In another life, I’d like to have a baked donut truck. Freshly roasted baked pumpkin donuts and baked apple cider donuts would make up our entire fall line-up. We’d close with the exit of the last donut. I’m not sure what name we’d plaster to the side of the donut truck, but our tagline would be: always baked, never fried. We’d disclose that these baked pumpkin donuts were built with wheat flour and partially sweetened with honey. Though they wouldn’t believe us. These are the things of my daydreams.

My friend Adam, husband of The Vanilla Bean Blog, said I might as well call myself The Donutmartha. Future name for a donut truck? But, he’s right. I’ve posted my fair share of baked donut recipes but was surprised to realize that I’d never worked on a baked pumpkin donut before.

Daydream Donuts. That’s what we’d call ourselves. And by we, I mean Hallie and I. She’s an excellent taste tester. She woke up from her nap yesterday informing me that she didn’t need to eat her green beans in order to have one of these baked pumpkin donuts. She’d also act as our chief negotiator when needed.

While this truck idles in my dreams, you should go ahead and make a batch of baked pumpkin donuts at home.

Baked Pumpkin Donuts

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• Total Time: 40 min.
• Yield: 6 donuts + a couple holes 1x

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Description

Baked Pumpkin Donuts sweetened just enough to fill the illusion of a fried donut. Topped with roughly chopped pepitas for visual reference.

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Ingredients

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Donut

• 3 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
• 2 tbsp. whole milk
• 1/4 tsp. vinegar
• 1/2 c. white whole wheat flour
• 1/2 c. unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. aluminum-free baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. kosher salt
• heaping 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg, fresh
• 1/16 tsp. cloves
• 1/2 c. pureed pumpkin or canned
• 1/4 c. brown sugar, packed
• 2 tbsp. honey
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Glaze

• 1 c. powdered sugar, plus more
• 2–3 tbsp. whole milk
• 1/4 c. pepitas, roughly chopped (optional)

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Instructions

1. Make the donuts. Preheat oven to 400°F degrees.
2. Melt butter until most is melted. Then set aside to cool and finish melting. In a small cup, stir together milk and vinegar. Allow to sit for about 5 minutes to curdle.
3. Meanwhile, whisk together flours, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves in a large bowl. (If you have pumpkin pie spice, omit other spices and use 3/4 teaspoon.) Set aside.
4. Into the cooled butter, whisk in pumpkin, sugar, honey, egg, vanilla extract, and curdled milk until evenly combined. (Tip: dip honey measuring utensil in the melted butter first for easy honey removal.)
5. Whisk together wet and dry ingredients until just combined. Over-mixing will create a dense donut.
6. Spray donut pan. Add batter to a piping bag and pipe evenly into the pan.
7. Bake for 7-8 minutes. Donut should spring back when pressed. Allow to cool 1 minute before turning pan over to remove donuts onto a cooling rack.
8. Meanwhile, make the glaze. In a flat-bottomed bowl, whisk together powdered sugar, and 2-3 tablespoons milk (depending on desired thickness of glaze) until smooth. Once donuts have cooled completely, about 15 minutes, dunk in glaze rocking the donut around the bowl to evenly coat. Place on cooling rack.
9. Optional: With the remaining glaze, stir in 3-4 more tablespoons or so more of powdered sugar to thicken the glaze. Spoon extras around the top of each donut. Sprinkle with pepitas and allow to dry, about 20 more minutes. Serve.

Notes

• Donuts can be made the night before. Store on the drying rack uncovered.

• Learn how to make your own pumpkin puree.

• My favorite disposable piping bags.

• Prep Time: 10 min.
• Cook Time: 7 min.

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