edible gifts

People keep asking me what’s the weirdest thing I’ve been craving while pregnant and I really can’t come up with anything weird.  The only thing I’ve noticed is that I have a crazy sweet tooth that is never satisfied.  And, if you put a doughnut in front of me I am a very happy girl.

A few things have happened recently to bring me to this recipe. 1) I realized I still have 2 cans of pumpkin in my pantry 2) I realized that I can eat vegan batter raw 3) I’ve embraced my love of doughnuts.

Here’s one sticking point: I don’t own a donut pan and given our rule against buying unitaskers for our kitchen, I wasn’t about to go buy one.  Luckily, Katie let me borrow hers.  And I have to say, I might not give it back {I’m kidding!} but this may just be the unitasker that I cannot live without.

{Vegan Pumpkin Spice Doughnuts}

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup pumpkin, canned
• 1 1/4 cup almond milk
• 1/4 cup Earth Balance, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

Method

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Into a large bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cornstarch, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, nutmeg and salt.

Then, add the brown sugar and mix well.

 

Next, add the pumpkin, Earth Balance, almond milk and vanilla.  Whisk by hand until well combined or use an electric mixer. 

 

Finally, fold in the apple cider vinegar.  Then, put all of the batter into a plastic bag {or a pastry bag if you have one}. Snip off a corner and pipe the batter into an ungreased doughnut pan. Don’t be shy, you want the doughnut wells to be 3/4 full of batter.

Put the doughnuts in the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes. Until they look like this:

Be more patient than I was—I didn’t let my first batch cool long enough in the pan so a few came apart.  If you let the doughnuts cool for at least 5 minutes before removing them, they’ll stay together {which I learned on the second batch}.

While the doughnuts cool, prepare the glaze.

• 1 cup confectioner’s sugar, sifted
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 4 tablespoons almond milk
• cinnamon to taste {I was rather generous}

Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl until smooth.  If you want a thicker glaze, add more sugar.  Then, get to dipping.

 

This recipe should yield 36 mini doughnuts, but the number you have left at the end of the baking process can vary depending on how many people are eating them as they come out of the oven.  In our case, a pregnant girl, a hungry guy and Clare.

 

This picture was taken mid-baking, don’t worry, we didn’t eat them that fast—I made them Saturday morning and they were gone by Sunday afternoon.

I loved these doughnuts. I need to make more.  They’re mini sized and incredibly delicious—you really can’t eat just one.  And you shouldn’t feel guilty for eating more than one {or 10, as the case may be} because they are vegan and baked, not nearly as bad for you as a doughnut from a bakery, with even more flavor.

The doughnuts are cakey and slightly dense but also airy.  Hard to explain, but amazing.  I think I preferred unglazed—they didn’t need the added sweetness.

With only 3/4 cup of sugar in the entire batch, I think these are pretty guilt-free.  So come on, have a donut. Or 10.

Enjoy!

recipe adapted from The Urban Housewife.

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