6 Apple Cider Baking Recipes for Fall: Donuts, Muffins, Cake, Scones & More!

From tender cakes to spiced muffins, these apple cider baking recipes bring warm orchard flavor, cinnamon, and plenty of old-fashioned fall charm to the kitchen!

Apple cider has a way of making a kitchen smell like you have been baking all afternoon, even when most of your actual work involved a saucepan, a whisk, and trying not to eat cinnamon sugar straight from its bowl!

These apple cider baking recipes take that sweet, tangy apple flavor and turn it into six very different treats, from soft baked donuts and tall streusel muffins to buttery scones, cinnamon rolls, a tender loaf cake, and chewy blondies!!

A Few Things to Know Before Baking With Apple Cider

Use regular refrigerated apple cider, preferably cloudy or unfiltered, rather than apple juice.
Do not accidentally reach for apple cider vinegar. Your muffins will certainly be memorable, just not for reasons anyone was hoping for!
When reducing cider, use a fairly wide saucepan and keep heat around medium to medium-high. A wider surface helps water evaporate faster. Once cider gets close to your target amount, lower heat and watch it carefully because reduction speeds up near the end.
Let reduced cider cool before mixing it with eggs, butter, yogurt, or yeast. Warm is fine when specifically noted, but piping-hot cider can scramble eggs or interfere with dough.
Most importantly, measure reduced cider after reduction. Starting volume is only a guide. What matters is how much concentrated cider actually goes into your batter.

Apple Cider Baking Recipes

1. Baked Apple Cider Donuts With Cinnamon Sugar

These are soft, springy cake-style donuts with plenty of cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar, and concentrated cider running through every bite. They are baked rather than fried, which makes them wonderfully manageable for a weekend breakfast when you would rather not introduce a pot of hot oil into your morning.

I like these best when they are still slightly warm and cinnamon sugar clings to their buttery outsides. Do not skip reducing cider here, because a small amount of concentrated cider gives far more flavor than pouring a full cup into batter and hoping for apple magic!

Servings: 12 donuts

Ingredients

For Donuts

1 1/2 cups apple cider
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
1 large egg, room temperature
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
1/4 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For Cinnamon Sugar

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

How to Make It

Pour apple cider into a medium saucepan and bring it to a lively simmer over medium-high heat. Once bubbling, reduce heat to medium and let it simmer uncovered until you have 1/2 cup remaining, which usually takes around 15 to 20 minutes depending on your pan.

You will notice cider darkening slightly and smelling sweeter as it concentrates. Pour 1/2 cup into a measuring cup and let it cool until just warm.

Heat oven to 350°F and lightly grease two 6-cavity donut pans. If you only own one pan, no problem! Bake in two batches rather than letting this become your excuse for buying more kitchen equipment at 10 p.m.

Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a medium bowl. In another larger bowl, whisk egg, brown sugar, granulated sugar, melted butter, sour cream, vanilla, and cooled reduced cider until mixture looks smooth and glossy.

Add dry ingredients and fold gently just until streaks of flour disappear. Batter should be thick enough to hold its shape for a moment when lifted with a spatula. Stop mixing at that point because overworking flour can make cake donuts tougher instead of tender.

Spoon batter into a large zip-top bag, snip off one corner, and pipe it into donut cavities until each is roughly three-quarters full. This is much cleaner than spooning it in, although I cannot promise your counter will escape completely unharmed.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until tops spring back when gently pressed and edges look set. A toothpick inserted into a thick section should come out clean or with a couple of moist crumbs. Let donuts sit in pan for 3 to 4 minutes, then transfer them to a rack.

While donuts are still slightly warm, brush each lightly with melted butter. Combine sugar and cinnamon in a shallow bowl, then roll or press donuts into mixture until generously coated.

Warm donuts grab cinnamon sugar beautifully, so this is not a job I would leave until an hour later.

Serving Suggestions

Serve these with hot coffee, chai, or cold milk for breakfast or brunch.

For dessert, warm a donut for about 8 seconds in microwave and add a small scoop of vanilla ice cream.

They are at their best on baking day, particularly while cinnamon coating still has that slightly crisp, sugary texture.

2. Apple Cider Streusel Muffins With Fresh Apple

These muffins have three things going for them: concentrated cider in batter, little pieces of fresh apple throughout, and a brown sugar streusel that turns crisp and crumbly on top.

Inside stays soft and moist while edges develop just enough golden color to give you that bakery-style contrast.

I leave peel on my finely diced apple because it adds color, texture, and keeps preparation easy.

