One day or several hours ahead: Bring apple cider and cinnamon sticks to a boil, and then reduce heat to a low simmer until the liquid becomes a thick syrup yielding ⅓ cup. This took me two and half hours to achieve on low heat. So, brace y’self. Set aside to cool to room temp. (Don't stress about how long this step takes you, if it takes a longer or shorter amount of time, that's fine, the end goal is 1/3 cup of sticky syrup.) 

In a separate medium bowl, take the cooled syrup and mix it with the apple butter, buttermilk and vanilla.

In a large bowl whisk together all dry ingredients: baking powder, salt, baking soda, nutmeg, flour and 1 teaspoon cinnamon.

In an electric mixer beat together butter, brown sugar and ¼ cup granulated sugar. Beat until light and fluffy - about 5 minutes. 

Add eggs one at a time until incorporated. 

Reduce mixer speed to low, and add dry ingredients in 2 additions, alternating with the apple cider mixture in 2 additions. Start with the dry ingredients and end with the wet cider ingredients. Mix until just incorporated. 

Dough will be SO SO SO SOFT, almost like a sticky cookie dough. You didn’t do it wrong. This is how the dough is.

Chill dough for at least 3-4 hours. You can just let the dough chill in the bowl, covered tightly and then scoop it out later. Dough can easily chill overnight (my dough usually chills overnight).  

Chilled dough should be very stiff. 

Preheat oven to 350°F / 180°C degrees.

Scoop chilled dough onto a very floured surface (use about ⅓ cup of flour here - more if needed) and gently pat, fold and turn dough over a couple of times until dough soaks up some of the flour and becomes softer and less sticky. You’re not really doing an official “knead” here, it’s kind of a fake knead to get the dough to soak up some of the flour - so take care to not overwork the dough. Dough should be soft, not sticky anymore. 

Gently pat the dough and form a large “disk” until it’s about a generous 1 inch thick. 

Douse your doughnut cutter in flour too, and cut out doughnuts. Then place doughnuts in a GREASED doughnut mould for baking. (I like coconut oil or butter for greasing). bakers note: Doughnuts will probably be heavily coated in flour, try to lightly shake off just little bit of the flour if you can - otherwise, don’t stress about it. The excess flour doesn’t ruin anything.

Bake for about 18-20 minutes or until doughnuts reach a golden brown color. Adjust baking time according to your oven. 

While doughnuts are baking make the cinnamon and sugar mixture in a medium sized bowl: 1 cup sugar to 1 ½ tablespoons cinnamon. Melt 4-6 tablespoons of butter in shallow bowl, big enough to dip a doughnut.

Once baked, let doughnuts cool for about 3-5 minutes. Then dunk + dip in a bowl of salted melted butter followed by an invigorating dip in cinnamon and sugar. Repeat this process until all doughnuts are covered in melted butter and sugar. 

My doughnut mould can only bake 12 doughnuts at a time - so "bake and repeat" until you've baked off all of your remaining dough. 

Doughnuts keep tightly wrapped for about 2 days, but are best the day they’re baked. (Really, they’re best warm, fresh out of the oven).