Sweet Saturday: Baked Pumpkin Doughnuts

Happy Saturday, my sweet friends! I hope everyone had a blessed week! :o)

I haven't had any quality crafty time since my last post, but I did have a fun baking adventure! My sweetheart bought me doughnut pans and I was tickled pink! I had been wanting to make doughnuts for quite some time, so within hours of receiving the gift I was in the kitchen putting them to work. :o) I love the plethora of flavor options, but never made them because I don't like them fried. Now with these fabulous pans, I can have all sorts of fun with the baked variety. :o) Up first needed to be a seasonal cake doughnut, which my family flipped over: Baked Pumpkin Doughnuts! :o)

Color me sparkly! I had a blast making this speedy, delightful treat. I coated half of them in a pumpkin spice and sugar mixture (as opposed to cinnamon-sugar) and dunked half in a spiced glaze. Messy, but not too bad for a first dunking try... next time I'll let the excess drip off before flipping it over. ;) I was just too excited! Hehe. These doughnuts are bursting with spiced pumpkin, perfectly fluffy, and are such a fun snack to usher in Autumn's splendor.

The toppings amped up the seasonal flair and we loved having a couple of different options to enjoy. The pumpkin spice-sugar made a huge difference over the more typical cinnamon-sugar and the glaze is spiced to perfection. There will be extra of each, so I set aside some of the pumpkin spice-sugar to use next time. I am ecstatic over this blessing and already have a good amount of doughnut recipes saved for future use. (In the near future, I might add.) These pans are not expensive and are certainly worthwhile... and it's fun to bake with kiddos, too! My family was delighted and I've already promised a batch to my mom's coworkers. Guaranteed smiles all around. :o)

Thank you for visiting me today! I wish you all a crafty, beautiful weekend. :o)

Note: I substituted melted butter for the oil in the recipe in the same amount. While they tasted amazing, I do not know the *proper* proportions of said substitution so I am writing the recipe as is. I read for eons and there were differing opinions, so I finally had enough and just went to bake! ;)

Note 2: The original recipe states that these keep for several days, but I found there to be a pretty big difference after the first day. The sugary topping melts into the doughnut by the second day and makes it sticky. Homemade doughnuts are always best when fresh, so I'll always bake accordingly.

Baked Pumpkin Cake Doughnuts
Yield: 12 doughnuts

Ingredients:
For the doughnuts:
½ cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1½ cups granulated sugar
1½ cups pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
1½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (OR ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon plus a heaping ¼ teaspoon each ground nutmeg and ground ginger)
1½ teaspoons salt
1½ teaspoons baking powder
1¾ cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

For the pumpkin spice-sugar coating:
½ cup sugar
2 teaspoons pumpkin spice

For the spiced glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Dash of ground nutmeg
Dash of ground ginger
Dash of ground cloves
2 tablespoons milk

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350º F. Lightly grease two standard doughnut pans.

In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, eggs, sugar, pumpkin, spices, salt, and baking powder until smooth. Add the flour, whisking just until blended and smooth.

Spoon batter into a large resealable plastic bag. Cut off the corner and squeeze batter into prepared doughnut pans, filling each well about ¾ full. (Approximately a scant ¼ cup of batter in each.)

Bake the doughnuts for 15-18 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center of one comes out clean.

Remove the doughnuts from the oven, letting them sit in the pans for about 5 minutes. Loosen their edges and transfer to a cooling rack.

To make the pumpkin spice-sugar, combine the sugar and pumpkin spice in a shallow dish and whisk to blend. When the doughnuts are still warm (but no longer fragile), dip half of them in the pumpkin spice-sugar to coat completely, shaking off the excess.

To make the spiced glaze, combine the powdered sugar and spices in a small bowl. Add the milk and whisk to combine until a thick glaze is formed. If necessary, add a bit more milk to thin out the glaze. Dip the remaining half of the doughnuts into the glaze. Allow the glaze to set before serving.

Cool completely and store in an airtight container at room temperature. *Personal note: These truly are best the first day.

Sources: Doughnuts: King Arthur Flour; Spiced Glaze: Annie's Eats