Baked Pumpkin Donuts-the taste of fall!

I love fall. This is, without a doubt, my favorite time of the year. Getting ready for all the fun of the holidays, the leaves are beautiful, it's not too hot or too cold, and I have the desire to bake even more than normal. Good times!

I started my fall-style baking yesterday. I really wanted to make spiced apple cider donuts, but I didn't have any apple cider. Dug through my pantry, found a can of pumpkin puree, and decided to find a recipe for pumpkin donuts instead!

These are perfect. I made donut holes, that's our preference with little ones in the house, and they turned out great. They are full of pumpkin, are deliciously moist, and have plenty of spices in them! 

Now, these are good dipped in butter & coated in cinnamon sugar, but they are great by themselves too. Adrian, oddly enough, seemed to prefer them without coating. Nate, Gabriel, & I preferred them with the coating. (I won't tell you how quickly my family of 4 went through a batch of these...)

These are a perfect baking idea for a rainy fall day!

Printable Recipe

Baked Pumpkin Donuts

Ingredients

Donuts

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ginger
• ¼ teaspoon allspice
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• ½ cup light brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• ½ cup milk
• ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Coating

• ⅔ cup cinnamon-sugar mixture
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly spray 2 mini muffin pans with non-stick cooking spray; set aside. (Alternately, lightly spray donut pan.)
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, spices, and salt. Set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together the pumpkin, brown sugar, egg, milk, butter, and vanilla. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients; add the wet ingredients until just combined. 
4. Spoon the batter into the prepared pans, about ⅔ - ¾ of the way full. Bake for 10-13 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. (Note: metal pans take slightly less time than silicon; watch closely if you are using metal. Donut pan may take longer.)
5. Remove from the oven, and place the donuts on a wire rack to cool. 
6. Once cool, dip each donuts  into the melted butter, then roll in the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Be sure to coat well.

Yield/Time

40 donut holes

(maybe 13 donuts?)

1 hour

Nutrition Facts

47/donut hole

(71 with cinnamon sugar)

144/donut

(220 with cinnamon sugar)

Source (for original): Live Well Bake Often

Remember, comments are loved! What's your favorite fall baking recipe?

Perfect Pumpkin Pie

With all the things I enjoy that have pumpkin in them, it may be a surprise that I don't like pumpkin pie. I think it's the texture. I don't mind the taste, the texture is just... weird.

However, since plenty of people in my family do enjoy pumpkin pie, I started making it for the holidays a few years ago. (And it's slightly hard to make a recipe when you can never judge if there is anything that needs to be changed about it....) Apparently, it's quite awesome.  I'll take their word for it, because I've tried it and thought "meh, it's still pumpkin pie." 

So, if you haven't decided on what to make for dessert for Christmas.... everyone (but me) loves pumpkin pie! This is exceptionally easy to make, too. I haven't seen or played with other recipes, for the simple reason that this is so easy and I never get any complaints or "maybe you should try doing x" comments.

One thing that could be fun to do (and I did this with my apple pies too) is use cookie cutters to make pretty designs around the edge. Obviously, for pumpkin pie, I wanted cookie cutter pumpkins on top! I wish I had some smaller cookie cutters, but since no one wants small cookies.... I don't. ;)

Remember, comments are love! 
     

(Oh, and I apologize profusely for the picture. I made this one for Thanksgiving, and forgot to take a picture til I got to Mama's. At that point, I didn't have the camera; just my cruddy camera phone. The shine on the top of the pie was some slight condensation; I had to put the warm pie in the carrier for the trip. Oops.)

Perfect Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients

• 1/2 Teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 Cups all-Purpose flour
• 1/4 Teaspoon Salt
• 1/3 Cup shortening
• 4-5 Tablespoons cold water
• 15 Ounces canned pumpkin
• 14 Ounces sweetened condensed milk
• 2 Large eggs
• 1 Teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 Teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 Teaspoon ground nutmeg
• Redi-whip

Directions
If using a store-bought crust, skip the first 5 ingredients and steps 2-5, and prepare crust as directed.

