Baked Pumpkin Cinnamon Sugar Doughnuts

I still can't believe it's September already. Leaves are already changing up on the beautiful Rocky Mountains to the east, the air during my morning run has more of a cold bite to it these days, a few leaves are already falling off the trees in the backyard here, and my cravings for hot chocolate and hot apple cider are getting stronger and stronger by the minute. Fall must be getting very, very close! 

I've never made doughnuts before, except for my homemade french crullers, which are still a favorite doughnut of mine! This time, with Fall being at our door, I wanted to make some doughnuts with pumpkin, and I wanted to try making a deliciously easy baked version of them. These turned out incredible, and I seriously COULD NOT STOP sneaking bites of them. Each doughnut was extremely soft on the inside, but with the buttery cinnamon sugar outside had a light crisp exterior to each one. Serving them without hot chocolate for dunking would be a crime, so hot chocolate and marshmallows it was! These are super easy to make, and we'll definitely be making them on repeat this fall! 

No mixer is necessary, which is super nice sometimes. I love my Kitchen Aid mixer, and practically consider it one of my children, haha. But sometimes it's nice to use less dishes, less mixing power, and still get a beautifully delicious treat to enjoy! The ingredients come together effortlessly, and only require a little whisk here and there to create the dough. 

Something you'll also need is a doughnut pan. I don't personally own one of these beauties, but I totally wish I did! My sister-in-law has one for these doughnuts, and also one for teeny tiny doughnuts. It's the cutest thing I've ever seen, and I'm already planning a couple recipes where I can use it. I mean, MINI DOUGHNUTS? Always a yes in my book. I was planning to use the mini doughnuts for this recipe, and had the pan all prepped with cooking spray, but the dough ended up only filling up the large 6-doughnut pan, leaving the mini doughnut pan empty! :( I totally should have doubled the recipe! So make sure to double it if you have both pans like I did so you can enjoy them in large or little bites. 

The original recipe called for pumpkin pie filling. I have a ton of pumpkin puree in our cupboard, and didn't want to have to go buy another can of something, so I added pumpkin spice to the regular pumpkin puree and it came out beautifully! I loved how incredibly soft these doughnuts are, and I think using that puree helped a ton.

Each bite was sugary, buttery, and exceeded all my wildest dreams of what a pumpkin doughnut could taste like! 

Storing them at room temperature on the wire rack or dinner plate is best. They'll go super fast! Keeping them in a tupperware or something enclosed like that will take away some of the crisp texture on the onside (still tastes good, though). So eat them up quickly, and enjoy them with your entire family! I hope you love these as much as we did, they are definitely a new Fall favorite! 

Baked Pumpkin Cinnamon Sugar Doughnuts

makes 6 large doughnuts

ingredients:

for doughnuts:

1 C + 1/4 C all-purpose flour

1/2 C light brown sugar, packed

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1/4 C 100% pumpkin puree

2 1/2 Tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

3/4 C whole milk (or buttermilk works really well)

cinnamon sugar coating:

3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1 C sugar

1 1/2 Tablespoons cinnamon

method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spritz a doughnut baking pan with a little cooking spray. Set aside. 

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients, set aside. 

3. In a medium separate bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, melted butter, and milk. Gently fold in the wet mixture to the dry (be very careful to not overmix). 

4. Place entire mixture into a large ziploc bag (then cut off a corner) or large piping bag without a tip, and pipe the doughnut dough into the 6 doughnut rounds. There should be exactly enough dough for 6 doughnuts. 

5. Bake for 10 minutes. Turn doughnuts over onto a wire rack for cooling.

6. To make the cinnamon sugar coating, place the melted butter in a shallow bowl and stir together the cinnamon and sugar in a separate bowl. When the doughnuts are completely cooled, dunk one half of each doughnut into the butter, and then straight into the cinnamon sugar mixture. Place back onto the wire rack. Serve immediately, and enjoy! 

Recipe adapted from: Baker by Nature