These baked pumpkin doughnuts are rolled in cinnamon sugar and are SO EASY to make that I thought I must be doing it wrong. From start to finish this was maybe a half-hour project, and I was so happy with how they came out. These are the kind of doughnuts that give you street cred for being such a great cook. And you’ll be like “Oh these easy things? I whipped these up lickety split!” So grab a doughnut pan, and let’s bake! —AS
MAKES 6 DOUGHNUTS
DOUGHNUTS
1¼ cups (155 g) all-purpose flour
2 tsp (6 g) pumpkin pie spice (see Note)
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
½ cup (110 g) packed brown sugar
½ cup (120 ml) unsweetened almond milk
⅓ cup (60 g) pumpkin pureé (see Note)
2 tbsp (28 g) coconut oil, melted
1 tsp vanilla
TOPPING
¼ cup (60 ml) melted coconut oil or vegan butter
1 cup (190 g) organic granulated sugar
1 tbsp (9 g) ground cinnamon
FOR THE DOUGHNUTS
Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C) and grease a doughnut pan.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder and salt. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, almond milk, pumpkin purée, coconut oil and vanilla.
Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients about ½ cup (63 g) at a time, stirring to combine. The batter should be a little thick, not pourable. Once mixed, use a spoon to place the batter into the doughnut pan, distributing the batter evenly between each doughnut mold. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean and the doughnuts spring back lightly when pressed. Cool them on a wire rack.
FOR THE TOPPING
While the doughnuts cool, pour the ¼ cup (60 ml) of melted coconut oil or butter into a shallow bowl. In a separate shallow bowl, mix together the granulated sugar and cinnamon. When the doughnuts have cooled, dip one side lightly into the oil or butter; then dip it into the cinnamon-sugar mixture, shaking off the excess. Flip the doughnut over and repeat the process, trying to coat the edges as well so that when you coat the other side with cinnamon-sugar, the whole doughnut becomes covered in the mixture. Repeat this process with all the doughnuts before moving them to a wire rack or stuffing them in your mouth.
Doughnuts are best served fresh, but if you have leftovers you’d like to save, my best recommendation is to line a ziplock bag with paper towels, place the doughnuts (not touching) into the bag and put them in the fridge overnight. If left on the counter, the oil could make them soggy overnight.
Note: If you don’t have a doughnut pan, you can try to arrange the dough into doughnut shapes on a parchment-lined baking sheet. They won’t look exactly the same and might be a little wonky, but still delicious!
If you don’t have any pumpkin pie spice on hand (available at most grocery stores in the spices section), you can substitute with a mixture of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice and cloves.
If you have some freshly roasted pumpkin, go ahead and use that. If not, canned pumpkin purée works great, too!
*SEE PHOTO INSERT