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Stack of 3 Pumpkin Spice Doughnuts

Pumpkin Spice Donuts

Lightly spiced pumpkin cake donuts with maple glaze
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Total Time 1 hour
Course: Breakfast, Dessert
Cuisine: American
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

Donuts
  • 2 tbsp ground flax
  • 5 tbsp water
  • 1/2 cup plant milk, oat, almond or soy milk will work
  • 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
  • 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 4 tbsp baking powder
  • 2-3 tsp pumpkin spice:
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 cup pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie mix!
  • 2 tbsp vegan butter Vegan Becel or Earth Balance
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 4-6 cups oil for frying, canola or vegetable
Maple glaze
  • 3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
  • 3/4 cup maple syrup
  • 3 tbsp milk or melted vegan butter
  • 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt

Equipment

  • Dutch oven
  • Spider or metal tongs
  • Deep frying thermometer
  • Donut cutter, cookie cutters
  • Rolling Pin

Method
 

Homemade pumpkin spice
  1. If you don't have pumpkin spice on hand, you can easily mix up your own. Whisk together 3 tbsp cinnamon, 2 tsp ground ginger, 2 tsp ground nutmeg, 1 tsp ground allspice, and 1 tsp ground cloves. Store the remainder in an airtight container for future recipes.
Donuts
  1. Start by mixing the ground flax and water in a medium bowl and setting aside for roughly 10 minutes.
  2. Then, add one tbsp of lemon juice to a measuring cup and top with plant milk until you have 1/2 a cup of liquid.
  3. While your flax egg is gelling and the buttermilk is coming together, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, spice ,and salt in a large bowl.
  4. To the bowl containing the flax egg, add the buttermilk, pumpkin puree, vegan butter, and vanilla. Stir to combine. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the wet, stirring again. Use your hands to work the dough together if the mixture becomes difficult to stir.
  5. Begin to heat oil in your Dutch oven with a deep-frying thermometer, bringing it up to 350°-360° and adjusting the heat to maintain an even temperature. Medium to medium low should do it.
  6. While oil is heating up, roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/2 inch thick. Begin cutting out your doughnuts and holes, reworking the dough scraps and rolling it out again and cutting, repeating until all your dough is gone.
  7. *If you don't have a donut cutter, use a cookie cutter or wide glass to cut out your donuts, then take a chopstick and create a hole in the centre and spin the donut until the hole widens.
  8. Before you start frying, take out a baking sheet and place a cooling rack on top. Have this near your Dutch oven.
  9. Slowly drop 3-4 donuts into the hot oil - they will sink to the bottom initially, this is normal! Once they float to the top of the oil, let them cook 1-2 minutes per side until they are nicely golden brown. Remove from the oil using a spider or tongs and transfer them to the rack to drain.
  10. Repeat with all of the donuts and holes until none are left. Then, combine all of your glaze ingredients in a small to medium bowl, whisking until smooth.
  11. Set up another rack on a baking sheet. If you don't have a second cooling rack and baking sheet, transfer the cooked donuts and holes to a bowl and reuse the cooling rack and baking sheet used for draining.
  12. Starting with the donuts, dunk one side into the maple glaze and then the other, allowing the excess glaze to drain off before setting on the rack. Repeat with all the donuts until only the holes are left. Then, dump the holes into the rest of the glaze, stirring to coat and transferring them to the rack with the glazed donuts. Enjoy!

Notes

Doughnuts are best enjoyed the day they were made, but they will keep in a covered container on the counter for 2-3 days.