Pumpkin Donuts

I made these donuts in October people. Then I made them again on a very snowy day in December when church was even cancelled the weather was so bad. But I still haven't blogged about them. It is sad really that I haven't shared their yummy goodness with you all.

I know the Superbowl is Sunday and I should be sharing all kinds of appetizer foods with you, and I will hopefully get to a few in the next few days, but don't discount these as a healthy snack option for the big day. You know my theory about foods in mini form. You make them mini, people eat them ALL GONE!

I actually tried three different recipes and that is part of my delay in sharing as well as my continued computer issues so I am just going to share the process rather than the ingredient pictures and give you two of the recipes.

This is basically a mix all your dry ingredients then mix all your wet ingredients and combine the two kind of recipe. You want your batter consistency to be like this. Not too thick but not too thin either.

I actually had my friend hunt me down the mini donut pan but you can buy a regular size donut pan at Target. Put your batter in a Ziploc bag or in a pastry bag and pipe it into the pan. Trust me. You can't skip that part. 

It takes a little time to get it into the bag but then you can zip through the piping part really quickly. Especially since you will need to do this 2-3 times. I got 36 donuts the third time I made them.

They puff up so beautifully! Now you have a couple choices. Glaze or butter?

The first time I made an apple cider glaze and brushed it on the donuts.

The second time I used butter. The butter was easier and I liked it better surprisingly.

Either way you will want to put the warm donuts on a cooling rack and brush them with your "sticky substance." I found working in groups of three worked well.

For the glazed ones I simply dusted the tops with a mixture of cinnamon and sugar. Yes I used real sugar. It ends up being such a small amount and I had already cleaned up the donuts and in this case there is no substitute really for that texture.

The glazed donuts did tend to soak up the cinnamon and sugar but it didn't affect the taste of them one little bit!

Looking at this picture sure makes me wish I had some donuts right now.

When I made the second batch I brushed them with butter and then dropped them into a large Ziploc bag filled with the cinnamon and sugar mixture to coat them all over. The kids preferred them this way and it would be a great job for them to help with. Mine happened to be out playing in the nearly 2 feet of snow we got that day so they were no help but this was a very easy method.

Don't they look like they need to come in and warm up with hot chocolate and some warm, fresh, donuts????? Glad that snow is mostly gone!

I don't know about you but I wouldn't mind having a few of these while I pretend to watch the game on Sunday.

So here is the scoop on the recipes. The first one I tried was the one that actually came on the package of the donut pan. The second one was a gluten free recipe for my friend who needs it to be that way, and the third time I just found a recipe online that I tweaked. The jury came back with a verdict. The gluten free ones happened to be our favorite! I used this recipe Edible Perspective's Gluten Free Pumpkin Donuts. I did use her substitute suggestion for the coconut flour and I did not try her glaze. They were excellent donuts and she happens to be a donut expert. She is writing a gluten free donut cookbook. I will be trying some of her other donut recipes soon too.

If you don't want to make them gluten free then here is the third recipe I tried. It was our second favorite and it was easier so I don't feel a need to share the actual recipe that came with the pan.

If you wish to make some kind of apple cider glaze just mix 1 cup cider, 1/2 cup powdered sugar, and 2 tbsp. butter in a pan and heat until thick.

Cinnamon and Sugar Donuts

Ingredients
Nonstick cooking spray
1 cup whole-wheat flour
½ cup sweet rice flour or oat flour
½ cup all purpose flour
¼ cup Stevia
¼ cup sugar
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup low-fat buttermilk
2 large eggs
¼ cup honey
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Cinnamon and Sugar (about ½ cup sugar and 3-4 Tbsp. of cinnamon)

Preparation

 1. Preheat oven to 425° or large donuts or 400 for mini donuts. Lightly coat a donut pan with cooking spray.

2. Combine flours and next 4 ingredients (through salt) in a large bowl, stirring well with a whisk.

3. Combine buttermilk, eggs, honey, butter, and vanilla, stirring well with a whisk. Add buttermilk mixture to flour mixture; whisk just until combined.

4. Spoon batter into doughnut pans or pipe in using pastry bag. Bake in middle of oven until doughnuts spring back when touched and are golden on bottom (about 8 minutes for large or 6-7 minutes for mini). Let cool in pan slightly. Working in groups of 3 for mini doughnuts, brush with melted butter on both sides and place in Ziploc bag of cinnamon and sugar. Shake to coat.

While still warm, toss doughnuts into Ziploc bag of prepared cinnamon and sugar; let cool on rack, sugar-coated side up.