Pumpkin spice season came and went, and yet my inner basic bitch is still craving spices. I’ll admit, I’m a closeted pumpkin spice lover. I love the flavors, but I refuse to take part in the basic pumpkin spice culture that comes with it. I wouldn’t be caught dead sporting a “Pumpkin spice is my favorite season shirt.” But try to take my PSL away from me and you’ll have to pry it out of my cold, overly caffeinated hands. So if you find yourself trying to fill that pumpkin spice void like I am, you should definitely give these donuts a shot.
ALRIGHT, LET'S GET TO THE FOOD
So these donuts are baked, so the texture will be different than your typical fried donut. The consistency is more cakey, sort of like those little powdered hostess donuts. Because they’re baked, they require a special donut pan. But don’t worry, they’re super cheap on amazon and 100% worth it. Other than that, there’s no fancy equipment required.
WHAT YOU'LL NEED
For the batter:
3 Tbsp Vegan Butter
2 Tbsp Vegan Egg Replacer (Mixed With 4 Tbsp Water)
¾ Cup Pumpkin Puree
¾ Cup Plant Based Milk (I used Coconut)
1 Tbsp Vanilla
¾ Cup Brown Sugar
¼ Cup Applesauce
2 Cup Flour
2 Tsp Baking Powder
1 Tsp Baking Soda
3 Tsp Pumpkin Spice
½ Tsp Cinnamon
1 Tsp Ground Ginger
½ Tsp Salt
For the chocolate ganache:
1 Cup Vegan Chocolate Chips
⅓ Cup Coconut Cream
Optional:
Pumpkin Seeds
LET’S DO THIS
Before we get started, let’s knock out a few things to prep for the recipe. Go ahead and mix the egg replacement with water in a large bowl and let it sit for a minute to thicken up.
Preheat your oven to 350 and spray or grease your donut pans.
Once your egg replacement is nice and thick add the butter, pumpkin puree, milk, vanilla, brown sugar, and applesauce into the bowl with the egg replacement and then mix until the sugar has dissolved.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, spices and salt and mix.
Slowly add the dry ingredients into the bowl with the wet ingredients, stirring as you go. Mix until the ingredients are just incorporated, and then stop. If you over mix the batter, your donuts could turn out dense and stodgy. No one likes a stodgy donut.
I prefer to add the donut batter into a piping bag with a large round tip and pipe it into the donut pans because it makes for more uniform looking donuts, but that’s totally not required. A good ole fashioned spoon will get the job done. Fill each spot in the donut pan about ¾ of the way full with the batter. I can typically get about 8-10 donuts out of this recipe depending on how much I fill each slot.
Bake for 10-12 minutes and do the old skewer/fork trick to make sure they’re finished baking.
Let these bad boys cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.
While the donuts are doing their cooling thang, go ahead and start on the chocolate ganache. Place your chocolate chips in a heat-safe bowl and set aside. Add the coconut cream to a small pot with the heat on medium low. Let that coconut cream come up to 125° and then slowly pour it over the chocolate chips. Let it sit there for 1 minute and then mix it all together until the chocolate is fully melted.
Again, this is totally not necessary but I like to be fancy and put my chocolate ganache in a squeeze bottle to get that perfect drizzle look, but you can also just dip your spoon in the ganache and swing it over the donuts for a drizzled look.
While that ganache drizzle is still wet, top with chopped pumpkin seeds or anything else your heart desires. Maybe some powdered sugar or cinnamon. Whatever floats your boat.
Go ahead and enjoy the fuck out of those donuts, you earned it. These are definitely best the day of, but if you manage to not eat them all in one sitting they’ll stay pretty good in an airtight container in the fridge for a few days.
