‘As you ramble on through life, whatever be your goal, keep your eye on the donut and not on the hole’
With fall in the air, pumpkins are abundant. They are perfect for the autumn as they are grounding and nutritive. They contain high levels of beta carotene, vitamin C, E and tryptophan. Tryptophan helps with serotonin production making pumpkins literally a good mood food.
I have outlined the recipe for spiced pumpkin puree, which can be used in pumpkin pie, oatmeal or just eaten by the spoonful. Here we are adding it to donuts, giving you a warm pumpkin spiced donut complemented with a sweet maple glaze.
Mr. B has been asking me to make donuts for years, so this was a gift for him, to be able to ‘wake up and smell the donuts’.
Ingredients (Yield:6)
Donut
- ¾ cup. Whole-wheat flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- ¼ tsp. salt
- ½ cup almond milk (room temperature)
- 1/3 cup spiced pumpkin puree
- 4 tbsp. cane sugar
- 1 tsp. active yeast
- 2 tbsp. coconut oil
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 tsp. garam masala (optional)
Maple Glaze
- ½ cup. powdered sugar
- 5 tbsp. maple syrup
Pumpkin puree
- 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp. ground ginger
- ½ tsp. ground cloves
- ½ tsp. ground nutmeg
- 2 tbsp. maple syrup
- 1 medium pumpkin
Method
- Preheat the oven to 400F
- Cut the pumpkin down the middle and scoop out the seeds and guts
- Sprinkle a little salt on the inside of the pumpkin. Lay face down on parchment paper on a baking tray and bake for 45 minutes or until the skin is soft enough to put a knife straight through
- Once baked, let cool and scoop out the flesh. Blend with the maple syrup, spices and adjust to your taste
- For the donut. In a bowl, mix the pumpkin puree, sugar, milk, coconut oil, vanilla extract and garam masala. Mix in the yeast and set aside.
- In a separate bowl mix the dry ingredients. Sieve in the flour, the baking powder, salt and mix to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet one cup at a time and mix till well combined.
- Set the mixture aside for 15 minutes.
- Preheat an oven to 350F and brush a donut pan with coconut oil
- Once the batter is ready, spoon it into a piping bag or a zip-lock bag, squeezing to one end and cutting the end off
- Squeeze the batter into the pan. Let it sit for another 10 minutes.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until you can put a toothpick in, and it comes out clean. The donuts should have risen. Let cool for at least 5 minutes.
- As the donuts cool, whisk together the maple syrup and powdered sugar to form a glaze.
- Dip the top of the donut into the glaze and leave on a rack to let set.
