Satisfy your pumpkin and donut craving with these soft, buttery baked donut holes with cinnamon sugar, easily made in a mini muffin pan!
It’s fall, y’all! Tomorrow it’s official – my favorite season begins and I can finally start stowing away my summer essentials. Bring on the sweaters, boots and big mugs of gingerbread spice tea! Ohhh, how I love that stuff. Warms you to the bone.
In a week, we’re headed to a cozy lake house in Massachusetts with my folks, and I can’t wait! You can bet I’ll be making a batch of these delicious baked pumpkin donut holes to share. Or, to not share. That is the question.
Simple to make and soft, cakey and rich with buttery goodness, these baked delights are a tasty and (mostly) guilt-free way to welcome the best season ever. And, let’s just be honest, it’s impossible to stop at one. Or twenty. Try them for yourself!
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Baked Pumpkin Donut Holes
Yield: Makes 24 donut holes (mini muffins)
Ingredients:
For the Donuts:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/3 cup canola oil
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
1/2 cup milk
For the Coating:
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
Directions:
Preheat oven 350° F. Spray one 24-cup or two 12-cup mini muffin tins with baking spray and set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and cloves. In a separate large bowl whisk together oil, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, pumpkin and milk until smooth. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
While the muffins bake, melt butter in one bowl and combine granulated sugar and cinnamon in another bowl. Remove muffins from oven and cool for 2 minutes. Dip each muffin in melted butter, then roll in cinnamon sugar to coat. Serve muffins warm or at room temperature.
Enjoy!
Adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod
I need these in my life, Georgia! They look simply irresistible!
Gorgeous! I made pumpkin puree last night. Perfect for recipes like this one!
found my breakfast for tomorrow!
These are too good to be true! Great post to start off the new season tomorrow :)
I’m all over these. I love anything pumpkin!
I have some leftover pumpkin from a bread recipe, so I’ll have to make these tasty donut holes!
SQUEAL!!!! You do make the best donuts and donut holes :)
Fall is my favorite season too! Love this dish. I love donuts, but the calories! This recipe looks much healtheir, and a great way to use pumpkin. Good stuff – thanks.
Oh wow these look amazing!
This is the perfect way to kick off fall! I’ll have to make these and then eat them all, of course.
I let myself go to Dunkin once every fall to get a whole box of their pumpkin munchkins, but now I can make them on my own!! I bet they taste exactly like the real thing, if not better!!
These were amazing! My husband inhaled them :) He said these were a definite keeper. Thank you so much for sharing this!
Oh Georgia… I made these on the weekend. They were delicious! Perfect for a Fall weekend here in the Northeast! Great recipe!
These are SO good! I’ve made them before and love them. So so tasty. :)
Hi, I am new to your blog, love the look and cannot wait to try these! Was wondering if you think these would freeze well?
I haven’t frozen them myself, but I think if you just froze them without the butter and cinnamon-sugar coating, they would be fine. Coat them before serving though.
I these last night…they are so good! I am wondering how long do you think they are good for? I already coated them so I don’t want to freeze them but if I put them in an air-tight container will they last a few days? Thanks!
They will last about 2 days in a container, but the donut holes will lose their crispness from the cinnamon sugar after the first day.
I made these this past weekend and they were SUCH a hit! Thank you so so much!
Outstanding – my wife just made these and I have to stop myself. I’ve eaten 4 already and going back for 2 more. My only comment is on the amount of sugar at the end – too much sugar masks the actual flavor of the cake. My wife rolled them in the sugar – a bit too much (but easily solvable by brunching the sugar off) – just dipping the tops is the right way to go. Big winner.
I made these last night and they were amazing!!! They are soo good with or without the cinnamon sugar! AND, they taste even better this morning. I have never made a dessert that actually tasted better one day old.
This was my test run pre- thanksgiving and they were SO good that they are officially going in my holiday recipe book. I cant wait to make them again Thursday (because my husband and I ate the entire “test” batch last night)!!! :)
Thanks!
Wow! These look absolutely delicious. I’m thinking breakfast with a big cup of cappuccino! Great post, Georgia!
I love this recipe and have made it numerous times. My issue is that they get really soggy if they’re not eaten right away. Is there some trick to storing them? Thanks!
Georgia — November 26th, 2013 @ 8:13 pm
Because of the butter coating that’s bound to happen, so you can roll them and coat them in the cinnamon-sugar just before serving if you want to avoid it.
Had these last night and they were great! Everyone loved them. I’m going to try cream cheese icing with them.