logo

THE SEMISWEET SISTERS

Two sisters who love to bake...

Baked Apple Cider Donuts

By Leave a Comment

Baked Apple Cider Donuts coated in cinnamon and sugar.

It is officially Fall season and one of the most popular desserts out there is Apple Cider Donuts. I love making baked versions of donuts and have been doing so for many years. This recipe is easy to whip together if you have some fresh apple cider. If you don’t have a donut pan you can make them in a muffin pan as well.

Some recipes call for the apple cider to be boiled down, some don’t. I chose to not boil down the cider and I like the way they turned out. I think it had plenty of tang to it without boiling. I just didn’t want to mess with an additional step. If you want to boil it down for a stronger flavor this can be done by starting with 1 1/2-2 cups of apple cider in a saucepan and boiling it until it is reduced to 1/2 cup for the recipe.

I like to use a small spoon to scoop the batter into the donut pan (Amazon affiliate) but you can also use a piping bag or make your own using a ziploc bag & cutting a bottom corner to pour the batter into the pan.

The tops will be a very light golden brown when they are done and they will be springy to the touch. If you have trouble removing them from the pan try using a rubber spatula. The bottom side of the donuts will be a nice dark golden brown color.

Recipe makes 12 donuts. I used 2 Wilton donut pans (Amazon affiliate).

Baked Apple Cider Donuts
 
Print
Recipe type: Breakfast
Ingredients
  • ½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened
  • ¾ cup brown sugar
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon nutmeg (optional)
  • 1¾ cups all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon salt (omit if using salted butter)
  • ½ cup apple cider
  • ---Coating---
  • 3 Tablespoons melted butter
  • ½ cup sugar
  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 F. degrees. Grease two 6-cavity donut pants and set aside.
  2. In a mixing bowl stir butter, brown sugar, and sugar together. Mix in egg, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg (optional).
  3. Add flour, baking powder and salt and mix well.
  4. Slowly mix in apple cider until it is well combined.
  5. Fill each donut cavity about ¾ full.
  6. Bake for 12-15 minutes.
  7. Remove from oven and let cool.
  8. Mix cinnamon and sugar together in a small bowl for the topping.
  9. Once cool enough to handle gently remove from pan and brush with melted butter, coat with cinnamon and sugar mix.

 

Share

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

By Leave a Comment

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp.

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp is a classic summer recipe for our family that we make every year. Our grandma always grew rhubarb in her backyard garden and we loved to make this dessert recipe with it.

This is one of my favorite early summer desserts! I love strawberry and rhubarb together. It is such a great combo.

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp
 
Print
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Recipe type: dessert
Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 3 tablespoons flour
  • 3-4 cups sliced fresh strawberries
  • 3-4 cups diced rhubarb
  • 1 ½ cups flour
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 cup butter soft
  • 1 cup rolled oats
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease 9x13 pan.
  2. In a large bowl, mix white sugar, 3 tablespoons flour, strawberries, and rhubarb. Place the mixture in baking dish.
  3. Mix 1½ cups flour, brown sugar, butter, and oats until crumbly. Put on top of the rhubarb and strawberry mixture.
  4. Bake 45 minutes in the preheated oven, or until crisp and lightly browned.

 

Share

Strawberry Crumb Muffins

By Leave a Comment

Strawberry Crumb Muffins.

After making strawberry jam this year, I had a lot of leftover strawberries so I tried something new.

These muffins are moist and you get strawberry in every bite! I love the crumb topping too!

 


Strawberry Crumb Muffins
 
Print
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Recipe type: dessert
Serves: 16-17
Ingredients
  • Muffins:
  • ½ cup vegetable oil
  • ½ cup sugar
  • ¼ cup brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 2 cups flour
  • ¼ cup milk
  • ¼ cup sour cream OR lemon yogurt
  • 2 cups Chopped Strawberries
  • Crumb Topping:
  • ¼ cup butter (melted)
  • ⅓ cup brown sugar
  • ⅓ cup white sugar
  • ½ tsp cinnamon
  • ½ cup flour
Instructions
  1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees, line muffin tin.
  2. Combine the oil and sugars in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the eggs, one at a time, until just combined. Stir in the vanilla extract.
  3. Combine the baking powder, baking soda, salt and flour in a medium sized bowl. Whisk together.
  4. Add the flour mixture, then the milk and sour cream or yogurt, stirring after each addition, until everything is mixed well.
  5. Carefully fold in the strawberries. Scoop the batter into lined muffin tins, filling each about ¾ full.
  6. In a small bowl combine all the ingredients for the crumb topping until mixed well, using a fork.
  7. Sprinkle the crumb evenly over the tops of the batter.
  8. Bake for about 16-20 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

 

 

Share

Giant Cinnamon Rolls Frosted with Buttercream Icing

By Leave a Comment

Giant Cinnamon Rolls Frosted with Buttercream Icing.

I love cinnamon rolls! My mom got all the family started on homemade cinnamon rolls because that was one of her go to recipes. We love homemade cinnamon rolls.

This recipe makes 6 giant cinnamon rolls filling up a 9×13″ baking pan.