Servings: 12 muffins

Ingredients

For Muffins

1 1/4 cups apple cider
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt or sour cream
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup finely diced crisp apple, about 1 medium apple

For Streusel

1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch of salt
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

How to Make It

Pour cider into a saucepan and simmer over medium heat until reduced to 1/2 cup. Let it cool while you prepare everything else.

Meanwhile, heat oven to 425°F, line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners, and dice apple into pieces roughly 1/4 inch wide. Keep pieces small because large apple chunks can create wet pockets inside muffins.

Prepare streusel by stirring flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt together, then drizzle melted butter over mixture and toss with a fork until you have irregular crumbs ranging from sandy bits to pea-sized pieces.

Those uneven pieces are exactly what you want because they bake into a much more interesting topping than perfectly uniform crumbs.

Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt together in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, both sugars, yogurt, melted butter, vanilla, and cooled cider until creamy.

Pour wet mixture into dry ingredients and fold with a spatula until almost combined, then add diced apple and finish folding just until no dry flour remains.

Divide batter between all 12 muffin cups. Cups will look fairly full, which is intentional.

Scatter streusel generously across each muffin and lightly press only a few crumbs into batter so most of it remains sitting on top.

Bake at 425°F for 5 minutes, then, without opening oven door, lower temperature to 350°F and bake another 14 to 17 minutes. Starting hot encourages batter to rise quickly, while lower temperature lets centers finish cooking without over-browning tops.

Muffins are ready when domes look set, streusel is golden, and a toothpick inserted away from an apple chunk comes out with a few moist crumbs rather than raw batter.

Cool muffins in pan for about 8 minutes, then move them to a wire rack. Give them another 10 minutes before tearing one open, even though that streusel will be doing its absolute best to ruin your patience.

Serving Suggestions

Serve slightly warm with salted butter, honey butter, or simply as they are.

For brunch, pair them with eggs, bacon or sausage, fresh fruit, and coffee so sweetness has something savory beside it.

Store covered at room temperature for up to 2 days, or refrigerate a little longer and warm before serving.

3. Glazed Apple Cider Loaf Cake

This is a proper slice-and-share cake rather than a bread pretending it does not know how much sugar it contains!

Crumb is tender and buttery, cider gives it a sweet-tart apple backbone, brown sugar adds a caramel-like note, and a thin cider glaze settles over top and dries into a delicate sugary finish.

The trick is pulling this loaf from oven at just the right moment. Overbaking by even 8 or 10 minutes can take a beautiful moist cake into “excellent with a very large mug of coffee” territory.

Servings: 10 slices

Ingredients

For Loaf

1 1/2 cups apple cider
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons reserved reduced apple cider
Pinch of cinnamon
Tiny pinch of salt

How to Make It

Simmer 1 1/2 cups cider over medium heat until reduced to about 1/2 cup. Measure out 2 tablespoons for glaze and set them aside, then allow remaining cider to cool completely.

Heat oven to 350°F, grease a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan, and line its long sides and bottom with parchment so you can lift finished cake out easily.

Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt together. In a larger bowl, beat softened butter and brown sugar for about 2 to 3 minutes until mixture becomes lighter and fluffy around edges.

This little bit of patience gives loaf a finer, softer crumb, so I would not rush straight to eggs.

Beat in eggs one at a time, scraping bowl after each addition, then mix in sour cream and vanilla. Add dry ingredients in two additions, alternating with cooled reduced cider, and mix only until combined.

Batter should look thick, smooth, and scoopable rather than runny.

Spread batter evenly into prepared loaf pan and smooth top. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, checking around 48 minutes because ovens have personalities and some of them apparently enjoy making us nervous. Top should be golden brown with a gentle crack through center.

Insert a skewer into middle, and if it comes out with a few soft crumbs but no wet batter, pull loaf out.

Let cake cool inside pan for 15 minutes before lifting it onto a rack. Cool completely before glazing or icing will melt straight down sides and pool underneath.

Stir powdered sugar, cinnamon, salt, and 1 1/2 tablespoons reserved cider until smooth. If glaze feels too thick to drizzle, add remaining cider a teaspoon at a time.

Spoon it over cooled loaf, letting some travel naturally down sides, and wait about 15 minutes for glaze to set before slicing.

Serving Suggestions

Serve thick slices with coffee or tea, or add a spoonful of lightly whipped cream for dessert.

For a fall brunch table, serve alongside fresh pear slices, grapes, toasted pecans, and savory egg dishes.

A slice also warms beautifully for about 10 seconds in microwave, especially if you add a very thin smear of salted butter.

