Oven Baked Pumpkin Spice Donuts are perfect for a cool fall day. These baked donuts are rich and luscious and taste as good as if they came out of a deep fryer. This cozy treat is guaranteed to put smiles on everyone's faces and fill your home with the aroma of pumpkin goodness.
If you think that baked donuts are a little disappointing, wait until you try this pumpkin donut recipe.
They are the quintessential fall treat!
Made with simple ingredients, these donuts are baked rather than fried, resulting in a light, tender texture that's hard to resist.
Ingredients
- Unsalted Butter: You could use salted butter, but it typically has more water than unsalted.
- Avocado or Canola Oil: Feel free to use your favorite neutral-flavored oil.
- Sugar: I used granulated white sugar.
- Eggs: I recommend large eggs.
- Vanilla Extract: Use a good quality - it makes a difference.
- Whole Milk: I don't recommend using low-fat milk.
- Pumpkin Puree: You will want to use pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling.
- Sour Cream: Use full-fat.
- All-Purpose Flour: In my experience, a gluten-free flour blend would work in this recipe, but I have not tested it.
- Baking Powder: Use aluminum-free.
- Baking Soda: Make sure yours is less than 6 months old for best results.
- Pumpkin Pie Spice: If you don't have it, use a blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, ginger, and allspice.
- Ground Nutmeg: This is essential to baked donuts. It gives them their bakery-worthy taste. A little goes a long way!
- Salt: Sea salt or kosher salt are my recommendations.
- Powdered Sugar: Creates a smooth and sweet glaze that coats the donuts beautifully.
- Maple Syrup: I used a light syrup, but dark would works as well.
Tips and Tricks
- Make sure your ingredients are at room temperature. This helps them to blend smoothly, resulting in a uniform batter.
- Try not to overfill your donut pan. (I did, a bit!) They will still taste great, but end up looking more like a muffin than a donut.
- Avoid overmixing your donut batter once the dry ingredients are added to keep the donuts tender and light.
- Test for doneness with a toothpick. It should come out with just a few crumbs or clean to ensure the donuts are perfectly baked.
- Let the donuts cool before glazing to prevent the glaze from melting off. I get it; the wait is hard.
- Store leftover donuts in an airtight container to maintain their moisture and freshness. Since the glaze has milk, I recommend keeping them in the fridge for a day or two or freeze them for longer storage. (The fridge will dry them out quickly!)
Step by Step
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- Maple Pumpkin Muffins are hands down the best muffins I’ve ever made. They deserve to be a cool weather habit.
Oven Baked Pumpkin Spice Donuts
Oven Baked Pumpkin Spice Donuts are perfect for a cool fall day. These baked donuts are rich and luscious and taste as good as if they came out of a deep fryer. It is a cozy treat guaranteed to put smiles on everyone's faces and fill your home with the aroma of pumpkin goodness.
Servings: 14 small
Calories: 240kcal
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter melted and slightly cooled
- 1 tablespoon avocado or canola oil
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ cup whole milk at room temperature
- ½ cup pumpkin puree
- ⅓ cup sour cream at room temperature
- 2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¾ teaspoon salt
Glaze (optional)
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup whole milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a donut pan with oil.
- In a large bowl whisk together the butter, oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla, milk, pumpkin puree, and sour cream.
- Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg, and salt. Stir to combine.
- Divide the mixture between your donut pans.
- Bake for 13 to 16 minutes for standard donuts, 11 to 13 for small donuts, or 7 to 8 minutes for mini donuts, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Allow to cool in the pans for 10 minutes and then carefully remove to a cooling rack. Allow to cool for 20 minutes.
- To glaze, whisk together the powder sugar and salt. In a small dish, stir together the maple syrup, vanilla, and whole milk.
- Dip the donuts in the glaze and serve immediately.
- Makes 14 small.
Nutrition
Calories: 240kcal | Carbohydrates: 42g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 37mg | Sodium: 223mg | Potassium: 139mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 25g | Vitamin A: 1551IU | Vitamin C: 0.5mg | Calcium: 59mg | Iron: 1mg
Kathryn Bunch says
Could the batter be baked in muffin tin instead? I don't own donut pans.. At 83 years not interested in buying more equipment.
Wendy Polisi says
I haven't tried it, but I don't see why not!