I’m having a love affair with fall this year, folks.
Seriously.
I want everyday to include some kind of pumpkin spice food, candle or craft. It’s getting out of hand. I just can’t stop baking fall stuff!
The other day I baked and frosted over 90 autumn leaf butter cookies. That is a LOT OF COOKIES.
I eventually figured out that I averaged one minute per cookie in terms of how long it took to frost. That helped me to feel some hope and see the light at the end of the tunnel. I’d do 4 of each color and know that it would take me 20 minutes.
Then I just kept doing that over and over about 5 times. It was an undertaking to say the least.
But they turned out cute and yummy! I gave some to a friend that I took a meal to, some to Andy’s classmates, some to my weekly Bible study and some to my in-laws when they came for dinner last night. I have more left so I definitely made enough :)
Even though there are still cookies in the house, I got the itch for more baking this morning. I was having a friend and her little ones over so I decided to whip up a batch of Cinnamon Chip Scones. I’ve made these before and absolutely LOVE them, so I was excited to make some before she came over. I’ll be posting the recipe soon!
But, back to the recipe at hand. Pumpkin Spice Donuts!
I found this recipe via Pinterest. Surprise, surprise, right?!
The gorgeous picture pretty much made my mouth water, so I added it to my recipe board and knew I’d be trying them out soon.
I’ve made my Grandma Marilyn’s donuts several times in the past, but they are made from a thick dough that gets deep fried, so I was new to baked donuts. These pumpkin spice beauties are baked so I had to secure a donut pan before I could test out the recipe.
I totally thought Joann Fabrics or Michael’s would have a donut pan in their cake decorating aisles, but they don’t. A quick Google search tipped me off that Target carries donut pans. Hurray!
Grace and I made a trip to Target for the pan, some wipes, and hairspray. We left with a heck of a lot more than that including: a pumpkin candle, bag of candy corn, and fall dress shoes for Grace. Target is deadly!
But with our new donut pan in hand, we rolled up our sleeves and made a batch of these delicious pumpkin spice donuts!
Fresh out of the oven and dipped twice in cinnamon sugar they tasted disappointingly bland. I was super bummed out because I was serving them at a get together that night and had high hopes for how awesome they’d be.
I decided to make another batch of a different kind of baked donut (buttermilk nutmeg) in case the pumpkin ones were a total flop.
Turns out all they needed was some time to rest!
After a few hours in an airtight container, the pumpkin spice donuts had fully cooled, soaked up some of the cinnamon sugar and were delicious! I dipped them a 3rd time into the cinnamon sugar mixture since the first two dippings had absorbed into the moist donuts while they sat in the container. The 3rd dipping gave them some extra sweetness, spice and sparkle. I recommend the 3 dip method when you make them.
Here’s the recipe!
Pumpkin Spice Donuts
adapted from Blue Eyed Bakers
Makes 18 regular sized donuts
- 1¾ cups flour
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon allspice (I didn't have any on hand so I skipped this)
- ⅛ teaspoons ground cloves
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil (I used coconut oil, melted)
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
- ½ cup milk
- FOR THE COATING:
- 1 cup sugar
- 1-2 tablespoons cinnamon (depending on your taste)
- Preheat oven 350 F. Lightly grease your donut pan with butter or shortening and set aside.
- In a bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt and spices together and set aside.
- In a large bowl (or the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment) whisk together oil, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, pumpkin and milk until combined. Slowly add the dry ingredients into the mixture and stir until just combined, careful not to over-mix.
- Using a pastry bag or a steady hand and a spoon, fill each donut cup with the batter. I was too lazy to dig out a pastry bag so I used a ziplock bag and snipped off one corner. It was perfect for filling a nice, thick ring of batter into each donut cup. The donut cups should be about ¾ full so they don't overflow.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, until donuts spring back when gently pressed. Turn donuts out onto a wire rack and allow to cool for a minute or so.
- While the donuts are cooling, combine the sugar and cinnamon in bowl or paper lunch bag. When the donuts are still hot (but not too hot to touch), quickly dip each one into the cinnamon-sugar mixture. When you’ve dipped the last of the 6 (if you’re using the pan I bought from Target), go back to the first one and dip them all once more.
- When you’ve baked up all the batter and double dipped each donut, store them in an airtight container for a couple hours before dipping into cinnamon sugar one last time. Serve them and enjoy!
Be sure to leave room in each donut well so they have space to rise and not overflow :)
