Homemade donuts always intimidated me and honestly, they’re some of the easiest, most fun desserts you can make for friends and family! These gluten free pumpkin donuts, smothered in an insanely delicious maple cinnamon glaze and sprinkled with chopped toasted pecans, are no exception. Now, they may not be the floofy fried donuts we all know and love (there’s a donut shop just down the street where I used to live in San Francisco and booooy was it a struggle walking past it nearly every day, although none were gluten free so it wasn’t thaaaat big of a struggle), but they’re perfectly just-sweet, cakey, tinged with delicate glaze and crunchy pecans and are truly a love letter to fall. Kendra has some incredible donut recipes on the blog already – these classic maple glazed donuts, and these chocolate coated vanilla donuts – and it’s taken me a while to get my game together and develop some of my own. I finally got around to it now that I’ve moved to the UK and wanted to introduce my roommates to the American obsession (rightly so) with pumpkin baked goods. There will be another donut recipe coming imminently, but for now, I highly recommend popping these in the oven.
Tips for Delightful Baked Pumpkin Donuts:
- Use a piping bag to get the batter into your donut pans! This will streamline the whole process (it’s definitely tricky with a spoon), and will ensure that you have an even top and bottom to each donut instead of air bubbles or a wonky top/bottom. If you don’t have a piping bag, get a gallon-sized freezer zip top bag, scoop your batter into it, and then cut a 1/2 inch hole in one of the bottom corners of the bag!
- Don’t over-mix your batter! You can mix the wet ingredients more, but once you add the dry ingredients, take it easy. Mix slowly so that you aren’t tempted to overmix, and stop when it’s just combined.
- Get that smoooooth glaze – glazes are a super easy way to elevate your muffin game. The glazes we use are essentially just powdered sugar and a liquid – in this case, milk and maple syrup. The key with glazes is getting the consistency right – you want to be able to dip the donuts but also have a large amount of glaze stay on top of the donut, so it needs to be able to move a bit, but you don’t want it to just pour off your donuts completely. You want to get to a thicker consistency (it should be thick when you stir it). If your glaze seems to thin and runny, just add more powdered sugar! Vice versa if it seems waaaay too thick and you can’t even move the donut in the glaze bowl, add a touch more milk.
- Toast those pecans! Toasted pecans have an incredibly delicate crunch, and an even more incredible flavor. They’re like fall in a bowl. They’re really easy to make too, just make sure you don’t burn them in the oven – they should be done just about when the donuts are done as well and should look a tad darker and smell amazing.
For other fally-filled bakes, check out our pumpkin coffee cake muffins, pumpkin pie (the classic), pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, pumpkin madeleines, pumpkin swiss roll, pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese buttercream, and this pumpkin chocolate chip bundt cake with chocolate ganache!
Gluten Free Pumpkin Donuts with Maple Glaze
Equipment
- Baked donut pan
- Piping bag
Ingredients
For the donuts:
- 2 large eggs plus one egg white
- ¼ Cup packed brown sugar
- ¼ Cup white sugar
- ⅔ Cup canned pumpkin
- 3 Tbsp melted salted butter
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1/3 Cup sour cream
- 3 Tbsp milk
- 1 ½ Cups gluten free 1-1 flour mix
- ½ Cup packed blanched almond flour
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ginger
- ⅛ tsp nutmeg
- ⅛ tsp cloves
For the toasted pecans:
- 1/2 Cup raw pecans
Glaze:
- 1 3/4 Cup sifted powdered sugar
- 3 Tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp melted salted butter
- 2-4 Tbsp milk
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
Instructions
- First, preheat the oven to 350° and grease two six-donut donut pans with butter or cooking spray. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs (two whole eggs plus one egg white), brown and white sugar, canned pumpkin, vanilla, milk and sour cream. Add the flour, almond flour, baking powder, salt, and spices and slowly mix until just combined (do not over mix). Finally, scoop the batter into a large piping bag, cut a 1/2 inch hole in the bag tip, and pipe the batter evenly into the 12 donut holes.
- Before putting the donuts in the oven, line a small baking tray with parchment paper and spread the raw pecans evenly on the tray. Then put the donuts and the pecans in the oven and bake both the donuts and pecans for 10-14 minutes – the donuts until the tops of the donuts spring back to the touch. Do not over-bake or the donuts or they'll be dry. The pecans should smell fragrant/nutty and be slightly darker.
- Let the donuts and pecans cool for 10-15 minutes then turn out the donuts and let cool for a few more minutes.
- Make the glaze! In a medium cereal bowl, sift the powdered sugar and stir together all of the glaze ingredients, starting with all of the maple syrup, and adding one tablespoon of milk at a time until you reach the right consistency. Stir until fully combined and very smooth (this may take some working). Check the consistency of the glaze: you're looking for a glaze that can drizzle over the muffins, but doesn't flow too quickly or it will simply run off and not hold on top of the muffins. Add more powdered sugar if it seems too thin/runny.
- Finally, roughly chop the cooled toasted pecans and then dunk your donuts! Carefully dip the rounded bottoms (now tops) of each donut into the glaze, let drip, then place top (now bottom) side down on a plate or tray. Sprinkle immediately with chopped toasted pecans, then serve! You can let these set for an hour or so for the glaze to harden. Store in an airtight container for 2-3 days or freeze immediately.
Tag @sisterssansgluten on Instagram if you snap a photo of your donuts!
Food photography and styling by Amelia Farber
