Baked Vegan Pumpkin Spice Donuts

These vegan baked pumpkin donuts are fluffy, soft and perfectly moist. You won't believe they are made without oil or butter and with a gluten-free option!

If you love fall as much as I do, then you are going to need these amazing baked vegan pumpkin spice chocolate chip donuts. They are so easy to throw together and loved by kids and adults.

They come from this new cookbook by my incredibly talented friend Brandi from The Vegan 8. This is a book you won't want to miss!

Vegan Baked Pumpkin Donuts

I am loving making my own donuts, they are so much healthier than the fried ones you buy. If you haven't seen the cinnamon sugar donuts on my blog yet, you need to check them out too!

Like those, these also come from a fellow blogger's cookbook, my friend Brandi from the Vegan 8. The theme of her brand is vegan recipes in 8 ingredients or less. And now she has a book!

I can't say enough good things about this book. Easy, check. Everyday ingredients, check. Whole foods, check. This cookbook has it all!

It is literally the perfect book for people starting a vegan diet, those already eating a vegan diet, and those that have no desire to eat a vegan diet but really just like GOOD FOOD.

Why you need this book now:

• easy vegan recipes for ALL types of eaters
• mostly all gluten free and oil free
• every recipe is 8 ingredients or less (not including salt, pepper and water)
• wide range of recipes from breakfast to snacks to entrees and more
• beautiful photos for every recipe
• tips, substitutions, nutrition and labels for each recipe

The chapters:

Brandi has some amazing sections included in this book. Other than the wide range of meal chapters (my favorites are the Time-Crunch Lunches and Crowd Pleasing Desserts), she includes some really useful information.

First, she gives a whole section on stocking a vegan kitchen. If you ever had a doubt, or didn't know where to start, this is it. There is no detail left out. So basically just bring this book to the store and you're all set!

But I think one of my favorite things in here, other than the food, is the one page cheat sheet on Metric Equivalents. From temperatures, to weight and even length! I'll even use this to help my kids with math! Haha!

But let's get back to the food and the mouthwatering photos. I wish I could say I didn't try licking a few pages. Here are a few sneak peeks at some of the recipes, get your stretchy pants ready!

1. Double Chocolate Fluffy Pancakes (I have had these and they are amazing. I mean, who doesn't want chocolate for breakfast?!)
2. That Rice Noodle and Bok Choy Soup (Yeah I'm going to go ahead and say I'll be slurping this one up rude style at some point this week)
3. Easy One-Pan Ready Curry With Spinach and Carrots (Even a curry not so much lover like me wants all in here.)
4. Creamy Lemon and Garlic White Bean Crostini (I know this is in the appetizer section, but can I just face plant in it for dinner please?)

But the baked pumpkin donuts are really what stood out to me, so I got my baking gear ready and ran to the kitchen.

Can donuts be vegan?

Absolutely! As long as they aren't made with any animal products, like eggs, milk or butter, then they are vegan. It's easy to substitute all these things however to make amazing vegan donuts like these!

How long does donut batter last?

If you are making cake donuts like these vegan pumpkin ones, then you need to bake them shortly after you make the batter. The reason being is that the baking powder reacts with the rest of the batter to provide a leavening effect.

If you don't make the donuts fairly quickly, then they may not rise correctly and turn out as fluffy and soft.

Can you make donuts in a cupcake pan?

Yes! This recipe gives instructions on how to turn these vegan pumpkin donuts into fluffy delicious vegan pumpkin muffins. And basically, muffins are cupcakes without frosting.

Pay attention to the baking time because when made in a cupcake pan they will take a little longer to bake, probably around 20 minutes.

Tips for storing pumpkin donuts

Before you put these donuts into any storage container, make sure they are completely cooled. If they are warm at all, the moisture will make them soggy.

Once cooled, store them in an airtight container. You can keep them on the counter for a few days or store them in the fridge. If you store them in the fridge, warm them a bit before eating them for a fresher texture. These are best fresh but can last up to 3 days and still taste pretty good.

You can warm them in the microwave for 5-10 seconds or bake for 5-10 minutes in the oven.

You can also freeze these. Once completely cooled, wrap them in parchment paper, then wrap in tin foil and store in a freezer bag or airtight container. When you are ready to eat them, let them defrost to room temperature, then warm them a bit like said above.

How To Make Baked Pumpkin Donuts

All you really need to know, is that I made these in less than 3o minutes including clean up. It takes you longer to read this post than it does to make these donuts.

Why did I time myself? Because I ate the first batch and only left two, so I quickly had to make another round before school pick up time or I'd have some angry children.

It's a good thing these are so easy to make. They literally are a few steps and BOOM. Donuts.

