Baked Pumpkin Donut Holes
Baked pumpkin donut holes coated with cinnamon and sugar. These make the perfect breakfast for fall!
I’ve been super excited to share this recipe with you all for a while now. I’ve mentioned my baked pumpkin donuts quite a few times lately, to say that I’m obsessed with them would probably be an understatement. They are soft, light, full of pumpkin flavor, and just seriously good.
I decided to double the recipe with a few small changes to make some donut holes. I added a bit more pumpkin to the batter, because well, I love pumpkin. I also decreased the sugar just a bit, since we’re coating these with cinnamon and sugar they will be plenty sweet enough.
The donut holes are actually baked in a mini muffin pan and incredibly easy to make. I only fill mine about 3/4 of the way full and I usually end up with about 32-34 donut holes. If you just have one mini muffin pan, you’ll have to bake these in two separate batches. But, they only take about 12 minutes to bake, so they still come together pretty quickly.
After they come out of the oven, you’ll let them cool a bit while you melt some butter and mix up the cinnamon and sugar. You’ll give them a quick dunk in the butter, I always make sure they’re completely coated in the butter so that the cinnamon and sugar will stick better. Then comes the best part, the cinnamon and sugar coating! You’ll toss them around in that and you’re done.
These are best eaten the same day that you prepare them. You can bake the actual donut holes a little ahead of time and then coat them in the cinnamon and sugar just before serving.
Just looking at these pictures makes me think a second breakfast of pumpkin donut holes is in order.
Baked Pumpkin Donut Holes
Ingredients
Pumpkin Donut Holes:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter melted and slightly cooled
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Cinnamon Sugar Coating:
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter melted and slightly cooled
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 and 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a mini muffin pan well with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg, and salt. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, mix together the pumpkin puree, brown sugar, egg, milk, unsalted butter, and vanilla until fully combined.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
- Spoon or pipe the batter into the mini muffin cavities about 3/4 of the way full. Bake at 350 degrees for 11-13 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the donut hole comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Remove the donut holes from the pan to a wire rack to cool.
- Meanwhile, add the melted butter to a small bowl. Add the cinnamon and sugar to a separate bowl and mix together well.
- Take each donut hole and dunk it into the melted butter, making sure it is fully coated. Then dip it into the cinnamon and sugar mixture, making sure to coat well.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
If you love pumpkin as much as I do, try my Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting next!
This recipe is the BEST!! Easy to make, makes a lot , and everyone loves them. I have made these many times and they come out great every time. Sometimes I make them a little bit bigger and just dunk the tops of the mini muffins in the butter and roll the tops in cinnamon and sugar. So great!!!
My mom started making these & they have been a hit! Usually no problem that they are best eaten within the day, as they are most definitely usually gone. Give it take a few. Also assuming she makes them just right (I’m guessing how much butter to coat them with the cinnamon & sugar as well as how she stores them) we are able to get an extra day or 2 out of them! I placed them in a pie plate & cover with a baking towel & that is a much better way of storing them for another day, rather than enclosing with an airtight lid and container! Making these for thanksgiving breakfast 😇
If I don’t have unsalted butter can I eliminate the salt and use the butter I have?
I think that would be fine!
I would really like to try this at Thanksgiving this year while my company is here. Is it best to spoon the mixture into the mini cups or would it be easier for me to pipe it in?
It’s definitely easier to pipe them into the mini muffin pan! I’ll update the recipe to include piping them as an option.
Can I use this recipe to make donuts. Tis the season everything pumpkin
Yes, that would be fine! I have a baked pumpkin donut recipe here too.
Hi! Is there a way for them not to get soggy after they have been in a container/bag
Not after you add the butter and cinnamon sugar mixture. You could store them without any of the coating, then add it right before serving them.
Hi, I will definitely make this recipe for Thanksgiving. How many days can I make these donute holes ahead of time. And how should I store them?
Thank you
DC.
They’re best the same day you make them, but you could store them in an airtight container in the fridge for 1 to 2 days. You can also bake the donut holes ahead of time, then coat them with the butter, cinnamon, and sugar just before serving.
I am really excited to try these but I do not have a mini cupcake pan, can I use a regular sized one?
