Mini Baked Pumpkin Donuts with Brown Butter Glaze

These melt-in-your-mouth Baked Pumpkin Donuts with Brown Butter Glaze make the fall season one of the most spectacular time of the year. These donuts are a real crowd pleaser, though I just about finished the entire batch myself. 

It's pumpkin time! Pumpkin is such a good ingredient to use for a breakfast recipes. Pumpkin breakfast recipes are delicious, and you get the extra nutrients from the pumpkin.

You can find several pumpkin breakfast recipes on The Worktop, and my previous post for Farinata with Red Kuri Squash and Kale was little tease. The red kuri squash looked almost exactly like a pumpkin!

These baked pumpkin donuts are super soft and tender, and packed full of favorite fall flavors

But today, I want to talk about these Mini Baked Pumpkin Donuts.

These baked pumpkin donuts are super soft and tender and packed full of flavor. The pumpkin puree makes these donuts incredibly moist. Unlike yeast donuts, these baked pumpkin donuts aren't chewy or stretchy inside. Instead, once you bite into it, it will melt in your mouth.

The brown butter glaze is a perfect finishing touch to this baked pumpkin donut recipe

And oh, the glaze. The brown butter glaze adds a layer of sweet nuttiness that will make you lick your fingers and lips after each bite. You might actually even lick everything that the brown butter glaze touched - the spatula, the bowl used for dipping the donuts, the cooling rack or parchment paper it dripped on...

Might as well just make a second batch of the brown butter glaze and drizzle it on everything you eat.

This recipe calls for pumpkin spice mix. Don't fret if you don't have it! It's one of those spice mixes that I find hard to buy outside of the US. I used to bring jars of pumpkin spice mix from the US to London, but now I just always use a homemade pumpkin spice mix recipe.

Are you looking for a pumpkin breakfast idea? These baked pumpkin donuts will hit the spot!

Pumpkin spice mix is so easy to make on your own (and you don't even need pumpkin for it). If you have a stocked spice cupboard, then you'll likely have all of these spices at home already. You'll need: ground cinnamon, ground ginger, ground nutmeg, ground allspice, and ground cloves.

The full recipe for the homemade pumpkin spice mix is below, but essentially you just mix all the spices together. I tend to make a big jar and save it, but I've given you the recipe for the smallest portion that is easy to make (ie. the smallest quantity that you'll need to measure is ¼ teaspoon).

The recipe for the pumpkin spice mix will still make double the amount of pumpkin spice mix that this Pumpkin Donut recipe requires, but you can easily use any leftover pumpkin spice mix up - in your yogurt, oatmeal, or even smoothie.

Pumpkin is a great ingredient to use for breakfast recipes. Pumpkin is naturally mildly sweet, so this Baked Pumpkin Donut recipe has a bit less sugar that it otherwise would have needed. Pumpkin is also full of vitamins and nutrients, such as vitamin A, vitamin C, potassium and carotenoids. And, it is also a good source of fiber.

Pumpkin is full of vitamins and minerals, so it is a healthy ingredient to use in a breakfast recipe

So all this goodness of the pumpkin is hidden in this Baked Pumpkin Donut recipe. Makes you feel a bit good about eating donuts.

It's things like these melt-in-your-mouth Baked Pumpkin Donuts with Brown Butter Glaze that makes the fall season one of the most spectacular time of the year. Though come winter, spring and summer, I think I'll still be making these Mini Baked Pumpkin Donuts.

Baked Mini Pumpkin Donuts with Brown Butter Glaze

4.55 from 24 votes

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Serves: 24 mini donuts

Prep: 20 minutes mins

Cook: 15 minutes mins

Total: 35 minutes mins

These melt-in-your-mouth Baked Pumpkin Donuts with Brown Butter Glaze make the fall season one of the most spectacular time of the year. It's made with pumpkin puree, so you get the health benefits of pumpkin in this breakfast recipe. 

Ingredients

Pumpkin Donuts

• ⅓ cup sunflower oil
• 2 large eggs
• ⅔ cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 1 ½ teaspoons pumpkin spice mix
• 1 teaspoon quality vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

Pumpkin Spice Mix (see note 1)

• 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon all spice
• ¼ teaspoon cloves

For the browned butter glaze

• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
• ¼ cup whole milk

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350°F/175°C. Lightly grease mini donut pans with a bit of oil.
• In a large bowl using a hand mixer on low speed, beat everything together except for the flour until well combined, about 30 seconds. Add in the flour and beat until just combined, about 30 seconds.
• Carefully spoon the batter into the donut pans, filling each donut cavity about half full. If you prefer, you can use a piping bag, or a plastic ziplock bag with one corner cut off to pipe the batter into the donut pan. (see note 2).
• Bake for 15-18 minutes, until the donuts are lightly golden. Let the donuts cool in the donut pan for about 5 minutes before transferring to cooling racks to cool.

Make the glaze

• In a small saucepan over medium to medium-hight heat, melt the butter and cook, stirring often, until the butter becomes a light brown color, 5-8 minutes. Stir the butter often so it does not stick to the bottom of the pan and burn. Pour into a medium bowl and allow to slightly cool.
• Mix in powdered sugar to make a paste. Slowly whisk in milk. Let sit for 5 minutes, occasionally whisking, to allow the glaze to slightly set.

To serve

• Place a cooling rack on top of paper towels or parchment paper for easy clean up.
• Dip one side of the donut into the glaze. Flip the donut over using a fork. Carefully transfer the glazed donut to the prepared cooking rack. The glaze will slowly drip off the donuts as it sets. Repeat with remaining donuts. Lightly sprinkle on additional pumpkin pie spice.
• If glaze thickens too much while you are dipping donuts, simply pop the glaze the microwave for about 5-10 seconds to melt it a bit. The thicker the glaze is when dipping, the thicker the glaze will be on the donut (you'll get a sweeter donut).

Notes

1. Pumpkin Spice Mix: You can use this recipe for pumpkin spice mix if you don't have any store bought pumpkin pie spice. This will make roughly double the amount that you need for this recipe.  You can scale down, or as I prefer, save the rest for another recipe. It is a bit tricky to scale down because you will need a ⅛ teaspoon measuring spoon. 

2. Since it can be a bit tricky to neatly spoon the batter into a mini donut pan, my secret is to use a piping bag. You can either use a proper piping bag with a small round tip, or simply fill up a ziplock bag and cut off a small corner. Its much quicker than trying to spoon the batter into the donut pan, even including the time it would take you to wash the piping bag and tip (if you're not using a disposable bag).

Baked Pumpkin Donuts adapted from King Arthur Flour.

 

Course: Breads and Muffins, Breakfast, Donuts

Author: The Worktop

Cal : 147kcal

Note: Nutrition information is a rough estimate.

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Looking for more pumpkin breakfast recipes?

Pumpkin Greek Yogurt with Banana and Toasted Pecans (GF)

Roasted Pumpkin on Toast

Hot Pumpkin Spice Drink

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Waffles