1. Put the dry ingredients into a bowl. Add in the wet. Mix. 
2. Put into a prepared donut pan and bake. 
3. Once cooled, remove from the pan and devour. Don't forget to notice how absolutely soft and fluffy they are. 

Vegan Pumpkin Donut Coating Options

So because these were SO uber easy to throw together, I had extra time to make eating these even more fun for my kids. I created two coatings: Pumpkin Spice Cinnamon Sugar and Pumpkin Chocolate Sauce. Both recipes are in the recipe card below.

To get the sugar mixture to stick, you can either spray them with a light coat of the oil you used to spray the pan, or you could even spray with a little water. Coat them while hot and the coating will stick better. My kids loved it.

The pumpkin chocolate is a no brainer, because who doesn't like chocolate?! (My niece actually, but we tell her she's nuts!)

What if I want to make baked pumpkin donut holes?

Let me help! You can see from the recipe that these can also be made in a muffin pan to get 8 regular sized muffins. But, if you use a mini muffin pan and scoop a little batter into each space, you will get donut holes!

Watch the baking time so you don't over bake them. I'd start checking at 10 minutes.

Baked Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Chip Donuts

Sophia DeSantis

Just because you crave a donut, doesn't mean you need to resort to a greasy, fried one. Sure, those taste good but they are not the healthiest choice. These pumpkin spice ones are fluffy, moist, and super soft.

4.92 from 12 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe Shop Ingredients

Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Total Time 30 minutes mins

Course 30 Minutes or Less, Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 6

Calories 279 kcal

Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

 

1x2x3x

• 1¼ Cups spelt flour
• 2 Tablespoons cornstarch
• 2½ Teaspoons Pumpkin Pie Spice
• 1½ Teaspoons baking powder
• ½ Teaspoon fine salt
• 9 Tablespoons pure maple syrup (½ cup + 1 Tablespoon)
• ½ Cup pumpkin puree
• ¼ Cup vanilla dairy-free yogurt , room temperature
• 6 Tablespoons dairy-free semisweet chocolate chips

Pumpkin Spice Sugar

• ¼ Cup coconut or cane sugar
• 1 Tablespoon Pumpkin Pie Spice

Chocolate Pumpkin Sauce

• ¼ Cup dairy-free semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 Tablespoons pumpkin puree
• Dash fine salt

Shop Ingredients on Jupiter

Instructions

 

• Preheat the oven to 350 F (177C). Spray a regular-size 6-donut pan with nonstick spray. You can also make these in a regular-size muffin pan, which will yield 8 muffins.
• Add the flour, cornstarch, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, and salt to a large bowl, and whisk well. 
• To the same bowl, add the syrup, pumpkin, yogurt, and chocolate chips. Stir the ingredients well until a smooth batter is formed. The batter will be on the thick side. Be careful not to overmix. 
• Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared pan. Using the back of a spoon, smooth and flatten out the tops of each donut. If you don't do this, they will bake up really lumpy and ugly. If you're making muffins, I find using an ice-cream scoop gives a nice rounded top.
• Bake at 350F for 15 minutes or until the donuts have risen beautifully, are fluffy, have a golden-brown top, and lightly spring back when touched. Muffins may take closer to 20 minutes. Look for a clean toothpick when it's inserted in the center. 
• Let the donuts cool in the pan for about 5 minutes and then carefully flip them over onto a cooling rack. Let them cool completely. Once cooled, store any extras in a large, sealed container or ziplock bag so they don't dry out.
• If you are making the Pumpkin Spice Sugar, simply mix both ingredients in a small bowl. You can spray the donuts with a light coat of the spray you used for the pan, or even spray water. Then sprinkle with sugar and it should stick pretty well.
• If you are making the Chocolate Pumpkin Sauce, slowly melt the chocolate chips in the microwave or on the stove. Once melted stir in the pumpkin and dash of salt and mix well. Dip the pumpkin in or coat them with the sauce.

Notes

• Be sure to use regular spelt flour, not sprouted.
• To make these gluten free, you can sub the spelt flour with superfine gluten-free oat flour (160g). Please keep in mind that the oat flour does make these more dense, but the flavor is just as good. Baking times are basically the same. Check for a clean toothpick.
• For the yogurt, I use soy but any will work. If you can't find vanilla-flavored yogurt, add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract to the recipe.
• I used a mini donut pan instead of a regular and it took 12 minutes to bake them perfectly.
• Nutrition accounts for the basic donut only.

Reprinted with permission by Oxmoor Press and Brandi Doming/The Vegan 8 © 2018.

Recipe by Veggies Don’t Bite, visit our site for more great plant-based recipes.

Nutrition

Calories: 279kcalCarbohydrates: 55gProtein: 5.3gFat: 6gSodium: 169mgFiber: 5.1gSugar: 26.8g

Nutrition and metric information should be considered an estimate.

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