I made this recipe to copycat one of my childhood favorite cinnamon rolls, besides my moms recipe of course. In Amish country there was a bakery called The Breadbox but unfortunately it closed down in 2020 after 25+ years of business. I was so sad that I was never going to be able to enjoy their giant sized cinnamon rolls again so I went to work making a copycat. Their version probably had more cinnamon and less sugar in the middle but I always thought it was a little too bitter with all that cinnamon but other then that I think this recipe is pretty close.

Recipe makes 6 giant cinnamon rolls frosting with buttercream icing.

Giant Cinnamon Rolls Frosted with Buttercream Icing
 
Print
Recipe type: Dessert
Ingredients
  • Dough:
  • 2¼ teaspoon instant yeast
  • 1¼ cups warm milk
  • 5 cups all purpose flour
  • ½ cup salted butter (1 stick) softened
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 egg + 1 yolk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Filling:
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 2 Tablespoons melted butter for brushing
  • Frosting:
  • ½ cup butter salted (1 stick) softened
  • 2 Tablespoons heavy whipping cream or milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1½ cups powdered sugar, more if needed to thicken
Instructions
  1. Knead dough using favorite method, by hand, using a stand mixer with dough hook, or a bread machine on dough cycle. I used a bread machine on dough cycle to knead my dough. Start by adding dough ingredients as listed above in the recipe. Knead dough for 10-15 minutes adding extra flour or milk if needed until a nice ball of dough that is slightly tacky forms.
  2. Cover loosely and let rise for 1 hour.
  3. Prepare the filling by mixing sugars and cinnamon together. Also melt the butter for brushing tops. Grease a 9x13" baking dish.
  4. Divide dough into 2 equal pieces.
  5. Roll into a log about 10" long on a lightly floured surface. Flatten and roll to about 6"x24".
  6. Brush with half the melted better, sprinkle with half the filling. Roll it up tightly starting with the short 6" side jelly style and pinch edges. Slice into 3 equal pieces.
  7. Place on greased 9x13" baking dish. Repeat with second piece of dough. Let rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
  8. Preheat oven to 350 F.
  9. Bake at 350 F. for 25-30 minutes.
  10. Let cool completely then prepare frosting.
  11. To make the frosting place ingredients for frosting in a mixing bowl. Use an electric mixer to mix the frosting until it is whipped together. Add more powdered sugar if it needs to be thickened. Spread on tops of the cinnamon rolls.
Share

Old Fashioned Blueberry Muffins

By 1 Comment

Old Fashioned Blueberry Muffins.

This is an easy classic blueberry muffin recipe. You can use fresh or frozen blueberries. Feel free to use regular or course sugar to sprinkle on top of the batter.


Old Fashioned Blueberry Muffins
 
Print
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Recipe type: Dessert
Serves: 10-11
Ingredients
  • 1½ cups flour
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • ⅓ cup vegetable oil
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • ½ cup milk
  • 1 cup of fresh or frozen blueberries
  • sugar for sprinkling on top
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 400 F. degrees. Grease or line muffin pan.
  2. Combine, flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Mix in oil, egg, vanilla and milk. Gently fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups ¾ of the way full. Sprinkle the batter with ⅛ teaspoon of sugar on each cup.
  3. Bake at 400 F. degrees for 19-25 mins.

 

Share

Dairy Free Waffles (made with water)

By 2 Comments

Dairy Free Waffles (made with water instead of milk). No weird milk substitutes like I’ve seen in other recipes.

I don’t have a regular waffle maker so I made them in my Belgian waffle maker. The only real difference is they are bigger and thicker sized waffles. I have the Oster brand Belgian waffle maker (affiliate link).

I didn’t know if it was possible to make dairy free pancakes or waffles. All of the recipes I found had weird ingredients in them with milk substitutes like almond milk & I couldn’t use any of them because the person I wanted to make them for has bad food allergies. So I made up this recipe that uses water instead of milk & vegetable oil instead of butter. They turned out light & fluffy & tasted just as good as my regular homemade waffle recipe. I served them with real maple syrup on top.

So if your dealing with a milk allergy or perhaps you’ve ran out of milk at your house, you can still make waffles from scratch. If your waffle batter is too thick add a little more water, you want it to be the same consistency as regular waffle/pancake batter. I find that sometimes I have to add an extra tablespoon of water to mine to thin it out.

The recipe below made 6 Belgian waffles. If only cooking for 1 or 2 people you could cut the recipe in half if you want a small amount.

Dairy Free Waffles made with water.

 

Dairy Free Waffles (made with water)
 
Print
Recipe type: Breakfast
Ingredients
  • 2 large egg
  • 1½ cups water
  • ⅓ cup + 1 Tablespoon sugar
  • ⅓ cup oil
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 Tablespoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
  1. Add eggs to mixing bowl & whisk really well (about 2 minutes).
  2. Add water, sugar, oil, & vanilla & stir. Add in flour, baking powder, & salt. Mix just until everything is combined. If mix is too thick you can add a little bit more water. You want it to look like normal pancake/waffle batter.
  3. Let sit for a few minutes.
  4. Heat up your waffle iron and use as directed to cook the waffles. (My waffle iron has a heat setting and I cooked on medium/high for about 5 or 6 minutes, varies).
  5. Serve warm.
Share

Connect With Us