Pumpkin Cake Doughnuts & Holes

I can't believe it's already mid-October and I haven't made anything with pumpkin yet!  I guess I had apples on my mind instead.  I had bought a large can of pumpkin on a recent trip to my favorite place on earth Wegmans and it was just sitting in my pantry asking to be used.  When I found this recipe that uses all pantry ingredients, I knew I had to make these doughnuts right away.

These doughnuts came out to be the perfect texture-moist and cake-like without being to heavy.  And they also have just the right amount of pumpkin spice flavoring-not too much and not too little.  I think what really won me over about them was how easy they came out of the pan after they baked-usually I end up losing a few doughnuts because half of it gets stuck inside-but not these!

I decided to make a few doughnut holes with some of the leftover batter by simply putting the batter in my mini muffin tin.  Those came out cute-but just a warning-they are addicting and a little too easy to just pop one in here and there!

I also decided to make these doughnuts my contribution to week 4 of the 12 Weeks of Christmas Blog Hop hosted by Meal Planning Magic.  I think they would be perfect to serve on Christmas morning and the doughnut holes are perfect to have around the house for the holidays! 

Pumpkin Cake Doughnuts & Holes

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 heaping 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
Cinnamon-Sugar (for the coating)

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease two doughnut pans. Alternatively, you can bake these in a mini muffin tin to make doughnut holes or in standard muffin tin to make muffins.

Beat together the oil, eggs, sugar, pumpkin, spices, salt, and baking powder until smooth. Add the flour, stirring just until smooth.

Fill the wells of the doughnut pans about 3/4 full; use a scant 1/4 cup of batter in each well. If you're making muffins or doughnut holes, fill each well about 3/4 full.

Bake the doughnuts for 15 to 18 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of one comes out clean. If you're making muffins, they'll need to bake for 23 to 25 minutes; mini muffins will take about 12-15 minutes.

Remove the doughnuts from the oven, and after about 5 minutes, loosen their edges, and transfer them to a rack to cool

While the doughnuts are still warm (but no longer fragile), gently coat with the cinnamon-sugar. If you've made muffins, sprinkle their tops heavily with cinnamon-sugar.

Cool completely, and store (not wrapped tight) at room temperature for several days.

*Add the coating of cinnamon-sugar only to the doughnuts you'll eat immediately; store the rest, without their sugar, on a plate covered with a cake cover; or in a plastic bag that's not fastened shut. Coat with cinnamon-sugar coating just before serving.

Source: King Arthur Flour