4. Flaky Apple Cider Scones With Maple Cider Glaze

These scones land somewhere between buttery biscuit layers and a tender bakery scone, with cinnamon, small fresh apple pieces, and concentrated cider woven through dough.

Maple-cider glaze keeps them from tasting plain without turning every bite into pure sugar.

Scones reward cold ingredients and restrained mixing. If dough looks slightly rough and imperfect before shaping, you are probably doing it right! If it looks as smooth as cookie dough, you may have loved it a little too enthusiastically.

Servings: 8 large scones

Ingredients

For Scones

3/4 cup apple cider
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
1/2 cup very cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
1/2 cup finely diced tart apple
1 large egg
1/3 cup cold heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For Maple Cider Glaze

3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
1 to 2 tablespoons reduced apple cider
Pinch of salt

How to Make It

Simmer cider until reduced from 3/4 cup to about 1/3 cup, then cool it completely. I sometimes put measuring cup in refrigerator once steam has stopped because cold liquid is your friend with scones.

Heat oven to 400°F and line a baking sheet with parchment. Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a wide bowl, then scatter cold butter cubes over flour.

Press butter between fingertips or cut it in with a pastry cutter until you have a mixture containing plenty of flat butter pieces roughly pea-sized.

Do not work until everything resembles breadcrumbs because those little pockets of butter help create flaky sections as they melt.

Add diced apple and toss it through flour mixture. Whisk egg, cream, vanilla, and 1/4 cup cooled cider reduction in a small bowl, reserving remaining cider for glaze.

Pour liquid over flour mixture and stir gently with a fork until shaggy clumps begin forming.

Tip dough onto a lightly floured counter and gently press loose pieces together. Fold dough in half, turn it, and press again about two or three times.

You are preparing layers, not kneading bread, so stop as soon as dough holds together. Shape it into a disk roughly 7 inches across and about 1 inch thick.

Cut disk into 8 wedges and transfer them to prepared baking sheet with a little space between each one. Refrigerate entire tray for 15 minutes.

Do not skip this chill if your kitchen is warm because cold butter gives you taller, better-defined scones.

Bake for 18 to 22 minutes until tops look dry, edges are golden, and bottoms have picked up a light brown color. Let scones cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before moving them to a rack.

Stir powdered sugar, maple syrup, 1 tablespoon reserved cider, and salt together. Add a touch more cider only if needed because glaze should fall slowly from spoon rather than run like water.

Drizzle it across barely warm or completely cooled scones and allow it to settle for several minutes.

Serving Suggestions

Split a warm scone and spread it with salted butter, apple butter, or a little cream cheese.

For breakfast, add yogurt and fresh fruit. For an afternoon treat, coffee or black tea is all you need.

Scones can also be frozen before glazing, then thawed and warmed at 300°F for 8 to 10 minutes.

5. Apple Cider Cinnamon Rolls With Cider Cream Cheese Icing

These rolls take a little longer, but most of that time involves dough rising while you carry on with your day. Dough itself is soft and lightly flavored with reduced cider, while brown sugar cinnamon filling creates sticky spirals through every roll.

A cider cream cheese icing goes over them while they are still slightly warm so it softens across every ridge without completely disappearing.

A common cinnamon roll mistake is packing in flour until dough no longer sticks at all. Resist that urge! A slightly tacky dough produces much softer rolls than one made stiff with extra flour.

Servings: 9 large rolls

Ingredients

For Dough

1 cup apple cider
1/2 cup whole milk
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus a little more if needed
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

For Filling

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, very soft
1/2 cup packed dark or light brown sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt

For Cider Cream Cheese Icing

4 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons reserved cider reduction
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

How to Make It

Simmer apple cider until you have 1/3 cup remaining, then cool it until warm rather than hot. Reserve about 2 tablespoons for icing. Warm milk gently until it reaches roughly 100°F to 110°F. It should feel pleasantly warm when touched, not hot.

Combine flour, instant yeast, sugar, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add warm milk, remaining reduced cider, egg, egg yolk, and melted butter.

Stir until a rough dough forms, then knead by hand for roughly 8 to 10 minutes or with a mixer and dough hook for 5 to 7 minutes.

Finished dough should look smooth and elastic but remain slightly tacky against your fingertips. Add extra flour only one tablespoon at a time if dough truly feels wet enough to smear across your hands.

Place dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover, and allow it to rise in a warm spot for about 60 to 90 minutes, until roughly doubled in size.

Rather than watching a clock obsessively, watch dough. A cooler room may take longer, while a warm kitchen can move surprisingly fast.

