Baked Pumpkin Donuts with Coffee Cake Streusel & Maple Glaze

The pumpkin craze has started. Pinterest is exploding with pumpkin recipes right now. Everything from pumpkin cakes to muffins to lattes to cookies. It’s a pumpkinpalooza.

Despite how overwhelming it has become, this is one bandwagon I wholeheartedly jump on every fall. I adore pumpkin/pumpkin-spice flavored things. They’re just COZY. And who doesn’t love cozy when the weather finally tips more in favor of fall than summer? Which it definitely has around here.

We have been living with our windows open for the past couple weeks, and it’s just the best thing ever. Highs in the low 70s and lows in the 50s. My kinda weather. Now that I’m a breastfeeding mama, I’m appreciating the cooler temperatures more than ever. Keeping cool during the first few postpartum weeks is tough, and I so appreciated not going through them in the staleness of air conditioning. I’m all about the cooler temps and cozy foods right now. With a new baby in the house, cozy is a must!

A few weeks ago, I got excited and bought five too many cans of pumpkin puree at the store. I always stock up when it goes on sale, and I have yet to have a can go to waste. Pumpkin puree holds up pretty well in the fridge if your recipe doesn’t call for a whole can (many don’t). Just in case you were wondering, hah. I usually make a pumpkin soup every fall (coincidently my very first post on this blog last year was a pumpkin soup), as well as several pumpkin-based sweet treats. Oh, and homemade pumpkin spice lattes (I have a recipe for that coming soon). I just love it…to the point of obsession.

Given that, I’m going to pat myself on the back for waiting this long to share a pumpkin recipe with you. It’s officially OCTOBER! It’s like the month o’ pumpkins. Which makes these donuts totally appropriate.

These donuts turned out sooooooooooo much better than I was expecting. Sometimes baking with fruit/veggie purees can result in something kind of flat. Like, you know they could taste better with all butter or oil instead of the puree. These, however, came out light, cakey (in a good way!), sweet, and a tad spicy. So good. You almost can’t tell that they are baked instead of fried. I decided to top them with a coffee cake streusel because…who doesn’t love a coffee cake streusel? It’s clearly the best part of any coffee cake. Slap some of that streusel on a donut…and it’s the best of all worlds. It’s a cozy explosion. And like I said, I’m all about the cozy these days.

Don’t take my word for it, though. My husband is NOT a fan of pumpkin. He avoids the bandwagon like the plague. And he took one bite of one of these donuts (after much prodding by me), and said that they were awesome. He said I could give Dunkin Donuts a run for their money.

I don’t know about THAT, but I do know that these are absolutely awesome. Come aboard my pumpkinpalooza bandwagon. I promise you’ll like it.

 

Baked Pumpkin Donuts with Coffee Cake Streusel & Maple Glaze             (makes 6 donuts)

 

For the Donuts:

½ cup all-purpose flour

½ cup whole-wheat pastry flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

¼ teaspoon ground cardamom

½ teaspoon fine salt

1 cup pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie filling)

½ cup packed dark brown sugar

1 egg

¼ cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 

For the Streusel Topping:

2 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons dark brown sugar

Pinch of ground cinnamon

Pinch of fine salt

½ cup all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

 

For the Maple Glaze:

½ cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon maple syrup

Pinch of fine salt

1-2 tablespoons milk

 

For the Donuts:

Preheat oven to 325°F and spray a donut pan with nonstick spray. Whisk together the flours, baking soda, spices, and salt in a medium bowl.

Whisk together the pumpkin, sugar, egg, oil, and vanilla in another bowl. Slowly fold the dry ingredients into the wet and mix until just combined.

Transfer the batter to a resealable plastic bag (or piping bag) and cut off one corner. Squeeze the batter into the prepared donut pan, filling each donut well about ⅔ full.

 

For the Streusel Topping:

Mix together the sugars, cinnamon, salt, and flour in a small bowl. Pour in the butter and mix until dry and crumbly. Top each donut generously with the streusel.

Bake the donuts for 10-15 minutes or until the donuts are set and spring back slightly when lightly pressed. Cool the donuts in the pan for a few minutes and then transfer to a cooking rack to cool completely.

 

For the Maple Glaze:

Whisk together all ingredients for the glaze, adding the milk as needed to achieve a pourable consistency. Drizzle over the cooled donuts and serve!