Sep 17

Sep 17 Baked Pumpkin Spice Donuts with Maple Cinnamon Glaze

I have a confession...I love donuts.

Donuts and french fries are about the only two foods I could never say no to. Even when they're bad or cold or stale, I will still eat a bite. I've heard donuts are not very difficult to make at home, but the thought of frying something in a bunch of oil that I will probably never reuse and have to recycle does not sound appealing to me.

the kitchen smells like a bakery at Thanksgiving time; warm, sweet spices fill the air!

Then I heard about the baked donut. Everything changed! All bets were off and I was in search of the donut pan. I debated whether it was truly necessary to add another one-task item to my overly cramped kitchen. Bottom line...indeed, it was!

that maple cinnamon glaze makes them look so pretty!

Pumpkin is popping up on menus everywhere, even though it's only the beginning of September. Everyone has autumn on the brain and I wanted it on my breakfast table! Since this was my first attempt at homemade donut making, I wanted to follow someone else's recipe to the letter before changing and substituting anything. These pumpkin donuts were a great first start! The texture is not dry at all, more like a spongy cupcake. That could be because of the pumpkin but I thought they were amazing! The glaze was perfect! I did add half a teaspoon of vanilla but that was it! Everything else is spot-on and I can't wait to try a slew of new flavor combinations! "DonutDay" will be forever changed in our house!

he's really enjoying donut day...it may be genetic!

Ingredients:

2 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp. freshly ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
2/3 cup pumpkin puree
2/3 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
4 tbsp. butter, melted and slightly cooled

Glaze ingredients:

2 cups confectioners sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 tbsp. pure maple syrup
2 tbsp. milk (or as needed)
2 tsp vanilla

nothing fancy, the spices really shine through!

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a donut pan with cooking spray and set aside. Even if it's a nonstick pan, spray it anyway. Trust me!
In a large bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg, and salt.
In a separate bowl, mix together the pumpkin, brown sugar, eggs, milk, and butter.
Mix the wet and dry ingredients together until just combined. Do not over mix the batter.
Spoon the batter into each donut cavity and bake for 8-10 minutes. It's a little easier to spoon the batter into a Ziploc bag, snip off the corner about one fourth of an inch, and pipe into each well.
Remove from oven and transfer donuts to a wire rack to cool for about ten minutes.
Meanwhile, mix together the ingredients for the glaze in a small bowl. If the glaze is a little too thick, add a splash of milk or as needed to thin it out a little more.
Dip the tops of each donut into the glaze and transfer back to the wire rack to let the glaze harden.
Once the glaze has hardened, serve and enjoy!