pumpkin spice donuts
September 28, 2011 So I have a little story to share.
The result is a recipe we’ve both been waiting for.
As mentioned yesterday, things have been a little busy around here. This causes me to have tunnel vision. While I’m tackling one thing, all that’s on my mind is what do I need to do next. Instead of my eyes wandering around, I’m starring straight ahead. I didn’t really realize this until today, while driving. I felt my hands clenched on the wheel, my body hunched, and my brain shooting from one thing to the next.
I made the realization and then relaxed my grip and sat back. While still paying attention to cars on the road + pedestrians, I looked around and made another realization. Despite the weather being in the 80’s for the past week, the leaves are changing color.
What!? When did this happen? We had a few cool, rainy days, but then it crept right back up into the 80’s. I wasn’t even paying attention to the trees with the weather being so warm.
Leaves are changing, and I’ve only given you one pumpkin recipe?
Realization #3 – Pumpkin recipe needed. Now.
Pumpkin might seem like a food blog fad, but it’s and ingredient I’ve always loved.
There will definitely be pumpkin bread + other pumpkin recipes in the near future, but pumpkin donuts are first.
With adding pumpkin puree to the mix, I wasn’t quite sure how this recipe would work. My worry was that they would become too fluffy and cake-like. I knew I needed to decrease the amount of milk, but wasn’t sure by how much. I wanted them to have a nice spiced flavor, but not overdone.
I started to add ingredients to the bowl, and realized I was out of baking powder. With Kelsey living a few blocks away, I gave her a ring. No answer. So, I broke in. With the key of course. No baking powder to be found, so I scurried off to a little market and grabbed it.
Problem one: diverted
Problem two: I added too much almond milk.
Problem three: If this recipe turned out to be a fail, I was also out of sweet rice flour and not going back to the store.
Good news! This recipe is really forgiving. Too much almond milk, just required a little longer bake time. They still had their cake-donut texture and were not gooey in the least. The pumpkin didn’t make them too fluffy or cakey, either. Cake donut texture is much different than actual cake texture. A bit denser and more moist. Despite the fact that they are baked, they truly have a fried cake donut texture.
While the donuts were baking away, I got to work on the glaze. I wanted a thick, pumpkin spiced glaze.
First thing to do. Make fresh powdered sugar, using sucanat. So super easy! Just be careful, as it’s very powdery when you grind it. Don’t breathe too deeply! Check out the smoke below. That has nothing to do with heat. It’s all sugar smoke!
Instead of adding milk to the sucanat powdered sugar, I added pumpkin and a little spice.
And it worked!
If you’re not a huge fan of super sweet, sugary glaze, fear not. You will still love these donuts sans glaze. I gobbled one up, immediately out of the oven, with no glaze in sight….and I might even prefer them that way.
Pumpkin spice packed in a donut…
…with a drippy, pumpkin-spiced glaze.
Pumpkin Spice Donuts [yields 6]
- 1/2c oat flour [ground in a blender from certified GF oat groats or steel cut oats]
- 1/2c sweet rice flour
- 3T coconut flour
- 3T sunflower oil
- 1/3c sucanat
- 2 large eggs
- 1/3c pumpkin puree
- 6T unsweetened almond milk
- 1.5t cinnamon
- 1/2t ginger
- 1/4t nutmeg
- 1/8t all spice
- pinch of ground cloves
- 1.5t vanilla
- 1/2t salt
- 1t baking powder
- Preheat your oven to 350* + grease your donut pan.
- In a medium sized bowl mix together the oat flour, sweet rice flour, coconut flour, sucanat, salt, spices + baking powder.
- In a small bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, vanilla, oil + pumpkin.
- Stir wet into dry, until combined. Do not over stir. It will look slightly lumpy.
- With a spoon, spatula, or piping bag, transfer the batter to your greased pan.
- Bake for 22-26min.
- Test with a toothpick for doneness. You want a slightly moist toothpick. Not gooey but not bone dry. The tops of the donut should be golden brown and slightly firm.
