Baked donuts holes are a great option if you are avoiding to eat fried ones. These donuts are soft with the right amount of spices and pumpkin puree. They are filled with dulce de leche and rolled with a cinnamon sugar mixture. Perfect for FALL SEASON!

Let’s start with the recipe and if you want to watch how I made these delicious baked pumpkin holes, visit my page on Instagram @pastry_tales

Yield 24 mini donut holes. If you want a smaller batch, just cut in half all the ingredients. You have to use A MINI MUFFIN PAN.

Ingredients

For the pumpkin donut holes

1 and 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 and 1/4  teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and a little bit cooled or you can use oil

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1 large egg at room temperature

1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3/4 cup pumpkin puree NOT PUMPKIN PIE FILLING

1/2 cup buttermilk or milk at room temperature (any milk you prefer)

For the cinnamon sugar coating

1/2 cup white granulated sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

For the filling

1 can of Dulce de Leche

Directions

For the pumpkin donut holes

1.- Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease your mini muffin pan with cooking spray. Set aside.

This is the mini muffin pan I have: https://www.amazon.com/Wilton-Recipe-Right-Mini-Muffin/dp/B000SABX12

Also, you do not need a mixer for this recipe. Just 2 bowls, a spatula and if you want whisk.

2.- In a bowl mix all your dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice.

3.- In a bigger bowl mix melted butter and brown sugar for about 1 minute. Then, add the egg and whisk. Add the vanilla extract and keep whisking. Add in pumpkin puree and mix . Add milk and mix until everything is well combined.

4.- Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and use a spatula to mix everything. Please, do not overmix otherwise the texture of your donut holes can be ruined. Just mix until you don’t see any leftover flour. Mixture will be thick.

5.- Using a small cookie or ice cream scoop (or a small spoon) fill each cavity of your muffin pan all the way to the top. This is very important because we want our mini muffins have a nice height and round top.

6.- Bake for 13 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

7.- Let them cool in the muffin pan for 4 minutes.

For the cinnamon sugar coating

While your donut holes are cooling off a bit, let’s make the cinnamon-sugar mixture.

1.- In a bowl mix the white granulated sugar and cinnamon.

2.- Using a kitchen brush , coat each donut hole with the melted butter and then roll it into the the cinnamon sugar mixture.

If you don’t have a kitchen brush, just do a quick dip into the butter and then roll in the cinnamon sugar.

For the filling

You will need a pastry bag or a zip lock bag and a thin tip. I used this one.

Pipe in some of the dulce de leche filling into the bottom of each donut hole. You can roll them in cinnamon sugar again if you want to.

It is important that you know that when you bake with pumpkin there will be moisture that will affect the texture of your baked goods. This is why I always recommend that when you make pumpkin cookies or donuts, you should not storage them in an airtight container, just leave them uncovered or cover them slightly.

That’s it! Super quick and delicious!!