Let’s talk doughnuts.

Let’s talk about how cider doughnuts are my most favorite doughnuts in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD, and how a perfectly simple and delicious recipe for cider doughnuts just happened to fall into my lap (more on that later).

Let’s talk about how I made these doughnuts three days after moving into our new apartment (love!) with its teeny-tiny kitchen (hate!), a mere 30 minutes before Mike and I decided to host our very first dinner guests (poor! planning! Melanie!).

Let’s talk about how I frantically snapped 850 photos of said doughnuts in the rapidly setting sun while our dinner guests waited downstairs.

Then, we should probably talk about how we ate cider doughnuts for dinner instead of….well, dinner. Worth it.

If you know me, like, at all, you’ll know I freak out over fall. Fall is my jam. Some people like summer, others prefer spring, but, personally… I lose it over pumpkin and crunchy leaves and apple picking and cinnamon and cool temps and CIDER.

So when the super cool people over at Harvard Common Press contacted me to see if I wanted to host a stop on Dede Wilson‘s blog tour for her new book, A Baker’s Field Guide to Doughnuts, and included a recipe for cider doughnuts, you better believe I f-r-e-a-k-e-d o-u-t. I’ve been dying to make fried cake doughnuts for at least 100 years but figured it was too complicated and instead spent the last month buying (and eating) dozens of doughnuts at a time.

The good news is, making fried doughnuts isn’t so hard! These cider doughnuts came out fluffy and cinnamony and perfectly cider-spiked even in my teensy tinsy kitchen.

The even better news is, you can make doughnuts too! Because I get to give away a copy of Dede’s new book to one very lucky reader :)

The bad news is you’re going to have to quit your job because after one look at the recipes in this guide you’re going to be a doughnut-making-ma-CHINE.

First, the recipe! Then, the giveaway deets. Priorities, people ;)

Apple Cider Doughnuts (Recipe ©2012 by Dede Wilson and used by permission of The Harvard Common Press)

yield: about twenty-four 3-inch doughnuts

Ingredients:

• 21⁄2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sifted cake flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 2 ⁄3 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup apple cider, at room temperature
• 6 tablespoons (3⁄4 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• Flavorless vegetable oil for deep-frying, such as canola
• 1 recipe Cinnamon-Sugar Topping

Directions
1. Whisk together both flours, the baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, and allspice in a medium-size bowl to aerate and combine.

2. In a large bowl, beat together the sugar and eggs with an electric mixer until pale and creamy, or whisk well by hand. Beat in the cider and melted butter until combined. add the dry mixture in two batches and stir with a wooden spoon just until the dough comes together. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to overnight.

3. Line a rimmed baking sheet pan with a triple layer of paper towels. heat 3 inches of oil in a deep pot or deep-fat fryer to 350° to 355°F.

4. While the oil is heating, dust the work surface with flour. scrape the dough onto the surface, dust the top of the dough lightly with flour, and roll out to 1⁄2-inch thickness. Cut out doughnuts with a lightly floured 3-inch round cutter. Gently gather the scraps, press them together, roll out the dough, and cut out as many additional doughnuts as possible. Place the cinnamon sugar, if using, in a shallow bowl.

5. Fry a few doughnuts at a time; do not crowd. Fry until light golden brown, about 1 minute and 15 seconds, flip them over, and fry for about 1 minute and 15 seconds more, until light golden brown on the other side as well. Using a slotted spoon, remove each doughnut from the oil and drain thoroughly on paper towels.

6. If desired, immediately transfer the doughnuts to the bowl of cinnamon sugar and roll and toss them to coat completely. repeat with the remaining dough.

Cinnamon-Sugar Topping

Yield: enough to coat the tops of about sixteen 3-inch doughnuts or about 24 doughnut holes or small fritters

Ingredients

• 1 cup granulated sugar or superfine sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions: Stir the sugar and cinnamon together in a shallow bowl large enough to hold a doughnut. Place a still-warm doughnut on top of the mixture and toss around to coat thoroughly.

*A Baker’s Field Guide to Doughnuts Giveaway!*

How to enter (you can enter up to three times!):

1. Leave a comment telling me your favorite kind of doughnut and/or favorite thing about fall (you better believe those comments will warm my heart);

2. Follow @dedewilsonbakes on Twitter and leave a comment saying you did;

and/or

3. Follow @melssweetlife on Twitter and leave a comment saying you did.

**Make sure to leave some sort of contact info in your comment so I can contact you if you win! The giveaway will close on Sunday, September 9th, at 9PM. (9/9 at 9 - got it?!)**

PS: There’s a copycat recipe for Krispy Kremes in there. As IF you needed another reason to enter. Good luck!