- Let them cool in the pan for 5min then turn out onto a cooling rack. Loosen around the edges if needed.
- Add toppings when cooled.
*For high altitude – oven 375*, 7T almond milk, 3/4t baking powder
*If you can’t find, or don’t want to buy coconut flour, I would add 1T extra oat flour add 2T extra of the sweet rice flour.
*Don’t forget, these can also be made in a cupcake pan. The bake time will increase by about 5min. Test for doneness.
Pumpkin Sugar Glaze
- 1/2c powdered sucanat
- 2T pumpkin puree
- 1/4t ground cinnamon
- pinch of ginger/nutmeg/clove/all spice
- Whisk together until smooth.
- Let sit for 5min to thicken.
- Drip or spread on donuts.
I’ve tried to describe the texture, but why not just show you?
A must make for fall. Or, summerall, which is what I would like to call the current season.
Realizations were made.
Problems were diverted.
And a pumpkin donut was created.
Now it’s time for bed.
Dakota agrees.
Ashley
Reader Comments (86)
All of your donut recipes seem amazing but these absolutely scream fall-tastic :) Keep the pumpkin recipes coming! Pumpkin is my hubby's favorite flavor. I'm really looking forward to that pumpkin bread too. Have a great day chica!
I love the photo of the sucanat smoke. So crazy! Bring on the summerall!
This looks utterly beautiful, but maybe not too tunnel-vision-y with the pumpkin, please? Some of your dedicated readers are in the opposite hemisphere, in the land of No Pumpkin :P
Wow...this looks amazing! I'm so jealous of your donut pan. I really need to invest in one. ;-)
I'm so excited to try these! I've made your cinnamon donut recipe twice now, and I LOVE them, so I know these are going to be delicious. The glaze looks wonderful, but I might try a few plain, or maybe with a little cinnamon sugar topping. I can't wait to see your pumpkin bread recipe!
summerall... perfect. We're having some of the best weather we've had all year. It's definitely not fall here. All I feel like eating are greens and pasta salads. I was cleaning out the kitchen yesterday and realized I haven't used my donut pans in forever. Really need to get on that.
Thank you! Now I know what I am doing on Saturday morning! They look very yummy!!!! I am just loving all this donut stuff!!! Anything shaped like a donut tastes so good. Why is that?
Oh Ashley, these are beautiful. The recipe, the glaze, the photography.
Everything about them screams: amazing!
And I sure hope you submitted the pics to the foodie sites b/c they NEED to be on there :)
I love those last few shots with the bite taken out especially. So simple and beautiful. This is an awesome recipe... it takes a lot of talent to sub in ingredients and cut back on others and still wind up with a similar texture outcome. Apple cider donuts would be my next suggestion!
EEE! So perfect for fall! Everything is lovely, I love it :)
i'm the same way with my tunnel vision too...such a pain! at least you realized the leaves the were changing before it was too late though...and made these crazy delicious donuts :)
You need to open a bakery! These donuts look heavenly and perfect for fall...Love the photography on these as well. Happy Hump Day! :) With all these delicious sweet treats that you cook, how do you control your cravings and still look so great? ;)
I had no idea that sugar smoked like that! These donuts look gorgeous! I made a pumpkin loaf/cake on the weekend, and I know what you mean about being too cakey - this one was just right an had moisture, but it was dense. Perfect! And now, I think I'm going to have to make your donuts too!
Hello! Perfect! I have been out of the country for almost 2 weeks and coming home to this post was AMAZING!
O.M.G. those look so good!!!!!!!!!!!
I want to try...right now, haha. Recently, everything has been looking good to me, haha.
HAHA! I'm with you on "Summerall" - what IS this weather?!
These look awesome. I made cider doughnuts and am waiting until the VERY FIRST day of October to do my pumpkin spice ones - now that I have such a lovely recipe to use, I'm all set! ;)
Wow! Love the colour! We haven't even done a pumpkin recipe yet but I promise there are some on the horizon. I haven't been able to find a donut pan...did you order yours online?
