Pumpkin Doughnut Holes

Look at me posting two food recipes in one week! Clearly evidence that I'm back to feeling more like myself, and not some tired, run-down version of me that doesn't have an appetite for food.

I was immediately drawn to this recipe because it reminded me of our baked doughnut holes that we love. And the inclusion of some pumpkin/fall spices? Brilliant. So brilliant, in fact, that I don't really have much else to say about them. Other than you need to make these. Maybe multiple times (I know I will be!). I'm thinking they'd be the perfect addition to a Thanksgiving brunch--or, you know, any breakfast in November?

Baked Pumpkin Doughnut Holes
(original recipe found here)
Yield: 24 mini doughnuts

1/3 cup canola oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup milk

1 3/4 cup flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp allspice

1/8 tsp cloves

For topping:

1/3 cup sugar

1 tbsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350*. Spray a mini-muffin tin and set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together oil, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, pumpkin, and milk until smooth. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups (cups will be full!). Bake 10-12 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool slightly. Pour sugar and cinnamon into a plastic bag, add doughnuts, and shake until well-coated.

A few additional notes to make. We felt like the taste and texture of these was a little bit more like muffins than doughnuts, but that certainly isn't a deal-breaker. Also, I felt that the pumpkin flavoring was a little under-whelming for what I was expecting; next time I might try adding a little pumpkin pie spice to amp up the pumpkin. Lastly, if you don't serve these immediately, don't expect them to stay nicely coated like in the picture. I've found that it's nearly impossible to dry out a dessert recipe with pumpkin in it, and the moistness of these doughnuts are no exception. As a consequence, the cinnamon-sugar coating soaked into the doughnuts overnight. It certainly doesn't affect the taste at all, and I still got lots of compliments on them this morning, but if you are going for presentation points when you serve these I would recommend tossing them with the cinnamon-sugar mixture shortly before serving.