Pumpkin Spice Doughnuts

These 30-minute soft and buttery Pumpkin Spice Doughnuts are baked, not fried and filled with warm spices that perfectly depict the flavors of fall.

After baking these homemade pumpkin donuts, coat them in crunchy cinnamon sugar, and no one will be able to resist them! They rival any fried doughnuts!

Baked Pumpkin Donuts

When the fall season is in full swing, we get in a baking mood! We make Cinnamon Rolls, Pumpkin Roll Cake, and Chocolate Chip Cookies to warm up the house and have a great afterschool snack for the kids (and myself 🤷🏾‍♀️).

These Baked Pumpkin Donuts are one of our favorite pumpkin recipes to make to get in the mood of autumn. We love them with a piping-hot cup of coffee in the afternoon.

This kitchen is a huge fan of yeast donuts like our Sugar Coated Donuts or African Twisted Doughnuts, but these cake donuts are so soft and perfectly spiced that they will convince even donut purists. (Donut purists: people who think donuts must be fried.)

You’ll love this recipe for several reasons. There’s no need to deal with hot oil and monitor oil temperature for deep-frying! It’s so simple, requiring only 30 minutes from start to finish. So you’ll be in and out of the kitchen in no time.

So whether for a cozy fall breakfast, the perfect fall treat, to accompany your afternoon tea or for Thanksgiving celebrations, you will love this pumpkin donut recipe.

It has notable pumpkin spice flavor, it’s buttery, it’s soft, and you do not need an electric mixer to make it! It’s the appropriate recipe to make when it’s pumpkin season!

What If we Don’t Have A Donut Pan?

No donut pan? No worries! You can adapt this recipe to fit a 12-cup muffin tin by following these steps:

• Roll small sheets of aluminum foil into cylinders. Make them tall enough so they are slightly taller than the muffin pan.
• Grease the muffin cups and aluminum foil generously.
• Pipe the batter into the muffin tin and bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a donut comes out clean.

Note: Doughnuts baked this way might bake for a shorter time as they are smaller than the bigger doughnuts baked in a doughnut pan. Here is a great guide on how to turn your muffin tin into a doughnut pan.

Recipe Ingredients

Sometimes, basic ingredients yield the best results, and these pumpkin spice doughnuts are here to prove it! Here is everything you need for baked pumpkin spice donuts:

Some notes on key ingredients:

• Pumpkin Puree: Adds notable pumpkin flavor. You can use store-bought pumpkin puree or make it at home by roasting pupkin until softened then scooping the flesh into a blender and blending it into a puree. We love to get organic pumpkin puree because we find the flavor to be richer than that of conventional pumpkin purees.
• Pumpkin Spice: You can easily make your own pumpkin spice by combining ground nutmeg, cloves, ginger and cinnamon powder. Or store-bought works as well. We love to stock up on pumpkin spice during the fall season.
• Cinnamon Sugar: This is the finishing touch that takes these doughnuts over the top. Easily make your own cinnamon sugar by combining 3 parts of granulated sugar with one part of cinnamon powder.
• Room Temperature Butter: Use softened or room temperature butter for the batter so it can easily be incorporated with the other ingredients.

For the full list of ingredients with measurements, check out the recipe card below.

Other ways

• Add Vanilla Extract: Add vanilla extract to the batter for more flavor! Have you tried our Homemade Vanilla Extract recipe? It is worth making again and makes the perfect holiday gift!
• Apple Cinnamon Doughnuts: Sub the pumpkin puree for apple sauce and the pumpkin pie spice for cinnamon powder.
• Maple Glaze: Instead of the cinnamon sugar topping you can make an easy maple glaze for topping the doughnuts. To make maple icing, combine one tablespoon of butter and 3 tablespoons of maple syrup and melt together on low heat. Whisk in about half a cup of icing/powdered sugar then dip the cooled doughnuts into the maple icing.
• Mini Donuts: To make mini doughnut holes, generously grease a mini muffin pan, add the batter to each cup to about halfway full, and bake the doughnuts for about 8 minutes. You can also make these donuts in a mini donut pan.

Love pumpkin recipes? Also check out our Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pancakes which are a family favorite.

How it comes together

Preheat oven and grease donut pan: Preheat the oven to 350℉ (180℃). Generously grease a doughnut pan or a muffin tin.

Sift together the dry ingredients. Using a fine mesh sieve and sifting into a medium bowl, sift together all purpose flour, baking powder, pumpkin spice, and salt.

Whisk together the wet ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, brown sugar, milk and softened butter.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until thoroughly combined.

Pipe batter into greased donut pan. Transfer the batter to a piping bag and pipe it into a greased doughnut pan, or prepared muffin tin.

To easily pipe the batter into the doughnut pan, add the batter to a gallon-sized Ziploc bag. Cut one end with a pair of scissors, then pipe the batter into the pan about 3/4 way full. This makes adding the batter to the donut pan uniform and neat.

Bake until done. Transfer to the preheated oven and bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let the doughnuts cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, then remove them from the pan and place them on a wire rack.

Roll in melted butter and coat with cinnamon sugar. While the doughnuts cool down, melt the butter for the coating in a small pot on medium heat. Be careful not to burn the butter. Dip both sides of each doughnut into the melted butter and then into the cinnamon sugar to coat.

Note: it’s okay to coat the doughnuts with cinnamon sugar while they are still warm but not hot!

These doughnuts are best enjoyed on the day they are made. There’s nothing like warm freshly made doughnuts!

Cook notes

• For extra soft doughnuts, substitute half of the all-purpose flour with cake flour.
• For the perfect doughnut, use fresh pumpkin spice. Pumpkin spice can lose its potency over time. You can make your own pumpkin spice by combining ground cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and all-spice.
• You can make a vanilla glaze to drizzle on the doughnuts by combining confectioners’ sugar with a splash of milk and a splash of vanilla extract.

• Yield: 6 doughnuts
• Prep: 8 minutes
• Cook: 12 minutes
• Total: 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons pumpkin spice
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup pumpkin puree, store-bought or homemade, not pumpkin pie filling
• ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
• ⅓ cup whole milk, skim milk would work as well
• 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

For Cinnamon Sugar Coating

• 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter
• ¼ cup cinnamon sugar, 3 tbsp sugar, 1 tbsp cinnamon powder

Method

1. Preheat the Oven : Preheat the oven to 350℉ (180℃).
2. Grease Donut Pan: Generously grease a doughnut pan or a muffin tin (see instructions for a muffin tin in the notes).
3. Sift Dry Ingredients : Using a fine mesh sieve and sifting into a medium-sized bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, pumpkin spice, and salt.
4. Mix Wet Ingredients : In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, brown sugar, milk and softened butter.
5. Combine Ingredients : Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until thoroughly combined.
6. Pipe the Batter : Transfer the batter to a piping bag and pipe it into a greased doughnut pan, or prepared muffin tin, filling each until it is ¾ full.
7. Bake : Transfer to the preheated oven and bake for 12-15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a doughnut comes out clean or the doughnuts bounce back when touched. Let the doughnuts cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, then remove them from the pan and place on a cooling rack.
8. Prepare Coating : While the doughnuts cool down, melt the butter for the coating in a small pot on medium heat. Be careful not to burn the butter.
9. Coat the Doughnuts : Dip both sides of each doughnut into the melted butter and then into the cinnamon sugar to coat. It's okay to coat the doughnuts when they are still warm.
10. Serving: These doughnuts are best enjoyed on the day they are made!