Happy kids, happy mama, tummies full of donuts

When your kids haven't been in real school for seven months and they get two days off before starting in-person learning, you celebrate, big. We spent the first day off at a Starved Rock State Park enjoying the beautiful fall colors and doing some hiking. We loved our morning there, so thankful for some time to be outside and not do the work/school/kid balancing act. The second day Andy couldn't get off, so while I planned to make Halloween costumes with the kids, I also figured we should bake. Nicholas really wanted to make donuts, so we made donuts! When I say we... I should say the only thing I did was pipe the batter into the pan and do the cinnamon sugar dip. This recipe makes a LOT of donuts... SO many donuts! And although Nicholas is a good eater, we should have made a half recipe - but we didn't. Donuts for sale?! These are loaded with fresh apple and apple sauce, also all the warm fall spices. Our house smelled amazing. Happy kids, happy mama, tummies full of donuts. Also in-person learning 1 ½ days in… is wonderful. They love it and came home SO happy. Happier than a kid with a belly full of donuts.

Baked Apple Donuts
4 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 ½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 ½ tablespoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
½ cup buttermilk
1 cup unsweetened applesauce, from jar
1 ½ cup fresh apple, peeled and grated

For the Coating:
unsweetened applesauce OR melted butter
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
dash of ground nutmeg, optional

Preheat oven to 375.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg.
In another large bowl, stir together melted butter, eggs, sugar, buttermilk and applesauce. Stir in fresh apple.
Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the egg mixture. Stir with wooden spoon. Add another 1/3 of flour mixture and stir. Add remaining flour and stir just until combined.
Spoon batter into a large ziplock bag. Seal and snip the corner off one end. Squeeze batter into the cavities of a donut pan sprayed with non-stick baking spray. Fill each cavity 2/3 to 3/4 of the way full. To help donuts keep their pretty shape when baking, use a clean finger to gently even out the batter in each cavity and clean off the center knob of the pan. Bake at 375 for 12 to 14 minutes, until the tops of donuts spring back slightly when touched. Let cool 5 minutes before removing from pan.
For the outside coating, combine sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg in a bowl. Using a pastry brush, cover each donut with a light coating of applesauce, or alternatively, dip quickly into melted butter. Then dip into cinnamon sugar and toss to coat. Let cool completely before eating, if possible. A second dip into the cinnamon sugar creates an extra crunchy coating.