1. Heat oven to 425°. 
2. In a medium bowl stir together flour and salt. Using a pastry blender, cut in shortening until pieces are pea size. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the water over part of the flour mixture, gently toss with a fork. Repeat moistening flour mixture, using 1 tablespoon of the water at a time, until all the flour mixture is moistened. Form pastry into a ball.
3. On a lightly floured surface, slightly flatten pastry. Roll pastry from center to edges into a circle about 12” in diameter.
4. Wrap pastry circle around the rolling pin. Unroll into a 9” pie plate. Ease into pie plate without stretching it.
5. Trim pastry to ½” beyond edge of pie plate. Fold under extra pastry. Crimp edges as desired.
6. Whisk pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, spices, and salt in medium bowl until smooth. Pour into crust.
7. Bake 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350°; bake an additional 35-40 minutes or until knife inserted 1” from crust comes out clean. Cool. Garnish as desired.

Yield/Time

Serves: 8 Yields: 1 pie

Prep Time: 15 Cook Time: 50

Source (for original): Taste of Home for the pie itself, Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook for the crust

Spiced Pumpkin Bread

I've talked before about how much I love fall, and in Michigan we are still having some very fall-like days. In between the days where mother nature doesn't know what season it is, of course. Even though all the hunters were complaining, I was enjoying the warm rain we got on Sunday. (Well, until the wind got scary and people started posting about tornadoes on facebook. Then, not so much.) It was a perfect fall baking day.....

And since it was a fall baking day, that meant pumpkin! Well, I was debating between pumpkin bread and Nutella banana bread, but the pumpkin won out. I have a pumpkin bread recipe that I love (as well as a pumpkin streusel muffin recipe), but I wanted to make some changes to make it a little healthier. 

(And who said healthier is a bad thing? Look at how tasty that looks!)  

I was debating on the changes to make, and decided on this: sub part of the butter for Greek yogurt, cut down on the sugar, and sub half the flour for wheat flour. I was debating on also switching the sugar to brown sugar, but decided against it. (Didn't really make it any healthier, would add some calories, and since there was already molasses in this, I was afraid of adding brown sugar.)

Since I was making so many changes at once, I cut the recipe in half so I would only make one loaf. (That way, if it failed, I only had to pitch one!) 

Overall, we are definitely pleased by the changes! Cutting down on the sugar makes a significant difference in taste; it tastes less like a sweet bread now. We all still loved it, but if you prefer a sweeter quick bread, I would add the full amount of sugar. It would be easy to vary the sugar content (from ¾ to 1 cup per loaf) depending on how sweet you would like it. 

One thing that I would suggest, that I didn't think of beforehand, was increasing the spices if you are cutting down on the sugar. The pumpkin is more noticeable, but the cinnamon & cloves aren't very dominant. I honestly can't say if that's because of the sugar decrease, or if I just didn't notice it before. Either way, I would suggest increasing the spices.

To make things easier for people who don't want to have the healthier version or who want to compare, I'm posting both. Check them out, & let me know if you make one or both!


First, the version I made today: (this makes one loaf, just double if you would like to make 2)

Spiced Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons butter, softened    
• 1 ½ tablespoons Greek yogurt 
• ¾ cup sugar
• 2 eggs    
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• ⅓ cup orange juice    
• 1 tablespoon molasses
• ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract    
• ¾ cup + 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour (to double, use 1 ½ cup + ⅓ cup)
• ¾ cup whole wheat flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder    
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt    
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground cloves

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. In a bowl, cream butter, yogurt, and sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Add the pumpkin, orange juice, molasses and vanilla. 
3. Combine dry ingredients; add to the creamed mixture and mix until blended. Pour into a greased and floured 9”x5” loaf pan.
4. Bake for 65-75 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. 
5. Cool for 10 minutes; remove from the pan to wire rack. 

