Paleo Maple Glazed Pumpkin Spice Doughnuts
Last Updated on November 18, 2017 by Priscilla
Any day that I can eat doughnuts is a good day. Growing up, doughnuts were the quintessential holiday breakfast item; my great aunt would float through my front door on Thanksgiving morning with a dozen doughnuts from Dunkin and my uncle would bring a carafe of coffee. While I sometimes get a real craving for DD’s chocolate glazed chocolate cake donuts, baking up a homemade doughnut often satisfies my sweet tooth.
These pumpkin spice doughnuts are delicious and easy! They are gluten-free, dairy-free, and Paleo! The maple caramel glaze that tops the doughnuts really make them memorable, so don’t leave it out! I highly recommend using a silicone mini doughnut pan for this recipe so you can pop the doughnut out of the mold easily. I’ve tried to make doughnuts with non-stick metal pans in the past, but they always get stuck. Even though you are using silicone, give the inside of each cavity a rub with a bit of coconut oil prior to adding the batter.
I have not tested this recipe using canned pumpkin, and highly recommend using freshly roasted pumpkin. To roast, simply cut a pie pumpkin in half, scoop out the seeds, brush with a little coconut oil, and bake cut side down at 375 for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Once cool, scoop the flesh out and blend in a high speed blender. To get my pumpkin to blend, I had to add a tiny amount of coconut milk so that my NutriBullet could blend it all of the way.
Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Holidays, and I hope you enjoy this recipe!
Maple Glazed Pumpkin Spice Doughnuts
*makes ~12-14 mini doughnuts
Ingredients:
Doughnut
- 2 Tbsp. Coconut Oil, slightly melted
- ½ cup Roasted Pie Pumpkin puree (I puree mine in a Nutribullet and often need to add a small amount of coconut milk to get it to blend)
- ½ cup + 3 Tbsp. Fine Almond Flour (I recommend this brand)
- 1 Tbsp. Coconut Flour
- 2 Tbsp. Tapioca Starch
- ½ tsp. Baking Soda
- ½ tsp. Baking Powder
- ¼-½ tsp. Vanilla Extract
- 2 Large Eggs, whisked
- 2 Tbsp. Coconut Sugar (Big Tree Farms is my favorite)
- 1 Tbsp. Maple Syrup
- ½ tsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice
- ¼ tsp. Salt
Maple Caramel Glaze
- 4 Tbsp. Maple Syrup
- 1 Tbsp. Coconut Sugar
- 3 Tbsp. Coconut Milk
- ½ tsp. Vanilla Extract
Instructions:
To make the donuts, mix the coconut oil, pumpkin, coconut sugar, maple syrup, and eggs together in a large glass bowl. Whisk these wet ingredients together until they are well combined. In a separate bowl, mix together the almond flour, coconut flour, tapioca starch baking soda, and salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix to incorporate. Add the vanilla and pumpkin pie spice and mix.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a (mini) doughnut pan with coconut oil. To make extra pretty doughnuts, I recommend transferring the batter to a piping bag or a plastic bag with one of the points cut off, but a regular spoon will work as well. Fill the holes in the pan so the batter is just below the rim of the pan, which will allow them to puff up when baked. Place the pan in the oven and allow the doughnuts to bake undisturbed for 10 minutes. Check the doughnuts and bake for about another 5 minutes, or until the doughnuts feel firm but still a bit springy. Remove the pan from the oven and allow to cool.
While the doughnuts are cooling, create the maple glaze. In a small sauce pan, heat the maple syrup, coconut sugar, and coconut milk over medium heat. Once the liquid begins to bubble, reduce to medium low heat and allow to simmer, stirring occasionally, until the glaze thickens and coats a spoon. Remove from the heat and allow to cool down a bit. The glaze will thicken a little more as it cools. You want the consistency to be like thick honey. If it is too runny, return the pan to the burner and heat for a little longer. Remove the pan from the burner and stir in the vanilla.
Once the glaze cools just slightly, gently pop out the doughnuts from the silicone mold and press gently into the glaze. Flip the doughnuts over and place them on a cooling rack so they can fully cool and the glaze can firm up. Sprinkle with cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice and enjoy!