Gluten-Free Pumpkin Spice Baked Donuts

Calling all pumpkin spice lovers! These Gluten-Free Pumpkin Spice Baked Donuts are a healthy and delicious way to celebrate all things fall.

Are you a pumpkin spice lover or a pumpkin spice cynic? The reason I ask is because people seem quite opinionated about pumpkin spice. I put something up on Facebook about it and was kind of surprised by the level of animosity of the pumpkin spice-haters. Sheesh, you would have thought I had posted about something political. NOW I KNOW. Pumpkin spice is the new no-no topic.

Back to making donuts. This recipe was my first experience with making baked donuts. It was more difficult than I thought to get the right texture. I ended up making this recipe four times, tweaking it a little bit each time to get that perfect recipe.

To be honest, a baked donut is more like a cupcake in a donut shape than a crispy fried donut, because you just aren’t ever going to be able to get that crispness without frying. But, hey, a healthy-ish donut still is a nice treat every now and then. Do we agree on that at least?

I found some awesome silicone donut trays on Amazon just for this purpose, but I’m thinking they would also be great for making bagels.

In fact, my little donuts looked a lot like bagels before I iced them. See what I mean?

But, they are most certainly not bagels because they’re sweet and cake-like inside.

I only used 1/4 cup of pumpkin puree in this recipe, but it displaces the need for lots of fat in the batter nicely, plus it’s nutritious and makes the donuts a nice color as well. The pumpkin pie spice I used probably adds the most flavor to the recipe, and the maple syrup is a great liquid sweetener.

The icing is made by mixing ghee, coconut sugar, and pumpkin pie spice, and is reminiscent of a traditional donut glaze.

The hardest part about this recipe was finding a gluten-free flour that gave me that cupcake texture I was looking for. I ended up with this Wholesome gluten-free baking flour from Cup4Cup. It has flaxseeds in it so that’s what makes it wholesome. I really like it!

Items recommended for this Gluten-Free Pumpkin Spice Baked Donut recipe (some affiliate links included):

• Silicone donut trays (comes in a 2-pack so you can make 12 donuts in a batch)
• Gluten-free flour with flaxseeds
• Organic boxed pumpkin puree
• Organic coconut sugar

Steps to making these Gluten-Free Pumpkin Spice Baked Donuts:

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Spray your donut trays lightly with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.
2. Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and pumpkin pie spice in a medium mixing bowl.
3. Next, grab a smaller mixing bowl and add the egg, maple syrup, almond milk, vanilla, pumpkin puree, and melted ghee or coconut oil. Use a whisk to combine.
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and use a spatula to mix together.
5. Next, transfer the mixture to a gallon-sized plastic bag to pipe into the donut tray.
6. Cut the end off the one of the corners of the plastic bag and use your hands to pipe the mixture into a single round layer.
7. Bake the donuts for 35-40 minutes, or until they have turned a golden brown. Remove the donuts from the oven and let them cool for about 10 minutes before removing them from the tray.
8. After the donuts have cooled, transfer them to a parchment-lined baking tray so you can ice them.
9. Make the icing by combining the ghee, coconut sugar, pumpkin pie spice, and hot water into a small bowl. Use a spoon to mix it together well.
10. Then, dip the top of each donut into the icing and set on the parchment paper.
11. Serve the donuts at room temperature, or slightly warm.

Here’s the printable recipe for these Gluten-Free Pumpkin Spice Baked Donuts:

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Feel free to pin this image to your favorite Pinterest dessert board to save it for later!

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