Yes, that would be fine! You will just need to increase the baking time by 5 to 10 minutes.
Delicious. I’ve made these twice already, following the directions exactly as written. My father in law asked me for the recipe and he is a baker!
I made these as full sized donuts in a cake donut tray so I knew the bake time would vary but they kept coming out extremely dense and undercooked even after doubling and tripling the time. I made four batches and put each in for longer than the last but they never came out cake-like like the image. Do you have any suggestions as I would love to continue using this recipe. I love how they tasted despite the texture, and love that the batter has hardly any sugar in it
Hi, Zoe! I’m not sure why they were turning out that way. Did you make sure to spoon and level your flour? And did you double check all of the measurements? I do have a baked pumpkin donut recipe here that you could use, it’s very similar with some slight adjustments made to it.
thank you for the awesome recipe, so cool to make them in a mini muffin tin. Everything turned out just one inquiry. I have made them twice and mine to not look close enough to yours, size wise yes. It’s the after dipping them in the butter I make sure I let all the butter drip off then i dip into the sugar mixture it seems that mine gets wet & clumpy so it doesn’t look nice on the finished donut hole. Where as yours & it’s on the donut so nice & dry. I just roll into the mixture! can you give me any hints? thank you 🙂
So glad you enjoyed the recipe, Mary! Mine tend to do the same thing after they’ve been stored in an airtight container for a day or so. I do make sure to let all of the excess butter drip off before coating them in the sugar. I usually have some extra cinnamon sugar leftover too and coat them one more time.
very good recipe loved them 5 star. The only problem I ran into is after rolling them in the butter than the mixture it didn’t go on as nice as yours is there a tip for that? I know I adde extra cinnamon cause i love it with sugar so yes mine turned out darker bc of the mixture combination. I did roll them in the butter like you suggested. Nice treat anytime of the year..thank you:)
Did you let the excess butter drip off before you dipped them in the cinnamon sugar mixture? If there’s too much butter on the donut holes, the cinnamon sugar mixture may kind of get clumpy. Glad you enjoyed them though!
I made these the night before my Canadian Thanksgiving and I’m struggling to not eat them all! SO GOOD. Thank you for the fantastic recipe!!
Could I bake, freeze and then coat on the day of the party? I’m thinking of making a combination of these and your apple cider ones and I would need to prep ahead. Thanks!
Yes, that would be fine! I would just let them come to room temperature first before you coat them.
I made these and got 42 of them! They are delicious and have great pumpkin flavor. The tops rounded out when baking, and covered in cinnamon sugar they appeared more circular like donut holes! Delicious treat without any of the grease you get in typical donuts. They’re super cute too and perfect for sharing.
Pillsbury Gluten-Free all-purpose flour is 1:1 and is great for any kind of gluten free baking or cooking!!
I made them in a cake pop pan and they came out perfectly! Delicious, too yummy!
So glad you liked the donut holes, Amy!
I username my cake pop maker. These are amazing! Thanks for the recipe!
Glad you liked the donut holes, Liz!
I’m gluten and dairy free. Can you make these with gluten free flour and non dairy milk?
Non-dairy milk would be fine, but I haven’t used gluten-free flour much when it comes to baking. If you have a gluten-free flour that substitutes well 1:1 for all-purpose flour, then that should be fine.
How do you get them round if you’re baking them in a mini muffin pan? Don’t they come out like cupcakes?
They’re not round, they look like mini muffins (minus the muffin top). Once you coat them in the cinnamon and sugar it’s less obvious that they’re muffins.
I made these pumpkin balls over the weekend. They are awesome. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you, Jodie! I’m glad you liked them!
Can I use pastry flour instead of all purpose?
I think that would be fine.
Thank you very much
I have a stupid question since I see u do sweets do u make a ham and cheese slider on a potatoe roll with a special sauce. It came in my email and guess I deleted it before copying it down. Sorry for asking but I am getting old and just learning. But these r wonderful would give them a 10out of10 thanks
Made this tonight to take to my nursing co-workers tomorrow morning. Of course I had to take 1 (or 2) and I don’t foresee having any to bring home. Such an easy and tastey recipe. Will definitely make again!!
So nice of you to make these for your coworkers, Rachel! So glad you liked them and I hope everyone else did too! 🙂