These Baked Pumpkin Donuts are filled with lots of warm spices and pumpkin flavor, then topped with a delicious maple cinnamon glaze that will make you wish it was always pumpkin season!
If you love to start your day off with some pumpkin love, also try these Pumpkin Muffins with Chocolate Chips, Pumpkin Pancakes, Pumpkin Scones, or Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls.
Oh, these donuts. If you lack self control, please don’t make these. Because you will end up like me – eating way too many because you just can’t stay away!
The perfect fall treat, these Baked Pumpkin Donuts are perfect for breakfast or for a snack. Topped with the most delicious maple cinnamon glaze, it’s no surprise just how fast they disappear!
Ingredients
- Flour: You’ll use all-purpose flour.
- Baking Powder & Baking Soda: You need a mix of both baking powder and baking soda to give these donuts their texture and rise.
- Salt: Always to balance the flavors.
- Spices: I use a mixture of cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. You could always sub in 2 1/4 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice if that’s easier for you.
- Pumpkin: You can use store bought or homemade pumpkin puree. If using homemade, make sure you drain it first.
- Brown Sugar: I use light brown sugar, and make sure it is packed as you are measuring.
- Butter: I use unsalted butter, but if all you have is salted, it should be just fine. It’s not a large amount of butter.
- Eggs: Use large eggs, and even better if they are at room temperature.
- Milk: You only need a couple of tablespoons of milk that will loosen the batter.
- Vanilla Extract: Real vanilla extract is best, but vanilla paste would certainly be delicious.
- Powdered Sugar: This is for the glaze. No need to sift it, but I would run a whisk through it a few times.
- Maple Extract: A little bit of maple extract goes a long way, but it gives the glaze a delicious flavor!
- Cinnamon: You’ll want a bit more cinnamon for the glaze. The maple and cinnamon combination really is magical!
How to Make Baked Pumpkin Donuts
Start by whisking together your dry ingredients in one bowl.
In another bowl, beat the pumpkin, brown sugar, and butter together, then add the eggs followed by the milk and the vanilla.
Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. The batter is fairly thick.
To make this easy to put in your donut pan, transfer the batter to a large ziplock bag.
Cut the corner off of the bag and pipe the batter into the donut cavities. Bake until cooked through, then let the donuts cool.
Once cool, dip the donuts into a glaze that you make from the powdered sugar, milk, maple extract, and cinnamon.
Tools You’ll Need
I try to keep things pretty accessible, without lots of fancy kitchen equipment, but I think a donut pan is a fun tool that is pretty inexpensive. It’s easiest if you have 2, but you can totally make these if you only have one pan – you’ll just have to bake half of the batter and then wait for the first batch to be done before baking the second batch.
Tips and Tricks
- Like many baked goods, try not to overmix the batter so that you will have light donuts.
- I will admit that I’ve never made these when they’ve lasted long enough to have to be stored, but they should be good stored for up to 3 or 4 days. The glaze will start to get gooey, but they should still taste great.
- If you want to freeze the donuts, do it without the glaze, then add the glaze when you are ready to serve them.
More Pumpkin Treats
Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars
Pumpkin Pie Bars
Oatmeal Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Pumpkin Coffee Cake
Pumpkin Roll
Pumpkin Tiramisu
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Baked Pumpkin Donuts
Ingredients
Donuts:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon ginger
- 1 cup pumpkin puree store bought or homemade
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup butter at room temperature
- 2 eggs
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Maple-Cinnamon Glaze:
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1/2 teaspoon maple extract
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Prepare a donut pan by spraying with non-stick cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, baking soda, and ginger. Set aside.
- In another bowl, cream together the pumpkin, brown sugar, and butter. Add in the eggs and mix well, then mix in the milk and the vanilla.
- Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
- Place the batter in a large ziplock bag. Cut off the corner and pipe the batter into the donut pan.*
- Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the middle of one of the donuts comes out clean or with only a few moist crumbs, about 10 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven, let rest for 5 minutes, the turn the pan over to remove the donuts and allow them to cool on a wire rack until completely cooled.
- Meanwhile, make the glaze. In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, milk, maple extract, and cinnamon. You want it to thin enough so that you can dip the donuts, so if needed, add a little bit more milk.
- When the donuts are cool, dip them in the glaze. Return to the wire rack to allow the glaze to set.
Eve says
I just made these using egg replacer, almond milk, vegan margarine and no donut pan- and they turned out perfect. I used a small bowl and a shot glass to cut the donuts after rolling it out about 3/4″ thick. Delicious! For the glaze, I did not have maple extract so I dumped a random amount of confectioner’s sugar in a bowl, added about 1/8-1/4 cup of maple syrup, whisked, and added just enough almond milk (about 2 tbsp) to make a watery paste. Also worked perfect!
Asiya says
I had 1/2 cup of pumpkin in the fridge and have been looking for something to do with them….I made half this recipe and everyone loved it! I didn’t have time to make the glaze b/c the kids wanted to eat them right away so I just dusted them in powdered sugar. Thank you for such a great recipe! Next time i will definitely make the glaze!
Deborah says
@Asiya, I’m so glad you and the kids loved them! And definitely try the glaze next time – I love it!!
J. says
So, I have no idea what I did wrong here, but these turned out horribly. Not my first batch of doughnuts, and far from my first baking experience.
The dough was VERY VERY thick, like the directions are missing some liquids. Put into a ziploc, cut of a tip, and it was too thick to pipe out. I kept trying and it actually burst the seams of the bag. Tried THREE different brands of bags (including a heavy duty kind) and it kept breaking the seams the batter/dough was SO THICK.
Finally just pressed them into the doughnut pans, and baked as directed. They came out tasting like mildly spiced very bland muffins; no cake-y goodness or pumpkin flavor and zero resemblance in taste or texture to a doughnut. Anyone know what’s happening here? I feel like 2 Tbs milk may not be enough?
Deborah says
@J., I honestly don’t know what went wrong. I’ve gotten a lot of feedack on these donuts, but I’ve not had anyone have anything go wrong with them yet. I wish I knew what went wrong and why they didn’t work out for you!
Tami says
These were great! I made them in a mini muffin pan. Just baked them for 10 minutes. Yum!
Deborah says
@Tami, yay! And I’m so glad they worked well as mini muffins, too!
Marcie says
I made these for my family this morning and they. were. DELICOUS! I followed the recipe as written. They were wonderful! We’ve almost eaten the entire batch. They were so moist! My 5-year-old son, who will hardly try anything new, ate 2 of these without coming up for air. Thanks for the recipe, and I hope you don’t mind that I’ve passed it on to practically everyone I know!
Deborah says
@Marcie, I’m SO glad they were enjoyed so much!! Thanks so much!
Jessica says
Thank you so much for the recipe! These donuts are excellent.
Deborah says
@Jessica, so glad you liked them!
Dannyelle says
I made a mini version of these last night and shared them on my blog this morning. Soooo yummy. Thanks for a super recipe!
Dannyelle @ Life is a Party
Deborah says
@Dannyelle, Thanks – so glad you loved them!
Doug Neiner says
Just made these tonight! They are fantastic! I might omit the cinnamon from the glaze next time since I think there were enough spices in the doughnut itself, but I am undecided 🙂
I doubled the recipe for the doughnuts so we would have plenty on hand!
I also used the Wilton Donut Pan. I need to buy a second one… wish I lived near a Krogers 🙂
Thanks for sharing this great recipe!
Doug
Deborah says
@Doug Neiner, I’m so glad you loved them! I’m thinking I need a second pan, too! 🙂