Halloween Spider Donuts
These fun Spider Donuts are a festive and spooky treat. It’s a homemade apple cider donut and frosting with decorations to make it look just like a spider.
Servings: 12
Calories: 306kcal
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup sugar
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup butter 1 stick
- 1 cup apple cider
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup milk
- 1 ½ teaspoons lemon juice
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon cloves, ground
- 1-2 Tablespoons food grade activated charcoal powder or 1-2 teaspoons black food coloring
ICING/DECORATIONS
- 3 Tablespoons melted butter
- 3 Tablespoons cream
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- ½ - 1 tablespoon activated charcoal powder or 1 teaspoon black food coloring
- 36-42 pretzel sticks
- chocolate Jimmies or sprinkles
- ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- candy eyes
Instructions
Make the Donuts
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Pour one cup of apple juice or apple cider into a small saucepan, heat until boiling, then turn the heat down just a bit and simmer until the juice has been reduced by half. Let cool to room temp.
- Pour the lemon juice into the milk and let sit for a couple of minutes.
- Pour all dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix until combined.
- Add the milk and lemon mixture, the apple cider reduction, eggs, vanilla, and butter to the bowl with the dry ingredients.
- Spoon your batter into a piping bag or into a 1 gallon zip top bag and snip one bottom corner.
- Prepare a donut pan by spraying with non-stick baking spray. Pipe the batter into the prepared donut pan.
- Bake the donuts in a preheated oven at 350° for 15 to 20 minutes until fully baked. The cake should be springy to the touch.
- Turn the donuts out onto a cooling rack and let cool completely before decorating.
Decorating your Black Donuts
- To make the icing, combine the melted butter, cream, food coloring (or charcoal powder) and powdered sugar. Mix until all of the sugar has dissolved. (If the icing is too thick, add a bit more cream, if it is too thin, add a bit more powdered sugar.)
- Once the donuts have cooled completely, dip the top of the donut into the freshly made icing. Place dipped donut onto a plate or tray.
- Finish dipping the remainder of the donuts then place candy eyeballs onto each of the donuts, you can do as few as 2 or as many as 8 or more on each!
- Place the tray of donuts into the fridge for 15-30 minutes, or until the icing has hardened a bit.
- While the donuts are in the fridge, melt the chocolate chips in a small microwave safe container.
- Dip each one of the pretzel sticks about 80% the way into the chocolate, spin the sticks against the side of the container to remove excess chocolate, as you only need a thin layer. Then dip the chocolate covered pretzel into the chocolate sprinkles. Set the pretzel onto a parchment lined tray. Repeat this for all of the pretzel sticks.
- Once all of the pretzel legs have been made, place the tray into the fridge to let the chocolate harden.
- When the donuts and the legs have hardened, and you are ready to serve, remove the donuts from the fridge and gently stick 6-8 of the legs into each donut.
- Serve, and enjoy your spooky treat! Enjoy every bite!
Video
Notes
- If your donut pan fits in your air fryer basket, you may air fry the donuts instead of baking them.
- Since this is a batter and not a dough, you can not deep-fry these Halloween donuts.
- Gently mix the donut batter to keep the donuts from becoming tough and dense on the inside.
Nutrition
Calories: 306kcal | Carbohydrates: 53g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 45mg | Sodium: 272mg | Potassium: 142mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 38g | Vitamin A: 217IU | Vitamin C: 0.5mg | Calcium: 78mg | Iron: 2mg