machines came along and made the legendary treat even more popular and easier for the masses to enjoy. Since then they’ve been reviled as the perfect anytime pleasure- crispy on the outside, light and airy on the inside, just the right amount of sweetness- mmm, my mouth is watering just thinking about them!
So of course in our recipe today, we’ll make the delicious homemade kind, complete with apple pie filling and salted caramel sauce. Apples are the perfect fall food to cook with. Why not take a fun, educational trip to your local apple orchard to see where the apples are actually grown and to pick your own? And the salted caramel sauce is the perfect complement to the apples- ooey gooey, and oh so delectable! I so enjoyed making and eating them and know you will too!
Paul Hollywood my fave!
Paul is a very famous British baker and I absolutely adore all his recipes, like this CHELSEA BUNS PAUL HOLLYWOOD STYLE that I made a few Christmas´s ago (ps. chelsea buns is the term the British use for cinnamon rolls).
He is owner of the Paul Hollywood Artisan Bread Company, bestselling author, and is one of the two main judges on the Great British Bake Off. Which unfortunately I only get to watch here in Spain when it hits Youtube. I am pretty sure that I am one of the first on there to watch it and usually take in multiple episodes per day because I just Cannot. Stop. Watching. And on those days….. my kids usually eat take out for supper.. (don´t judge!)
Ingredients
- 500g/1lb 2oz strong white flour
- 50g/2oz caster sugar
- 40g/1½oz unsalted butter
- 2 Large eggs
- 2 x 7g sachets instant yeast
- 10g/¼oz salt
- 150ml/5fl oz warm milk
- 130ml/4½fl oz water
- apple pie filling, Get the recipe here
- 1 cup white sugar
- 0.25 cup water
- 200ml full cream (warmed up in the microwave)
- 2 heaped tablespoons butter (I ran out of butter and used margarine - it worked just as well!)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 0.5 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Place all ingredients into a large bowl holding back a quarter of the water.
- Stir with your hands until a dough is formed.
- Slowly add the remaining water and knead the dough in the bowl for four minutes. (Alternatively, you could mix with a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook).
- Tip dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead well for 10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic.
- Place the dough into a clean bowl, cover with a damp tea towel and leave to rise for an hour.
- Tip the dough out onto a very lightly floured surface, and knock it back by kneading it a few times.
- Divide the dough into 10 equal portions and shape each portion into a ball.
- Place all balls onto a floured baking tray and allow to rise for an hour.
- Preheat a deep fat fryer, filled with sunflower oil, to 180ºC/350ºF.
- Lower each donut into the fryer, cooking each side for about five minutes or until golden brown. Remove the donuts from the oil with a slotted spoon and set aside to cool.
- When completely cool, using a small, sharp, knife make a cut into the side of the donut, reaching to the centre.
- Spoon some of the applie pie filling into a piping bag (no nozzle is needed) and pipe it inside the donut.
- Drizzle over some of the salted caramel sauce.. ENJOY!
Notes
1. I used granny smith apples because I love its tanginess but you could use any apples or a mixture of different kinds.. like for example granny smith, golden delicious and/or honeycrisp
2. Salted Caramel Sauce can be as salty as you want it. I only add 0.5 teaspoon salt but you could easily add more if you wanted to (or less).
3. These donuts are easy because you don´t need a specialized donut cutter. Just rolll some balls and you´re good to go!
4. You could fill the donuts with the apple pie filling or you could simply top them with it. Do whatever tickles your fancy!
5. I used margarine instead of butter because I ran out..and guess what? It would perfectly!
Great idea! Visiting from the Wake Up Wednesday hop!
Thanks for stopping by Helen!
O my goodness! These donuts look so good!!! Pinning! Thank you for sharing your recipe @ Dream. Create. Inspire. Link. I hope you will join us again tomorrow night @ 8 EST. Take care, Tara
O my goodness! These doughnuts look so good!!! Pinning! Thank you for sharing your recipe @ Dream. Create. Inspire. Link. I hope you will join us again tomorrow night @ 8 EST. Take care, Tara
Thank you Tara and thanks so much for pinning! I really appreciate it! 🙂
These look incredible! What a delicious Fall treat! Thanks so much for sharing your yummy recipe on the Monday Funday Party! XO
These are my kind of donuts!! oh, and that caramel sauce!!
Haha mine too! 🙂
Oh my gosh I’m just imagining how amazing one of those apple donuts would taste after cooking and topped with the salty caramel sauce. I think I would become addicted!
Lol me too Shelby! 🙂
Apple + caramel = my biggest weakness in the fall! In a DONUT?! Yum!
Thanks Ashley! I love me some apple pie too! 🙂
Eeeek! Apple pie DONUTS? I am SO THERE!!!
Lol! Love the “Eeeek” part!! 🙂
OMG! It looks delicious! Can’t wait to try it.
Thank you for sharing!,
Rosacherry
Thank you for your comment Rosacherry! 🙂
Love that you combined two of my faves – apple pie and DONUTS! So perfect for fall!
These are two of my favourites too Ashley! I hope you try them! 🙂
Apple donuts are a fall Favorite of mine but you just took it to a whole new level! YUM!
Thanks Pamela and welcome back!
Apart of me wants to ask, what was your motivation coming up with this dessert, but then the other side of my brain just wants to eat it lol. I love this. And I agree with you, I love the tanginess of granny smith apples. They’re just better to bake with in my opinion. I love this.
Kia / KTS
http://www.houseofkts.com
Haha Kia! I love apple pie and I love donuts, so I thought why not combine the two? 🙂
I love the Great British Bake off. You can watch it here on PBS sometimes, but I’ve also watched it on YouTube.
These donuts look so amazing! I love the apples and caramel drizzle on top. Everyone would go crazy for them!
Yesssss GBO is a must when you love baking and desserts, like I do 🙂
Wow! These donuts look incredible. Apple pie and salted caramel are my favorite. Pass me a dozen!
Thanks Jen! Come on over I have a few spare 🙂