Baked Donuts: Apple Cider and Pear Crumble

By all means doughnuts should be enjoyed year-round, but I’d argue that National Doughnut Day should be celebrated in October (not June; who came up with that?). After all, donuts are synonymous with fall, pumpkin patches and apple cider. When my son was in high school, he worked at Fall City Farms where their biggest claim to fame was not the pumpkins, but the mini donut machine. (Okay the pumpkin canon had its fans as well.) On October weekends there’d typically be a line waiting to buy bags (that no one wanted to share) of warm melt-in-your-mouth mini donuts rolled in cinnamon and sugar. It was a once-a-year indulgence that I need to revisit. The best tasting donuts are the ones that smell of yeast frying in the air. That’s hard to argue. But there’s also a certain charm in baking donuts at home this time of year. Especially if you’re like me and are afraid to deep fry anything. I came across a Nordic Ware donut pan and in the spirit of fall, I set out to bake a couple varieties of donuts using a mixture of warm spices, apples, pears, a maple glaze and a buttery streusel topping.