Pumpkin Spice Donuts.

Fall is on its way. The weather is changing here too. The glorious summer days we have had this yr are starting to disappear. Its been a dry summer for the PNW and the days have been so warm and glorious that I just don't want summer to leave yet. Its been hot enough to wear shorts, tank tops and bare feet, with big puffy white clouds and deep blue sky. But now the summer is going, Ive had to shut the windows most days lately and the fog has rolled back in. Today its raining again. I smell the falling leaves  when I'm outside now, that earthy, moldy leaf smell. Fall is here and it makes me think of pumpkin. And so I wanted to make something with it for us.

These are baked. I have one donut pan so I pulled out a muffin top pan too. I figured they would bake in about the same time. Remember when muffin tops were the craze? I found both pans at Goodwill. And so I baked these and then cleaned the donut pan to finish the last batch.

They smelled the whole house up. It was a cool nite and the warm spices just reminded me so much of Fall. Perfect nite to do this. And so once they cooled a bit I rolled them in cinnamon sugar and set them on the rack to finish cooling. About a half hr. before bed......my bf said he wanted one. I decided to get one too even tho I was worried the sugar might keep me up. I'm glad I had it tho.........cuz OMG they were beyond awesome~!!! My bf liked it so much he went back for seconds. My mouth was thinking the same thing but I held back. They were moist and spicy and perfect. I will be making these again and again for sure. And so for anyone wanting to try them here's the link.  http://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2012/09/07/pumpkin-doughnuts-baked-to-perfection/

I used my own home cooked pumpkin puree that I freeze each yr. Sometimes when thawing it gets a bit watery so I put it in a sieve over a bowl till it drained. You want thick puree, canned is fine. And I love that these are baked , not fried. I hate frying stuff. Watch the timing on these so they don't burn. For my oven I found 12min. to be perfect.