Baked Pumpkin Donuts

I did promise you a great pumpkin recipe, right?

Here I have donuts. Just a couple of down to earth humble donuts. With pumpkin mixed in the batter.

I have to admit that as much as I avoid eating deep fried food, I would at least once a month go to Dunkin Donuts for a donut or two. Usually when I have PMS. I just need something less bad than my behavior to make me feel good about myself. PMS aside, donuts are easily everyone’s feel good food. Take Homer Simpson or just about every beer-bellied policeman in the States for example. Got a bad day? Have some donuts.

Of course I do not have an intention to clog my arteries and I don’t wanna give my daughter a bad example. So I was pretty lucky to come across some donut pans two years ago. Yes, you can bake donuts and that means less fried food to eat! I used to sell baked donuts, you know. But not anymore because I find it utterly liberating to be able to have more free time to do things I like such as going back to school myself and waking up late. Baking donuts daily was me derailing from my main path. I much prefer to take pie orders because it’s not an everyday treat.

These beautiful Baked Pumpkin Donuts are a cinch to make and it’s packed with fiber. The texture is cakey because it is using baking powder to fluff it up instead of yeast. These are something that you would wanna serve to your beloved family on weekends or any other drab day; sweet and fragrant and fulfilling. The taste improves with time. So don’t be surprised to wake up the next morning to find them taste even better than the day before.

Recipe adapted from King Arthur Flour

Makes 12 Donuts

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour

3/4 cup whole wheat flour 

2 tbs wheat bran

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup vegetable oil

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

1 1/4 cup pumpkin purée (see Directions)*

3/4 tsp ground cinnamon  

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg and 

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp salt

Fine donut sugar, for dusting

Note: You can use just all purpose flour if you don't have whole wheat flour and wheat bran though the texture will be different but not less tasty.

*Directions:

*Prepare the pumpkin puree by steaming the peeled and seeded pumpkin. I strongly recommend you to buy a small pumpkin. The reason is the original recipe requires canned pumpkin. Yes, it is sold here in Indonesia but I don't eat canned foods and we surely have no problem in finding pumpkin anytime of the year.

*After you steamed your pumpkin, mash them, and cook them in low heat so the water contained evaporates. This is a crucial step because steamed pumpkin contains a lot of water and if you use it in this recipe, you will have a runny batter and your donuts will be rubbery.

*Keep stirring to avoid burnt pumpkin. You are looking for a very thick consistency and do prepare yourself for a divine smell while doing it.

*Cool the thick pumpkin puree and measure 1 1/4 cup. Freeze the rest. You would wanna have this in your freezer.

Now let's get on the mixing...

-Beat together the oil, eggs, sugar, pumpkin, spices, salt, and baking powder until smooth.

-Add the flour and wheat bran and stir just until smooth. 

-Lightly grease two standard donut pans and fill with the the batter.

-Bake the donuts for 15-18 minutes at 175C. Do insert a toothpick into the center of one of those donuts. If it comes out clean, they're done.

If that is not divine enough for you, I don't know what is...

-After about 5 minutes, gently loosen their edges  with a toothpick and transfer them to a rack to cool.

-While the donuts are still warm, roll them in fine donut sugar. Note that donut sugar is different with icing sugar. You can find it in baking supply store. it's less sweet and finer than icing sugar. Of course icing sugar is okay. But why be okay if you can be perfect. Beside, its price is just the same as icing sugar.

Gorgeous!

If you don't have the luxury of having donut pans, you can still make muffins with this batter. I can promise you they are going to be one of the best muffins you'll ever have. Just remember to add more baking time if you're making them in muffin tins or liners.

Now who wants some coffee with this?

Cheers,

Amy

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