Pumpkin and cinnamon… oh the delicious flavors of fall! These cute little “pumpkiny” treats taste like amazing doughnut holes, but are actually mini muffins. Call them baked doughnuts, or mini muffins… either way, they’re delicious!
These sweet muffins are easy to mix, and bake up quite quickly, so they’re perfect for a weekend breakfast, or a special snack anytime!
You’ll notice in the recipe that the baked muffins are dipped in melted butter, then rolled in cinnamon sugar…. so needless to say these little guys are not exactly a “light” treat. Enjoy a couple with a glass of skim milk, and call it even =)
If by chance you don’t have any pumpkin on hand, I have a previous post, Cinnamon Sugar Mini Cupcakes that is almost identical, but without pumpkin.
As I was preparing this post, I was stuck on the spelling of “doughnut” (or “donut”). I posed the question on my facebook page and had fun reading all of your varying opinions =) In the end, I chose “doughnut” mostly because I have a previous post titled, Baked Doughnuts with Maple Glaze and I thought it made sense to just keep any others the same. But I’ll borrow a comment from the facebook discussion (as posted by Naomi S.) “either way, it spells delicious”.
Happy fall baking!
How to Make Pumpkin Doughnut Hole Muffins
Pumpkin Doughnut Hole Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg freshly grated if possible
- 1/2 teaspoon allspice
- 1/8 teaspoon cloves
- 1/3 cup oil vegetable, olive, etc
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup canned pumpkin not pumpkin pie filling
- 1/2 cup milk
For the coating
- 1/2 cup butter 1 stick, melted
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350*F.
- Spray a mini muffin pan generously with cooking spray.
- Pull out two large bowls.
- In one bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, salt and spices.
- In another bowl, whisk the oil, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, pumpkin and milk. Mix until smooth and well combined.
- Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and mix until just combined (do not over mix).
- Divide the batter evenly among the 24 muffin cups (using a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop).
- Bake 10-12 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.
- While the muffins bake, prepare the final coating.
- Melt butter in one bowl and combine granulated sugar and cinnamon in another bowl.
- Remove muffins from oven and cool for 2 minutes, or until just cool enough to handle. Dip each muffin in melted butter, then roll in cinnamon sugar to coat. You will likely not use all of the butter, or cinnamon/sugar but this amount makes them easy to dip.
These are delicious! I found this recipe a couple years ago and now I make them every fall! When the kids ask for munchkins, I make these instead. They are definitely a family favorite! The mini muffin pan makes them great. Thanks for sharing!
Finally tried this recipe and I give it two thumbs up. Will make these regularly now.
Yay! So glad you tried it and enjoyed it!
Do you think this recipe would work in a miniature donut pan? It looks fabulous and I can’t wait to try it.
Hi, these look delicious! Which mini muffin pan did you use?
I used a dark metal pan, but any mini muffin pan should work equally well.