Baked Pumpkin Donuts

These baked pumpkin donuts are baked, made with wonderful warm spices, and rolled in cinnamon sugar after baking. And since they are baked and not fried, they come together in about 30 minutes!

 

YES. It’s that time of year! It’s pumpkin season friends!! And since I’ve been on a bit of a homemade donuts baking kick this Fall season, like with these old-fashioned sour cream donuts and apple cider donuts I knew it was time for a pumpkin donut.

These pumpkin donuts are baked, delicious, and full of spices. Oh and rolled in cinnamon and sugar. You will need a couple donut pans to make these baked pumpkin donuts, but they are fun baking piece of equipment to put in your arsenal. Oh and maybe a cup of coffee to wash them down with after they’re done baking.

Ok I can’t wait any longer let’s make these pumpkin spice donuts!!

For more donut recipes check out –> 90+ Donut Recipes

Why You Will Love This Recipe

• Super Quick To Whip Up – These are very fast to mix up, and bake in about 10 minutes. So in about 30 minutes or so you will have some homemade pumpkin donuts ready to serve.
• Baked…not fried! That means no standing over a pot of hot oil. And hey, baked, means healthier right?! Right.
• Baked…not fried! That means no standing over a pot of hot oil. And hey, baked, means healthier right?! Right.

Ingredients Needed

• Flour
• Baking powder
• Baking soda
• Salt
• Pumpkin – You want to make sure to use 100% pumpkin puree, and not pumpkin pie filling which has added sugar and other ingredients. 
• Sour cream– I used sour cream for these donuts but you can also use plain greek yogurt or plain yogurt.
• Spices– I used a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice and ground cloves but you can replace the spices called for with 1 Tablespoon pumpkin pie spice instead.
• Unsalted butter
• Egg
• Vanilla extract

How To Make These Baked Pumpkin Donuts

Make Donut Batter

1. Combine dry ingredients. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves. Set aside.
2. Combine pumpkin and sour cream. In a small mixing bowl, stir together the sour cream and pumpkin puree. Set aside.
3. Combine wet ingredients. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream together the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add egg and vanilla and beat to combine.  
4. Add flour in three additions. Alternate the flour in 3 additions with the pumpkin mixture, beginning and ending with the flour. Mix just until combined.

Bake And Dip Donuts

1. Add batter to pans. Spoon about 2 tablespoons of batter into each well of the donut pan. Or place batter into a piping bag (or sealable plastic bag) and pipe the donut batter into the pans. Leftover batter can be refrigerated while the first batch bakes. Bake for about 10 minutes, until the tops spring back and a toothpick comes out clean. The tops should spring back when touched. Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then remove from the pan and transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. Finish baking remaining batter.
2. Make cinnamon sugar mixture. In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar and cinnamon.
3. Dip in butter. Dip each donut into the melted butter.
4. Dip in cinnamon/sugar. Then roll in the sugar topping.  

Recipe Tips

• Measure your flour correctly. Too much flour which can result in a cakey, dry donut. For best, results measure your flour using a kitchen scale.
• Do not over mix once you’ve added the flour. Overmixing = Too Much Gluten = Tough Donuts! Gluten is the protein in the flour that forms when the flour becomes hydrated. We need some gluten to form because it helps creates structure and traps the gasses formed from the leavening agents. But if you continue to mix you will cause too much gluten to form resulting in a tough, chewy donut.
• Use room temperature ingredients. Besides the softened butter, you want the milk and eggs at room temperature otherwise when added to the bowl with the creamed butter, they will solidify the butter again. I like to place your eggs in a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes before baking.
• Use a piping bag to pipe the batter into the donut pan easily. If you don’t have a piping bag, then use two spoons to scrape the batter in the pans. Just make sure when piping, then the hole of the bag is wide enough otherwise the blueberries will get stuck!!
• Be sure to grease not just the wells, but the tops of the pans. You want to make sure to not overfill the pans but just in case I like to make sure the pans are greased well so the donuts don’t stick. 

Recipe Variations

• Make a maple glaze. Instead of rolling in cinnamon sugar you could dip these donuts in a maple glaze like the one I used for my maple bacon scones! You could also add a 1/2 teaspoon to make a maple cinnamon glaze.
• Make a vanilla glaze – You could also just make a simple powdered sugar icing by combining 1 cup powdered sugar, 1-2 Tablespoons milk and a 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and glaze the top of the donut.
• Roll in powdered sugar. Skip dipping in melted butter first and simply toss in powdered sugar.
• Bake into donut muffins – You can bake as regular muffins. Regular muffin pan will take about 15-20 minutes.
• Bake in a mini muffin pan– Make into mini pumpkin donut holes!

Storage Instructions

These donuts can be stored at room temperature, covered, for 2 days in an airtight container. They may last a little longer, but I find they are best if eaten within 2 days. I find the donuts can become a bit stale and soggy on the outside due to the coating.

You can also freeze baked donuts WITHOUT dipping butter and rolling in sugar. After they are baked and cooled completely, place the donuts in ziplock bag and freeze these for up to 3 months. They will thaw at room temperature quickly. Then dip/roll as normal before serving.

Recipe FAQ’s

More Recipes To Try

Once you’ve mastered this pumpkin donut recipe, here are a few more delicious recipes to try!

• Glazed Yeast Donuts Recipe
• Sugar Donuts
• Baked Blueberry Lemon Donuts
• Baked Apple Cider Donuts
• Chocolate Frosted Donuts
• Banana donuts