Pumpkin Donuts

These 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 pumpkin season friends!! And since I’ve been on a bit of a donut baking kick this month, like with these old-fashioned sour cream donuts and apple fritters 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.

Ok I can’t wait any longer let’s make these pumpkin 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.

Ingredients Needed

Ingredient Notes

• Pumpkin – You want to make sure to use 100% pumpkin puree, and not pumpkin pie mix 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 cloves but you can replace the spices called for with 1 Tablespoon pumpkin pie spice instead.

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.

BAKING 101: 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.

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, cinnamon, and salt.
3. Dip in butter. Dip each donut into the melted butter.
4. Dip in cinnamon/sugar. Then roll in the sugar topping.  

HEATHER’S BAKING TIP: 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.

Pumpkin Donut 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.
• 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!!

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

Baked Pumpkin Donuts

These 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!

5 from 6 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes minutes

Servings: 16 donuts

Calories: 209kcal

Author: Heather Perine

Ingredients

For the donuts:

• ▢ 1 ½ cups (180 g) all-purpose flour
• ▢ ¾ teaspoon baking powder
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon salt
• ▢ 1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
• ▢ ½ teaspoon ginger
• ▢ ½ teaspoon nutmeg
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon allspice
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon cloves
• ▢ ⅓ cup (38 g) sour cream
• ▢ 1/3 cup (80 ml) milk
• ▢ ½ cup (113 g) pumpkin puree
• ▢ 6 tablespoons (85 g) unsalted butter softened
• ▢ ½ cup (107 g) packed light brown sugar
• ▢ 1 large egg room temperature
• ▢ 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the coating:

• ▢ 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
• ▢ 4 teaspoons cinnamon
• ▢ ½ cup (1 stick, 113 g) unsalted butter melted

Instructions

• Prep oven and pans. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease doughnut pans well with non-stick cooking spray. Make sure to grease not just the wells but the top of the pans as well.
• Combine dry ingredients. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves.
• Combine pumpkin milk and sour cream. In a small mixing bowl, stir together the sourcream milk and pumpkin puree. Set aside.
• 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.
• 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.
• Add batter to pans. Spoon about 2 tablespoons of batter into each well of the pan. Or place batter into a piping bag (or sealable plastic bag) and pipe the donut batter into the pans. Do not overfill each well. You want to fill each donut about 1/2 full. Leftover batter can be refrigerated while the first batch bakes.
• Bake donuts. 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.
• Dip donuts. In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Dip each donut into the melted butter and then roll in the sugar topping.

Video

Notes

• Storage: These donuts can be stored at room temperature, covered, for 2 days. After two days I find the donuts can a bit soggy from the coating. I find they are best if eaten within 2 days.
• Freezing: Freeze WITHOUT dipping butter and rolling in sugar. After they are baked and cooled completely, place the donuts in sealable plastic bag and freeze these for up to 3 months. They will thaw at room temperature quickly. Then dip/roll as normal before serving.
• 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 cloves but you can replace the spices called for with 1 Tablespoon pumpkin pie spice instead.

Nutrition

Calories: 209kcal | Carbohydrates: 25g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 41mg | Sodium: 102mg | Potassium: 75mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 16g | Vitamin A: 1548IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 33mg | Iron: 1mg

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