Easy-Bake Apple Cider Donuts

My favorite part about Fall in New England is the Apple Cider Donuts!

 They have the perfect texture and are so very sweet, plus there are apples mixed in, which means these donuts are actually good for you. Seriously, they are the best! I have been making all kinds of goodies since our apple picking adventure...apple pie, apple crisp, even apple butter. But the treat we love most are these apple cider donuts. This is what Fall is supposed to taste like! 

APPLE Picking!

Have you ever been apple picking?

I have had never been. Husband and I made plans every Fall, but timing just never worked out. As one of our anniversary dates, we finally went apple picking this year. It was the perfect date and a great way to kick off the Fall season. Plus, it was made even better because we were able to take our pup along with us. 

Fall To-Do List

Now that I'm back to grad school, my life revolves around to-do lists. It seems that for every item that I manage to check off, 3 more get added. But this is one to-do list that I'm excited about. Now that I've completed my summer bucket list, it's time to get started on this Fall To-Do List.

October IS...

the best month of the year

October is full of changing leaves with every vibrant shade of orange and red and yellow

October is a month meant for all things pumpkin and all things cozy

October is a time for apple cider, but more importantly...homemade apple cider donuts

October is a month that I wish could last forever, especially when it is as good as this one

two October favorites♥♥♥

             L.L. Bean Boots & Salted Caramel Mochas 

A fun date night at the House of Blues meant being close enough to touch Bayley

And a little time spent pampering myself thanks to Lush bath bombs and a visit to the drybar 

These recaps force me to clean the photos off my phone at the end of every month. There only seemed to be two kinds of photos for October...

one being pictures of my boots with fallen leaves 
Did I mention how much I love these shoes?

and two is lots and lots of photos of a sleeping PJ 

october involved lots of healthy eats 

which is perfect to make up for trips to the Burger Shack and froyo covered in chocolate brownie pieces

more boots + leaves

pumpkin coffee and pumpkin beer makes for 

great mornings and even better nights…

and the only good part about October coming to a close is Halloween! We started off our celebrations a little early with a visit to 

Salem Massachusetts   

there were more decorations than I've ever seen + zombies and real life witches. I can't imagine today's celebrations topping our Halloween in Salem, but we will certainly try

2nd Anniversary Recap

Today is our second wedding anniversary and we celebrated all weekend long so I'm excited to be linking up with some lovely ladies for Weekending. Being in a long distance marriage, our focus is on spending as much time together as we can. We planned so many amazing dates together and I'm kind of exhausted from how much we squeezed in this weekend, but it was the best and now we have all of these amazing adventures to remember our anniversary by.

boston bucket list

Wanderlust Wednesday-Week 9

I've mentioned our boston bucket list many times, but never got around to sharing it. With husband being in boston for school, we're not sure how long this time here will last. For now, we're thankful to be in this amazing city with a history that America was built on. We have access to a world class symphony, art museums, and the best seafood. And with places like martha's vineyard and cape cod just a ferry ride away, boston is classic new england. I love sharing the best of boston through our eyes, so feel free to click on any of the items we've checked off our list to see more. 

The Salem Weekending Trials

This weekend was all about embracing Autumn and the coming of Halloween. And what better place to spend your October then in Salem Massachusetts?

snapshots [10.18.15]

Had an amazing weekend and it's about time I check in with a few snippets. 

Birthday Donut Cake

Kicking off the B-I-R-T-H-D-A-Y celebrations bright and early this morning!
There is nothing fun about having a Monday Birthday. But at the very least, I think waking up to this donut cake makes today extra special for Husband. He loved my Apple Cider Donuts last Fall, so when I was thinking up a special birthday breakfast to make, I knew homemade donuts would be perfect. Since traditional birthday cakes are either vanilla or chocolate, I decided to go with a combination of both…vanilla donuts with a chocolate glaze. And I figured, why not cover everything in sprinkles while I'm at it?  

 These donuts are the simplest things to whip up. I didn't even have to break out the stand mixer, which was important since Husband was still sleeping while I baked. I needed to be extra quiet as not to ruin the surprise. 

INGREDIENTS 

For the Vanilla Donuts

1 cup flour 

1 tsp baking powder 
¼ tsp baking soda 

¼ tsp nutmeg 

1 egg 

⅓ cup brown sugar 

¼ cup milk 

 ¼ cup vanilla greek yogurt 

2 tbsp melted butter 

1½ tsp vanilla extract 

For the Chocolate Glaze  

(the best part) 
½ cup chocolate chips 

2 tbsp butter 

2 tsp dark corn syrup 

2 tsp water 

jimmies/sprinkles

Cooking Tools 

Donut Pan OR Mini Cupcake Tray 

DIRECTIONS

Yields 6 donuts or 15 donut holes

1.) Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a donut pan OR a mini cupcake tray {to make donut holes} with a non-stick spray. 
DONUTS 

2.) In a large bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and nutmeg together. 

3.) In a separate bowl, whisk egg, brown sugar, milk, and yogurt together. Slowly whisk in melted butter and vanilla extract. 

4.) Pour the wet ingredients from Step 3 into the dry ingredients from Step 2. Whisk to combine.  

5.) Pipe batter into donut pan, filling ¾ full

6.) Bake ~10 minutes 

While the donuts are baking, it's time to make the glaze…with sprinkles on top!

GLAZE

7) In a medium bowl, combine chocolate chips, butter, corn syrup, and water. Melt in the microwave for 30sec increments, stirring in between. 

8.) Dip warm donuts into chocolate glaze and then dip directly into sprinkles 

 These donuts are quick and easy for a breakfast on the go. And as an added bonus, they are baked (instead of fried), which means not having to feel guilty about eating so many of them. But most importantly, they made for the best birthday surprise!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HUSBAND 

Linking up with blovedboston//morepiecesofme