Yield/Time

16 Servings

Prep: 15 min. Bake: 65 min. + cooling

Nutrition
120 calories per slice




Now, the original (this makes 2 loaves, cut in half if you would like to make 1):
(Oh, and please note: if you make it without the whole wheat flour, it's NOT going to look like my picture. I don't have any pictures of the original recipe, but there is a significant color difference when you switch out some all-purpose flour for whole wheat.)

 Spiced Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients

• ¾ cup butter, softened    
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs    
• 2 cups canned pumpkin
• ⅔ cup orange juice    
• 2 tablespoons molasses
• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract    
• 3 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder    
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt    
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¾ to 1 teaspoon ground cloves

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. In a bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Add the pumpkin, orange juice, molasses and vanilla. 
3. Combine dry ingredients; add to the creamed mixture and mix until blended. Pour into two greased and floured 9”x5” loaf pans.
4. Bake for 65-75 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. 
5. Cool for 10 minutes; remove from the pans to wire racks.

Yield/Time

32 Servings

Prep: 15 min. Bake: 65 min. + cooling

Nutrition Facts

145 calories per slice

Source (for original): Taste of Home (Note: The original original also called for pecans & raisins, to be added after the dry ingredients. I don't like pecans or raisins, so I never made it that way.)

Pumpkin Streusel Muffins: The Taste of Fall!

I love fall. It's quite possibly my favorite time of the year, for some many reasons. My birthday, beautiful weather (sometimes; I do live in Michigan), changing of the leaves...

...and, of course, the food. There are endless great things about fall food. Fresh apples from the orchard (made into apple bread, applesauce, apple jelly, apple pie, apple crisp, etc.), peaches, warm thick stews, soups with Grandma's homemade noodles, fresh venison, pumpkin bread, pumpkin streusel muffins.... 

I could go on & on, but I'll stop there & actually share the recipe for the muffins!

I love to bake with pumpkin, but I restrain myself and only do it in the fall & winter. It just doesn't seem right to be eating pumpkin in the spring or summer. To make up for this, of course, I have to make quite a few pumpkin-themed baked goods while I can. I have a recipe for pumpkin bread that I love, and I usually make at least a couple batches of these muffins. 

They have just the right amount of pumpkin--I like pumpkin, but not if there's too much. (For example, I just don't like pumpkin pie. I've been told that mine is amazing, but I don't eat it.) The streusel topping adds quite a bit to it, too. And, if you are trying to watch your calories, these aren't even that bad for you. (The fact that they have pumpkin makes it a health food too, I'm sure.)

If you are a pumpkin fan, I would highly recommend these muffins. They are amazing!

Remember, comments are love!  

(Isn't the plate cute? I got a set of those & ones that say "Trick or Treat" clearance at Meijer a few years ago, after Halloween.)

Pumpkin Streusel Muffins

Ingredients

• ¼ cup butter, softened    
• ½ cup sugar
• ¼ cup + 3 tablespoons packed brown sugar    
• ⅔ cup canned pumpkin
• ½ cup buttermilk (If, like me, you don't keep buttermilk on hand, you can easily sub with 1/2 tablespoon melted butter + enough milk to make 1/2 cup.)
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 tablespoons molasses   
• 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, divided
• 1 teaspoon baking soda    
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon    
• ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
• ¼ teaspoon ground allspice    
• ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon salt    
• 2 tablespoons cold butter

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375°.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter, sugar, and ¼ cup brown sugar until light & fluffy. Beat in pumpkin, buttermilk, eggs, & molasses. 
3. Combine 2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices & salt; gradually add to pumpkin mixture until blended. Fill prepared muffin cups ⅔ full.
4. For topping, combine ¼ cup flour and 3 tablespoons brown sugar; cut in cold butter until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle over batter. 
5. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the muffin comes out clean. Cool in pan for 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack.

Yield/Time

18 muffins

Prep: 15 min. Bake: 20 min.

Nutrition Facts

One muffin: 148 calories, 6 g fat (0 saturated fat), trace cholesterol, 336 mg sodium, 39 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 4 g protein.

Source (for original): Taste of Home