These paleo apple cider donuts with a salted caramel glaze are the perfect dessert to enjoy this fall!

Honestly – is there any better treat than an apple cider donuts during Autumn?! These are truly the quintessential fall dessert. I grew up in the New York area and my best memories are apple picking and eating apple cider donuts! Any time I go to the northeast during Autumn I always have to get an apple cider donut! I love enjoying one outside while soaking in the crisp fall air and admiring the beautiful fall foliage.

I am so obsessed with these healthy apple cider donuts! They are naturally sweetened with just apple sauce and coconut sugar, while the salted caramel glaze is also naturally sweetened with just maple syrup and coconut sugar. I’m all about using natural and unrefined sweeteners in all of my dessert recipes.

This recipe is paleo, gluten-free, grain-free and dairy-free. However, they’re SO delicious and packed with flavor! These donuts are baked, not fried, making them a much healthier option than tradition donuts.

My kids loved putting the salted caramel glaze over the top of the donuts, so if you have children this is a fun activity to involve them in!

These donuts are:

• simple and easy to make
• moist
• fluffy
• naturally sweetened
• made with almond flour and arrowroot to make them gluten-free, grain-free and paleo
• dairy-free
• baked and not fried
• has the most delicious salted caramel sauce for the top
• DELICIOUS!

Ingredients used to make the donuts:

• eggs: These helps all of the ingredients bind together. I always opt for pasture-raised eggs
• apple cider: to give the donuts that perfect apple cider flavor
• applesauce: makes them moist and flavorful, plus is a natural sweetener
• coconut sugar: I love using coconut sugar as an unrefined, natural sweetener
• vanilla extract: for delicious flavor!
• blanched / super-fine almond flour: this is the flour used to keep this recipe grain-free, gluten-free and paleo!
• arrowroot flour: also used to keep this recipe grain-free, gluten-free and paleo. It helps give the donuts the consistency and texture that we’re looking for!
• baking powder: so the donuts rise a bit
• cinnamon: because what’s a fall dessert without cinnamon?! come on!
• salt: for flavor!

Ingredients used to make the salted caramel:

• coconut oil: I recommend unrefined coconut oil
• maple syrup: as a natural, unrefined sweetener
• coconut sugar: as a natural, unrefined sweetener
• almond butter, cashew butter or tahini: MUST be smooth and creamy in consistency
• salt: obviously because it’s ‘salted’ caramel, haha

To make the donuts:

• These donuts are SO simple to make! You simply combine all the wet ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix until combined. Then add in the dry ingredients to the same bowl and mix again. I love that these are made using only one bowl, making for a much easier cleanup!
• Simply bake the donuts in a donut pan in the oven. This is MUCH healthier than traditional fried donuts.
• The salted caramel glaze is made while the donuts are baking in the oven. Simply place all of the ingredients for the salted caramel in a small saucepan together and whisk until the coconut oil is fully melted.
• Once the donuts are finished cooking and removed from the oven you can then glaze the donuts and enjoy!

I hope you love these apple cider donuts as much as I do!! If you make them be sure to comment below and let me know what you think!

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