Baked Pumpkin Doughnuts with Vanilla Cream Cheese Glaze

Last week I confessed that I'd had a doughnut pan for over 6 months that I hadn't tested out yet. There must be something about putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) that made me want to change that. And since everyone, their mother, their mother's mother, and their 2nd-cousin-twice-removed is posting pumpkin recipes, I thought I'd throw my hat in the ring.

With homemade doughnuts! 

Baked doughnuts are simple. Fast. So easy compared to yeasty doughnuts. Back in 2012, I experimented a couple of times with yeast doughnuts (Exhibit A and Exhibit B). They were difficult, and I only made doughnut holes! The batter was hard to work with and had to sit for 24 hours. These doughnuts are nothing like those. Baked doughnuts remind me of muffins. In fact, this recipe happens with one bowl. You basically beat all the ingredients together until smooth (I used my stand mixer) minus the flour. At the very end, you fold the flour in, much like you do with muffins. I took this to mean that the more you mix your flour in, the tougher your doughnut will be. I mixed until just moistened to end up with tender, moist doughnuts. 

Mixer to doughnut pan. 

I love my doughnut pan. I lightly coated it with cooking spray before I filled it with batter, but not too much. I let the doughnuts cool in the pan for 5 minutes, and then I flipped the pan upside down. I didn't even have to tap the pan, and all the doughnuts came out perfectly. It was magic. No sticking, no tearing, no ugly holes in my doughnuts...

Ok, admittedly there are some holes. But have no fear, those nooks and crannies will soon be filled with a vanilla-cream cheese mixture that will make you wish there were more holes. 

Dip em' and you're done. This is such a quick recipe guys, honestly the longest part of the process was waiting for the glaze to dry so I could take pictures. 

If you have a spice cake lover in your house, you're going to want to make these.

And they were so pretty! I just couldn't stop taking pictures. And then, after I took the pictures, I had a hard time narrowing down the ones I wanted to share after editing. So, you too get to stare at the pictures. You too get to imagine enjoying one with a tall glass of milk. You too might start to drool a little bit...

It's all for naught here. The hubby polished these off quite a while ago. He was supposed to take them to work to share, yet somehow they ended up staying here. It's that spice cake thing I was talking about earlier :-)

Happy Thursday y'all! I've got nothing on my docket today, save for a run and racking my brain to figure out what I'm going to do with the 3 pears sitting on my counter. So many options, so little time.   Oh, I also have a book I'm finishing that I'm hoping to get to today. It's called What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty. It's about a woman who falls at the gym, hits her head, and "looses" (i.e. forgets) the last 10 years of her life. This is the second book I've read by this author, and it won't be the last. My mom introduced me to Liane Moriarty over the summer when she gave me Big Little Lies. I kid you not, I read that book in 2 days. All I did was read those 2 days, I could not put the book down. I highly recommend this author if you haven't checked her out. She's an amazing writer, and I fully plan on reading more of her books. As many as I can get my hands on! I guarantee you'll be hooked if you try one. 

That's all folks! Have a great day, you're almost to the weekend!

Ingredients (makes 1 dozen):

Doughnuts-

1/4 cup canola oil

1 1/2 large eggs (difficult, but do the best you can!)

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup pumpkin puree

3/4 tsp cinnamon

3/4 tsp salt

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp nutmeg

1/8 tsp cloves

1/2 cup + 1/3 cup + 1 tbsp flour (got that? I think that's the easiest way to measure the flour)

Glaze-

1/2 cup+ powdered sugar

2 tbsp cream cheese, softened

3/4 tsp vanilla extract

splash of heavy cream

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Lightly coat a doughnut pan with cooking spray, set aside.

2. In a large bowl, combine canola oil through cloves. Mix thoroughly until mixture is completely smooth. Add flour, fold in with a spatula until mixture is just moistened.

3. Pour 1/4 cup of batter into each mold. Bake for 15-17 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out with moist crumbs. Allow to cool in pan for 5 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack. Cool doughnuts completely before moving on to the next step.

4. Prepare the glaze while the doughnuts are cooling. Mix powdered sugar through heavy cream in a small bowl. Add additional cream if the mixture is too thick. Add more sugar if your mixture is too thin. Dip the tops of doughnuts in glaze, place on a cooling rack to allow the glaze to set. Store in a tupperware covered with a dish towel for the first 2 nights. Then store in an airtight container. The glaze will soften tremendously if you store in an airtight container the first 2 days. 

Printable Recipe

Recipe adapted from The Recipe Critic.

If you liked this recipe, you may enjoy these-

Pumpkin Spice Oreo Cookies

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

Pumpkin Milkshake for 1

Linked to: Create It Thursday, Thank Goodness It's Thursday, Weekend Potluck, Foodie Friday, Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party, Treasure Box Tuesday