Apple cider donut season is here. We visited 14 orchards and bakeries within 30 miles so you don’t have to. Over three weekends in September, two of our reporters, one photographer and a very patient editor drove nearly 400 miles, ate far more fried dough than any doctor would recommend, and filled two notebooks with ratings, crumbs and strong opinions. These are the five donuts worth the drive.
A note before we begin: every place on this list sells its donuts seasonally, usually from late August through Thanksgiving, and several sell out by early afternoon on weekends. Hours change often in the fall, so check before you go. And if you see a line, get in it. The good ones are always worth the wait.
How we judged
Crunch, cider flavor, cinnamon sugar and how they tasted an hour later. We tried to keep things fair. Each reporter tasted one plain or cinnamon-sugar donut from every stop, ideally within five minutes of it coming out of the fryer. We rated each one on a 10-point scale in four categories, then saved a second donut in a paper bag to taste again an hour later in the car.
- Crunch: A great cider donut should have a thin, crisp shell that gives way when you bite it.
- Cider flavor: You should actually taste apple, not just sugar. The best ones use boiled-down cider, which gives a gentle tang.
- Cinnamon sugar: Enough to coat your fingers, not so much that it hides the donut.
- The one-hour test: Lots of donuts are great hot. Fewer stay good after a drive home.
A great cider donut is crisp outside, cakey inside and gone in four bites.
Tessa Lane, food reporter
Lane, who led our tasting team, grew up near an orchard and claims to have eaten a cider donut every fall weekend of her childhood. Her rule of thumb: if you need a napkin for the sugar but not for grease, the fryer is at the right temperature.
The winner
A small orchard stand where donuts come out of the fryer every ten minutes. Hollow Brook Orchard, about 22 miles southeast of the city, is easy to miss. There’s a hand-painted sign, a gravel lot and a wooden stand with a single window. Behind that window, a small automatic fryer turns out donuts in batches of a dozen, and a staff member tosses them in cinnamon sugar while they’re still steaming.
The donuts are small, about the size of a coffee cup rim, with a deep golden crust and a tender, slightly dense inside. The cider flavor comes through clearly; the orchard boils down its own cider from apples grown on the property. They cost $1.75 each or $10 for a half dozen. They were the only donut on our tour that every member of our team rated a 9 or higher, and the only one that tasted almost as good an hour later as it did hot.
“We don’t make them ahead,” said Ellen Marsh, whose family has owned the orchard for three generations. “If there’s a line, we fry. If there’s no line, we wait. That’s the whole secret.”
The orchard also sells fresh cider, pies and bags of apples picked that week, and there are a few picnic tables under an old maple tree where you can eat your donuts while they’re still warm. On weekday afternoons, it’s quiet enough to hear the fryer from the parking lot. On weekends, the line can reach 30 people, but staff keep it moving and the wait rarely tops 15 minutes.
The rest of our top five
2. Ridgeline Farm Market
About 18 miles north, this busy farm market sells donuts that are slightly larger and more cake-like than the winner, with a heavy coat of cinnamon sugar. The crunch was excellent, and the cider flavor was strong. On weekends, expect a 15- to 20-minute line, but it moves quickly. A half dozen costs $11.
3. Two Maples Bakery
The only bakery on our list rather than an orchard, this small shop in a neighboring town fries its donuts every morning starting at 6:30 a.m. They are lighter and fluffier than most, with a hint of nutmeg. They were among the best warm but lost a little crunch by the one-hour mark. Go early: they often sell out before 10 a.m. on Saturdays.
4. Cobble Hill Orchards
This pick-your-own orchard about 28 miles west makes a donut that leans more toward apple than sugar, with a lightly crisp crust and a moist, almost custardy center. It’s a great stop for families, with hayrides and a small playground. Donuts are sold in a barn next to the cider press, and you can watch cider being made on weekends.
5. The Lakeview Stand
Our surprise favorite is a roadside stand on the lake road, open only on weekends from mid-September through October. The donuts are a little irregular — some are lopsided, a few are almost square — but they’re fried fresh and dusted with a cinnamon sugar that includes a touch of maple sugar. They won our team’s “most fun to eat” award, mostly because of the view.
Honorable mentions and a few lessons
Several other stops deserved a mention. One orchard north of the city made a gluten-free version that our gluten-free taster said was “truly good, not just good for gluten-free.” A downtown bakery sells a cider donut with a thin maple glaze that two of us loved and two of us thought was too sweet. And one farm stand to the south offered a “donut sundae” with vanilla ice cream and caramel that we did not include in our ratings, but would happily eat again.
Along the way, we learned a few things about getting the most out of a cider donut trip:
- Go early. The best donuts often sell out by noon on fall weekends.
- Eat one right away. A cider donut is at its best in the first ten minutes.
- Bring cash. Several small stands accept cards, but a few still take cash only.
- Pair it with cider. Cold cider cuts through the sugar; hot cider makes it feel like fall.
- Store leftovers in a paper bag. Plastic makes them soggy. A few seconds in a warm oven can revive day-old donuts.
Plan your donut drive
If you have one free afternoon, we suggest starting at Two Maples Bakery for an early breakfast, then driving to Hollow Brook Orchard by late morning. That route takes about 45 minutes of driving each way and passes through some of the prettiest back roads in the county, especially during peak foliage.
For families with young children, Cobble Hill Orchards offers the most to do, with apple picking, hayrides and a corn maze on weekends. For a sunset stop, the Lakeview Stand is hard to beat.
Key takeaway: The best apple cider donut is fresh, crisp, tastes like real apples — and is usually found at a small stand with a long line and a single fryer.
Have a favorite cider donut spot we missed? Our food team is already planning a follow-up next fall, and we’d love to hear where you think we should go. Just don’t expect us to share the leftovers.
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