Baked Pumpkin Doughnuts

Warm spiced baked doughnuts are filled with pumpkin flavor, and then topped with maple-cinnamon glaze that will make you wish it was always pumpkin season!

Baked PumpkinDoughnuts

Yield: 12 doughnuts

Doughnuts

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  
• 3 large eggs
  
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar*
  
• 1 1/2 cups pumpkin purée (canned pumpkin)
  
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice, or 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon plus heaping
• 1/4 teaspoon each ground nutmeg and ground ginger
  
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  
• 1 3/4 cups + 2 tablespoons All-Purpose Flour
• Maple-Cinnamon Glaze
  
• 1½ cups powdered sugar
  
• ½ teaspoon maple extract
  
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
  
• 2 tablespoons milk

Steps:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease two standard doughnut pans.
   Beat together the oil, eggs, sugar, pumpkin, spices, salt, and baking powder until smooth.
2. Add the flour, stirring just until smooth.
3. Fill the wells of the doughnut pans about 3/4 full; use a scant 1/4 cup of batter in each well.
4. Bake the doughnuts for 15 to 18 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of one comes out clean.
5. Remove the doughnuts from the oven, and after about 5 minutes, loosen their edges, and transfer them to a rack to cool.
6. Cool completely.

Meanwhile, make the glaze:

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, maple extract, cinnamon and milk.
2. When the doughnuts are cool, dip them in the glaze. Return to the wire rack to allow the glaze to set.
3. Store (not wrapped tight) at room temperature for several days.

Note:
1-If you don’t have doughnut pans, you can bake these in a standard muffin tin; they just won’t be doughnuts. (Yield: 15 muffins)
2-If you’re making muffins, fill each well about 3/4 full; the recipe makes about 15, so you’ll need to bake in two batches (unless you have two muffin pans).
3- If you’re making muffins, they’ll need to bake for 23 to 25 minutes.