Spiced Pumpkin Doughnuts

These pretty as a picture, baked, vegan, spiced pumpkin doughnuts are simply delicious!

You will need a doughnut baking tin for this recipe (I use a 6-hole Wilton® doughnut tin). Cook and cool the pumpkin then mash or puree until smooth (you can steam/boil/roast the pumpkin - whichever way is easiest for you).  Weigh 200g of the puree and set aside until needed (left over pumpkin puree freeze really well). This recipe can quite easily be made gluten-free, simply replace the plain flour with the same weight gluten-free plain flour and make sure your baking powder and icing sugar are gluten-free (in New Zealand, Edmonds® baking powder and Chelsea® icing sugar is gluten-free).  Rather than glazing, you can always coat the doughnuts in cinnamon sugar.  Just brush the cooled, baked doughnuts with a little melted coconut oil then roll them in cinnamon sugar...yum!

Makes 12

VEGAN SPICED PUMPKIN BAKED DOUGHNUTS

plain flour/spelt flour/gluten-free plain flour, 150g (250ml or 1 cup)

ground almonds/almond flour, 50g (125ml or 1/2 cup)

brown sugar/coconut sugar, 110g (125ml or 1/2 cup)

baking powder, 5ml (1 teaspoon)

bicarbonate of soda/baking soda, 5ml (1 teaspoon)

ground cinnamon, 5ml (1 teaspoon)

ground mixed spice, 5ml (1 teaspoon)

coconut oil, 80g (about 80ml or 1/3 cup)

almond milk, 100g (100ml or 1/3 cup + 4 teaspoons)

vanilla bean paste, 5ml (1 teaspoon)

cooked pumpkin, 200g (about 250ml or 1 cup)

VANILLA GLAZE

coconut oil, 20g (about 30ml or 2 tablespoons)

icing sugar, 165g (250ml or 1 cup)

almond milk, 30g (30ml or 2 tablespoons)

vanilla bean paste, 5ml (1 teaspoon)

To start, lightly grease a 6-hole doughnut tin (using a plant-based spray or coconut oil) and preheat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan).

In a large mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients and mix until uniform.

Melt the coconut oil in the microwave (in a medium size heat proof bowl) then add the almond milk, vanilla bean paste and pumpkin puree and whisk until smooth.

Add the wet ingredient mixture to the dry ingredients and whisk by hand until smooth.

Spoon or pipe the batter into the greased doughnut tin.

Bake for approximately 5 - 10 minutes (or until a skewer inserted into the doughnuts comes out clean).

Once the first batch of doughnuts are baked, turn them out onto a cooling rack and spoon/pipe the remaining batter into the tin and repeat baking (of course, if you have two 6-hole doughnut tins, you can bake the batter all at once in two tins).

While the doughnuts are cooling, prepare the glaze by melting the coconut oil in a heat proof bowl in the microwave.  Add the icing sugar, almond milk and vanilla bean paste and whisk until smooth.

Spoon the glaze over the cooled doughnuts.