Today I helped my sister make yeast doughnuts for her family. She uses Mom’s recipe and adds a small amount of whole wheat flour to the dough. Years ago, Mom would make a big batch and leave most of them plain … which we dunked in copious amounts of maple syrup, or she’d put a thin vanilla glaze on them. Either way they were so good.
So today, as we were shaping the doughnuts, I told my sister I was going to write about doughnuts for this week’s recipe column. She said “You can’t write about doughnuts if you’ve never made them from start to finish!” So here is my confession: I have shaped doughnuts, fried them and glazed them, but have not made the dough!
But fortunately, since I am thinking about doughnuts I thought of these Baked Pumpkin Doughnuts, which I have made from start to finish. They are a cake doughnut and definitely healthy because they are baked, not deep fried. Now the recipe says to use a doughnut pan but I am not expecting you to have one of those in your cupboard. I used a regular muffin tin, but I would suggest you fill them only 2/3 full of batter to keep the doughnut height and also so they bake properly in the centre.
Baked Pumpkin Doughnuts
1 large egg
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp allspice
1/8 tsp cloves
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
In a large bowl, mix the egg, brown sugar, oil, vanilla, pumpkin and milk with a wire whisk.
Add dry ingredients and fold in gently with a spatula. Do not over mix the batter, stir only until dry ingredients are moistened.
Fill greased muffin tin 2/3 full with batter.
Bake at 350º F for 20-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a doughnut comes out clean.
Let sit for 10 minutes, then remove them from the pan.
Meanwhile, melt about 3/4 cup butter. Set aside.
In a small bowl, mix 2/3 cup white sugar and 2 tsp. cinnamon.
While the doughnuts are warm, dip them into the melted butter, and then quickly roll them into the sugar and cinnamon mixture.
Eat them while they are warm – they are fabulous.
