Pumpkin Spice Baked Donut Hole Recipe
At 32 weeks pregnant, the cravings seem to be in full force y’all! Friday night it was a panini from Panera, Saturday (to keep me focused during childbirth class) a REAL Coca-Cola, and Sunday it was something sweet & pumpkin flavored. So I made some donuts. YUM.
At first, I had three problems: 1) I didn’t have a donut pan 2) I didn’t want to deep fry donuts and 3) I didn’t want to have to go grocery shopping before I started cooking. But after doing a little searching I stumbled upon this recipe from Seeded at the Table. JACKPOT friends. I had to do a little substituting based on what was in the pantry but at the end of the day I was a satisfied pregnant lady!
What was so great about this recipe is that it baked the “donuts” in a mini muffin pan which I had AND they still delivered the donut/cake like taste! You’ve got to try it out and let me know what you think.
- 1 3/4 cups of all purpose flour
- 2 tsp of baking powder
- 1/2 tsp of salt
- 3/4 tsp of cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp of nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp of pumpkin spice
- 1/2 cup of vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup of packed brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
- 1/2 a can of pumpkin puree (about 6 oz.)
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 tbsp cinnamon
- 1/2 a stick of unsalted butter
- Preheat the oven at 350 degrees.
- With a whisk, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and pumpkin spice.
- In a separate bowl mix the pumpkin, vegetable oil, brown sugar, egg, milk, and vanilla extract.
- Combine all ingredients and mix together to create your dough.
- In a WELL GREASED mini muffin pan spoon in the batter evenly. (You will probably have some left over to save for the next batch).
- Bake for 10-12 minutes or until you can stick with a toothpick and pull out clean.
- Allow muffins to cool for about 2 minutes. If you would like to have the donuts look more like holes than muffins you can remold them as long as they are still warm (don't burn yourself!).
- For the coating: In one bowl melt the butter. In a separate bowl mix the cinnamon and sugar. Dip the donut holes in the butter and then roll around in the cinnamon sugar mixture. If you are sticking with more muffin like donuts you can dip just the top of the donut in the butter and coat only the top with cinnamon sugar. Don't over do the sugar as it will take away from the delicious pumpkin taste!
Note: There are two variations I might suggest for this recipe. 1) If you adjust the amount of pumpkin added it will change the moistness (is that a word) of the donuts…..a little more pumpkin equals a little more moist, a little less yields a little more dry/cakey donuts. 2) If you don’t want to use as much sugar glaze you can sweeten the donuts by doubling the amount of nutmeg, cinnamon, and pumpkin spice.
I hope everyone has a great Monday! I’ll be spending a lot of time working on baby girl’s nursery. Can’t wait to start showing it to yall!! In the mean time you can check out these other pumpkin inspired treats (all links are below).
Pumpkin Cheesecake Monkey Bread | Gingersnap Pumpkin Pie | 2 Ingredient Pumpkin Cookies | Pumpkin Cake Pops | Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread
ENJOY!!

I substituted the flour to make them gluten-free, and they were still amazing!! Thanks for this recipe!
Just made these mini muffins and they are so good. My kitchen smells amazing. I did substitute nonfat pumpkin yogurt for the oil and used more pumpkin. I didn’t roll them in cinnamon/sugar mixture either. They turned out so moist and delicious!
These are awesome! I made them for Thanksgiving and am now making them to take to a friend’s home for Christmas Eve! Thanks for a yummy recipe! Merry Christmas!!
So glad you are getting to enjoy them over and over! They are so delicious :)
These look so good! I love pumpkin and doughnuts, so I know I’d love these!
Kristi @ Inspiration Kitchen recently posted…Black Licorice Ice Cream
I made these this morning for my moms club , they were amaizing! There was 6 moms plus myself we ate them all and did not share any with our children LOL we had other snacks for them
I am so glad everyone loved them :O) They are my favorite too!
I’ve made these 2 times in past & absolutely delious. Any recc for storing them? Overnight in a sealed container the dusting on the donuts becomes moist & messy. I love them fresh but I can’t eat all 40. Anyway to keep that fresh powder/sugary texture for next day?
Thanks!
Great question. I wish I had a solid answer for you. Have you tried popping them in the oven to heat up the next day? That might freshen them up, or maybe just keep them covered on a plate with aluminum foil. That way the moisture won’t be quite as trapped. I’d love to know if you find a great solution!
Don’t dip The ones you don’t eat and store the plain doughnut holes in a container or fridge then when you want more warm them up a tad and do the butter and sugar process..almost like fresh! Hope that helps!
I was thrilled to find such a nice blg with recipes and that you are also a christian.
I had some pumpkin left over from Thanksgiving treats. I just made these muffin/donuts for breakfast this morning. AMAZING!
I substituted the egg for 1Tbsp flax seed/3 Tbsp water because we have an egg allergy. They were still amazing. Thank you so much for sharing.
I am going to make these in my cake-pop machine! I made 200 cake pops for my daughter’s wedding last year in my little machine (a dozen every 3-4 min.), and if I would have had this recipe, I’m sure it would have been on the menu!
I made this with half whole wheat half white flour and coconut oil instesd of vegetable and they turned out great! Maybe a little dense, but my family is used to that texture by now! Yummy!
Hi Laura Beth,
These have my mouth watering and am definitely bookmarking to try. I’m a new follower from The Inspiration Gallery. If you have a few minutes stop over and visit me at Deliciously Inspired.
Debbie
has anyone tried these with oat flour? im a HUGE pumpkin fan but I don’t use white flour.
I tried this with almond flour and a flax egg…used normal sized muffins…took 40 min to bake….still vey moist but…..very good…do NOT dunk in butter if you use this method…will fall apart i drizzled the butter and sprinkled the cinnamon sugar mix…good revipe!
thanks for the tips!
WOW, those look delicious, now I’m craving some!
Karen recently posted…Shabby Pumpkins and Ornamental Cabbage
Do you think they could be made ahead of time and frozen? They’ll be perfect for my daughters carnival party but don’t want to bake them the day of. Thanks
These muffins/doughnuts were amazing!I cooked them for an additional 5 minute but only because I made them full sized muffins. When they do first get out of the oven and you taste them, don’t be alarmed if they taste awful and bitter. Since there is so little sugar in the batter you absolutely must have the glaze. Also, I added way more cinnamon, nutmeg, and pumpkin spice. I found when i smelled the flour-spice mixture it just didn’t smell spicy enough so I ended up eyeballing it. My family gobbled these up, even my dad who can’t stand pumpkin! They were gone before they were even semi-cool.
I’m not pregnant either but I read this post in carpool and had to drive straight to dunkin donuts for a pumpkin donut. Impatience is my virtue.
Beth at Unskinny Noppy recently posted…Autumn in Amish Country
I’m not pregnant but I’m totally craving those now!
Vanessa recently posted…Nuts & Bolts Silhouette Art