Tuesdays with Dory: fall baking edition

Inspecting the storage bench box. Helpful Dory is helpful!

Dear Dory,

There are so many delicious fall recipes out there--can you recommend one?

Hungry in Hartford


Dear Hungry,

I personally think fish is appropriate for all meals, but Kristen tells me that in the fall, hoomins like to eat pumpkin things. As far as baked goods go, I thought these pumpkin donuts from the Taste and Tell blog that Kristen made this weekend looked pretty good.

These donuts are baked, not fried, so they're healthier, but you do need a donut pan, which runs about $10 on Amazon.

Ingredients

Doughnuts

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger

1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup pumpkin puree
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
1/4 cup butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Maple-Cinnamon Glaze

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon maple extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons milk

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350F. Prepare a doughnut pan by spraying with non-stick cooking spray.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon and ginger. Set aside.
In another bowl, cream together the brown sugar, butter and pumpkin. Add in the eggs, mix well, then mix in the milk and vanilla. Stir in the reserved dry ingredients.
Place the mix in a large zip-top bag. Cut off the corner and pipe into the doughnut pan.
Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 10 minutes. Remove pan from oven, let rest for 5 minutes, then remove from pan and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.
Meanwhile, make the glaze: In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, maple extract, cinnamon and milk.
When the doughnuts are cool, dip them in the glaze. Return to the wire rack to allow the glaze to set.


The hardest part of this project is getting the batter into the plastic bag--messy.

As far as modifications, Kristen didn't have maple extract, so she stirred a little maple syrup into the glaze. It tasted good, but its addition meant the glaze didn't set up correctly. Still, who has maple extract??

The recipe claims to make 12 donuts, Kristen only got 10, which was really more than enough.
She made half as much glaze, and drizzled it over the donuts, rather than dunking them:

Messy, but a bit healthier.

She also suggests baking the donuts for a few extra minutes, as they were done at 10 minutes, but slightly too soft.

Still, quite tasty: