I’m always looking for small bites that I can bring to a party. Something that I don’t have to put a disclaimer on because let’s face it when people see gluten-free dairy free they think it’s also going to be flavor free. I came up with the idea of doing apple cider donut holes because It’s fall and apple cider is what you drink in the fall. And I wanted to do something to bring a little bit of that New England flavor of fall to Florida. Having grown up in Massachusetts surrounded by apple orchards, it’s definitely different to be surrounded by orange groves. I love both don’t get me wrong. But the apple cider that is available down here is not the apple cider that I grew up with, and I am missing that fresh pressed apple cider next to a barn on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. So I made my own vibes.

Ingredients (Donuts)

1/2 gallon of cider reduced to 3/4 cup

1 cup powdered apple

1/2 cup sunflower oil

3 large eggs

1 cup of almond flour

3/4 cup palm nectar

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

2 cups gluten-free flour

2 teaspoons xanthum gum

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon of salt

2 tablespoons of cinnamon

Ingredients (Glaze)

2 cups apple cider

1 cup Palm nectar

1 tablespoon of cinnamon

1 can of sweetened condensed coconut milk

The first step in most important step that I frequently forget to do, please turn your oven to 350°F .

To start out, you’re going to reduce your cider. This doesn’t have to be entirely cool when you put it into your mixture, but you don’t want to be starting it out at the same time that you’re starting your mixture and expecting it to be reduced down by the time you’re ready to use it.

Like with most cake like recipes you were going to start out by blending all of your wet ingredients starting with the eggs and sugar component, then moving onto oil and additional liquid. At this point I like to put in the almond meal because gluten-free flowers and almond meals and stuff like that need a little bit extra time to absorb liquid.

In a separate bowl and I know a separate bowl?! Yes. In a separate bowl mix together your wet ingredients. This is because you don’t want to end up with clumps of baking powder and you want the leavening agent to be evenly distributed throughout your flour.

Mix your dry ingredients into your wet ingredients, one 1/2 cup at a time to make sure things get thoroughly mixed together. Once you get your ingredients all mixed together blended thoroughly, here’s the hard part. Be patient. Wait at least 10 to 15 minutes before putting in the oven to ensure that all of those gluten-free flowers have absorbed the moisture appropriately and the hon gum has time to be activated so that it gives it that bounce.

This would be an opportune time to oil your donut hole pan or cake pop pan or whatever you’re choosing to make these in so they come out as little round balls of fun. You could also use this time to work on your caramel sauce.

Once your batter has rested, scoop by the teaspoon fall into your cake pop pan. I use a silicone mold that I got either at Michael’s craft store or at Amazon. If you use a silicone one, I like to support it on a cookie sheet to make my life easier, but you do you.

Cook for 11-15 minutes. As you can see from the darkness of the batter these will be dark when they come out, but what you’re going to look forward to know that they’re ready is that they should be springing to the touch with a slight golden brown finish. You can check them with a toothpick to be sure.

For your glaze, it’s going to be more of a caramel sauce. You’re going to again reduce down your apple cider and into that you will add the palm nectar. Make sure that all dissolves and then work in the can of sweetened condensed coconut cream. You’re going to simmer this on a low setting for my stove, it’s more of a low to medium. If you’re cooking on gas, you’ll wanna keep it fairly low because you’ll have a more steady heat than an electric. And you’re basically making a caramel. It does take time for this one to set up. I of course rushed it and so did not have caramel to dip my donut holes in before the party, but the ones that I left on the baking rack dipped beautifully the next morningand the caramel will keep in your fridge for a couple of months.