I hate having to use powdered sugar in my icing recipes, I'm so excited to learn that I can blend cane sugar and it works! I can't wait to try this, thanks sooo much for the tip!
yesssss! i am so excited, and will be making these this week!
More pumpkin!! Still not tired of it!! :-)
Oh, wow. These look AND sound amazing! Aaaah I need a donut pan!! :)
xo
Dakota looks like such a sweet dog -- what a face!
I keep thinking I don't need a donut pan and then you go ahead and post another donut recipe. :)
YUM. I need to make these soon to fuel my pumpkin obsession! I was thinking of making some pumpkin donuts but held off since I already have posted 2 pumpkin recipes on the blog in the past month- readers now find my blog by searching "addicted to pumpkin"', "I wish everything was pumpkin flavored". These look too good to pass up, though.
Oh my goodness those look SO GOOD!!! I'm drooling.
I'm going to eat one for breakfast since my weekly oatbake yesterday was a TOTAL fail..... and because these are the best dounuts ever EVER.
Ahh. I need to get one of those pans and try these recipes, girl. PUMPKIN!
You're my favorite person.
Pumpkin spice doughnuts? I've died and gone to pumpkin land. My cupboard is brimming with pumpkin just begging to be used. Great to have another recipe to try!
Use a muffin tin!! :)
Let me know what you think! We had a neighbor come over and he could NOT believe they were GF and not full of oil! :)
I was so excited to realize this could be made as well!! I'm not a fan of powdered sugar [with cornstarch] either and don't use it often. So this is perfect!
I found it at a local kitchen store, but they're $10 on amazon!
Definitely need to give cider doughnuts a go!!
Haha!! Wish I could bring you some!!
Oooh, exciting!! Hope you had a great trip!
It's just sucanat that gets super smoky like that. It's really dry and powdery! Very different than white sugar. Your pumpkin bread sounds perfect!
Thanks Katie!! I really only bake about once a week, and besides the icing on this recipe, most of my baked goods are decently low in sugar and full of healthy ingredients. :) A few years back, I stopped buying processed bags of cookies and things from the grocery store and my sugar tolerance went way way down. If I eat too much sugar, it gives me the same feeling as too much caffeine, so I don't crave sweets too often.
I just couldn't believe they were...it was so weird! haha
Thanks Katie!! :)
I'm not sure, but totally agree, and I was never even a big donut lover....weird!
Oh no!! Dust that thing off! ;)
YAY!! That's awesome Kerry. I think the cinnamon donuts were my favorite, but these might have trumped those or at least come close! The cinn sugar topping would be DEElicious with these. I really preferred these plain without the icing. I'm super sensitive to sugar, and powdered sugar always gets to me a little bit!
Oh don't worry!! There won't be weeks + weeks of pumpkin!! I know it's not for everyone...buuut, I will say that Chris is not a fan of pumpkin spiced baked goods AT all and he totally loved these. It was the weirdest thing. :)
Chris usually haaates pumpkin but he actually loved these....so strange!
I have had donuts on my mind like crazy lately! This didn't help the craving - in a delicious way!
Holy cow! I don't even know what to say. I'm just going to sit here and stare at these donuts until I can make them for myself. I'm feeling a little swoony right now. LOL
It looks like there is dry-ice in your blender! Interesting effect...
To be honest, I can't get into all the hype around the pumpkin stuff through the next seasons - but OMG those donuts look decadent. :)
Oh no you didn't... Oh yes you did! Yay a pumpkin donut recipe!! I am obsessed with the cake donut texture. Nothing beats it.
Amazing recipe!! For reals!! I agree that pumpkin is just a wonderful ingredient all around! Not just for blogs. And I hope you continue to hang in there and stay excited! I can't believe all your photography stuff is coming along~that is amazing. Congrats Ashley! And I really thought your blender was about to blow up!
I tried to make pumpkin spice donuts the other day (got my donut pan about a week ago!) and I didn't like how they turned out (maybe too much pumpkin spice or baking powder/soda). So glad to have a successful recipe on my hands!
Can I substitute the rice flour with different flours?