Grease a 9-inch square baking dish. Turn risen dough onto a lightly floured counter and roll it into a rectangle roughly 14 x 10 inches.

Spread softened butter across surface, leaving about 1/2 inch bare along one long edge. Mix brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt together and scatter evenly over butter.

Starting from opposite long edge, roll dough into a fairly snug log without pulling so hard that filling gets squeezed out. Pinch seam closed, then cut log into 9 equal pieces.

Dental floss works wonderfully for clean slices, although a sharp serrated knife is perfectly fine if flossing your cinnamon rolls feels like one domestic accomplishment too many.

Arrange rolls in prepared pan, cover loosely, and let rise another 35 to 45 minutes until visibly puffy and beginning to touch each other. Heat oven to 350°F while they finish rising.

Bake for 23 to 28 minutes until tops are lightly golden and centers look fully risen rather than doughy.

If you use an instant-read thermometer, center of dough should be around 190°F. If rolls brown faster than you like, loosely cover pan with foil during final 5 minutes.

Beat cream cheese and butter until smooth, then mix in powdered sugar, vanilla, salt, and enough reserved cider reduction to give icing a soft spreadable consistency.

Let rolls cool for about 10 minutes, then spread icing across them. Warm rolls will soften icing and encourage it to sink slightly into spirals, which is exactly what you want!

Serving Suggestions

These belong at breakfast or brunch with strong coffee, scrambled eggs, fresh fruit, and perhaps some bacon or breakfast sausage to balance sweetness.

For dessert, serve one warm roll with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream.

If preparing them ahead, shape rolls, place them in pan, cover, and refrigerate overnight before second rise. Next morning, allow them to sit at room temperature until visibly puffy before baking.

6. Chewy Apple Cider Cinnamon Blondies

These blondies are for anyone who wants cider baking without making another cake. They have chewy edges, a soft buttery center, lots of brown sugar, cinnamon, and a concentrated cider glaze that makes apple flavor much more obvious once you take a bite.

Texture is important here. Blondies should not bake until center feels rock solid. Pull them when edges are set and center is cooked but still soft, then let residual heat finish its work while pan cools.

Servings: 16 blondies

Ingredients

For Blondies

1 1/2 cups apple cider
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fine salt

For Cider Glaze

3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons reserved reduced apple cider
Pinch of cinnamon
Pinch of salt

How to Make It

Pour cider into a wide saucepan and simmer until reduced all way down to 1/4 cup. This is a stronger reduction than several earlier recipes because blondies need plenty of flavor without too much added moisture.

Let it cool completely, then reserve 2 tablespoons for glaze.

Heat oven to 350°F. Line a 9-inch square metal baking pan with parchment, leaving enough overhang along two sides to lift blondies out later.

Whisk melted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar vigorously for about 45 seconds until smooth and slightly glossy.

Add eggs and extra yolk one at a time, whisking well after each, followed by vanilla and remaining cider reduction.

In another bowl, whisk flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, and salt. Add dry mixture to wet mixture and fold gently with a spatula until flour has just disappeared.

Scrape bottom and corners of bowl once or twice because little flour pockets love hiding there, but stop as soon as batter becomes uniform.

Spread batter into prepared pan, pushing it into corners and smoothing top. Bake for 25 to 31 minutes. Begin checking at 25 minutes.

Edges should appear set and lightly golden, while middle should no longer look wet but can remain soft.

A toothpick inserted near center should carry several moist crumbs. If it comes out coated in liquid batter, give blondies another 2 to 3 minutes and check again.

Cool blondies completely in pan. This matters much more than it seems because warm blondies are delicate and can appear underdone until fats and sugars have had time to settle. Once cool, lift slab from pan using parchment.

Stir powdered sugar, cinnamon, salt, and 1 1/2 tablespoons cider reduction together. Add remaining cider a few drops at a time if needed.

Drizzle glaze over blondies, let it set for about 15 minutes, then slice into 16 squares using a sharp knife.

Serving Suggestions

Serve them at room temperature when you want maximum chewiness, or warm individual blondies very briefly for a softer center.

For dessert, add vanilla or butter pecan ice cream and a sprinkle of toasted pecans.

For a fall gathering, cut blondies smaller and arrange them beside apple slices, caramel dip, cookies, and spiced nuts.

Whichever one you choose, these apple cider baking recipes are meant to make fall baking feel generous, fragrant, and genuinely worth turning on your oven for!

Hungry for more feel-good meals? Explore these 21 Anti-Inflammatory Breakfast Recipes for a nourishing start and 10 Anti-Inflammatory Dinner Recipes for delicious evenings that make healthy eating easy!