With a beautiful harvest of homegrown Pumpkins this year and Winternights / Samhain/ Halloween around the corner, this felt the perfect way to jump in the kitchen and cook up some all spice alchemy... After seeing Fern the Foragers recent beautiful Toffee Apple Donuts it got me thinking to how I could adapt the recipe for a sweet pumpkin treat..
WInternights for us is something that is marked by honouring rather than celebrating!! Here is a little insight into our Winternights Rite
Yet that being said we love to gather around the table and share a magical supper after our Winternights rite and Earth Journey !! As well as carving Pumpkins, Some Curried Pumpkin Soup, Fresh Bread and Sweet Pie!!! and Now Spiced Pumpkin Oven Baked Donuts.
The seasons that swirl around us, affect us too, touch us in our marrow, our psyches. Yet often we try to ignore the feeling or the invitation held in the air, in the soil and roots. Brigit Anna McNeil
These autumn days are beautiful, there is a restfulness in the air as the season around invites me to go inwards to somewhere quieter and more thoughtful within. The Winternights feast is also especially seen as a time to celebrate our kinship and friendship with both the living and our earlier forebears. In particular we honour our Female Ancestors and Kin, The Dísir this time is known as the Dis-Blessing", or "Frey-Blessing It marks the beginning of the long dark wintertime at which memory becomes more important than foresight, at which old tales are told and great deeds are toasted as we ready ourselves for the long winter journey.
These made-from-scratch baked pumpkin donuts are soft, moist and fluffy with a delightful cinnamon-sugar coating. They have that wonderful pumpkin spice flavour we all know and love.
It’s an easy one-bowl recipe that can be made by hand, which is the method I seem to prefer these days. You simply mix all the ingredients except the flour together until smooth, then stir in the flour and you’re done. How great is that? The donuts take just 15 minutes to bake and you toss them in some cinnamon sugar while they are still warm. And I’m telling you, nothing is better than a warm soft pumpkin donut freshly coated in cinnamon-sugar.
They are spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger, and on top of that, they are wrapped in a wonderful cinnamon-sugar coating. The texture of the crunchy sugar coating with the soft centre just makes these so magical...
Ingredients
Donut batter
1/2 cup (125ml) vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups (300g) granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups (365g) canned pumpkin purée
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg & 1/2 tsp ginger)
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 3/4 cups minus 2 tbp (8oz) all-purpose flour
Sugar coating
1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350F and grease two standard size donut pans.
In a large bowl, whisk all the donut batter ingredients except the flour until smooth.
Add in the flour and stir just until smooth again.
Using a large muffin scoop or 1/4 cup measuring cup, fill the wells of the prepared baking pans about 3/4 full.
Bake for about 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Let cool enough to handle.
Toss the sugar and cinnamon in a medium ziplock bag. While the donuts are still warm, gently shake them in the sugar mixture to coat. Place them on a wire rack to cool or enjoy warm. See notes.
Because these donuts are quite moist, it’s best to coat them just before serving or at most a couple of hours before. Store leftover donuts at room temperature on a cooling rack. Cover the donuts with a large tupperware container or sheet of wax paper. You want to shelter them, yet still allowing for air circulation.