These bite-size baked pumpkin donut holes are light and fluffy and coated in cinnamon sugar! They’re the perfect fall snack or quick dessert.
Because it’s fall and that means it’s time for everything — and we do mean, everything — pumpkin spice flavored, we made baked pumpkin donut holes… without a donut pan for Cake Over Steak’s Virtual Pumpkin Party.
These soft and light donut holes are packed with flavor. And since they’re baked not fried, they’re great if you’re looking for a slightly healthier fall snack (emphasis on the slight as you know, cinnamon sugar).
To make them, combine all of the ingredients in a bowl, and then drop about a tablespoon of batter into your mini muffin pan and bake for about 10 minutes. (If you don’t have a mini muffin pan but you do have a cake pop maker, that’ll work!)
Once the donuts come out of the oven, you’ll want to let them cool until they’re easy to handle but still warm. Coat them in melted butter, then dunk them in the cinnamon sugar mixture. You might notice that the donuts look kinda weird shaped when they come out of the oven. That’s ok! They’ll look rounder after you coat them in sugar.
The baked donut holes aren’t super sweet on their own, so if you don’t like things sweet, go easy on the sugar. They are however, pretty flavorful. If you want them to have more pumpkin flavor, add another half teaspoon of pumpkin spice.
The donuts are best eaten on the same day they’re made. If you need to bake them ahead of time, just wait to dunk them in butter and cinnamon sugar until you are close to serving them.
Pumpkin Donut Holes
Print Recipe
Ingredients
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1½ tsp. baking powder
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
- 1 large egg
- ¾ cup pumpkin puree
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- ½ cup whole milk
- 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter (melted)
Cinnamon Sugar
- ½ cup unsalted butter (melted)
- 1½ tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1½ cup sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375° F. Grease mini muffin tin. Set aside.
- Whisk flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin pie spice together in medium bowl. Set aside.
- Beat egg in medium bowl. Add milk, pumpkin puree, and vanilla extract. Whisk until fully combined.
- Add egg mixture to flour mixture and stir until fully combined. Add melted butter. Stir until combined.
- Transfer 1 tablespoon of batter to each muffin tin cavity.
- Bake for 10 minutes or until donut holes bounce back slightly when pressed. Remove from oven and let cool on cooling rack.
Cinnamon Sugar
- Combine cinnamon and sugar in small bowl. Set aside.
- Melt butter in small bowl. Set aside.
- Once donut holes have cooled and are ready to be enjoyed, dip each in melted butter. Shake off excess. Roll in cinnamon sugar.
My background is in publishing (I've worked at Parade, Men's Journal, Us Weekly, Stuff, Blender, Beachbody, and more), mostly with a focus in health, fitness, and entertainment. I've also run my own baking company and competed on Cupcake Wars, so hit me up with your baking questions!
For more details, check out my full bio or follow me on Instagram, Twitter, or LinkedIn.
- Is Starbucks Open On Thanksgiving? Here Are Their Hours for Turkey Day 2023 - November 9, 2023
- Dunkin’s Holiday Menu for 2023 Is Here and Includes Loaded Hash Browns and Cookie Butter Cold Brew - October 6, 2023
- If You Can’t Find the Starbucks Green Slime Tumbler, These Etsy Ones Are the Next Best Thing - September 12, 2023
Happy Pumpkin Day! I’m pretty sure I could down a whole plate of these 🙂
I LOVE that these are baked instead of fried. My mouth is watering just looking at that cinnamon sugar coating!
Dang these look good! I’m so making these and “pairing” them with a cup of hot coffee. Love that they’re not fried.
Thank you! I bet they’d be so good with coffee! Or chocolate!
I seriously laughed out loud at your comment about haters getting peach cobbler. Seriously the funniest thing I’ve read in awhile!
Haha yay! Thank you!
Happy VPP! Thanks for this genius idea for baked donut holes in a pan I already own 🙂 xo
So glad you like it! Let me know what you think!
I love everything pumpkin related this time of year. These donut holes look amazing!
I definitely like that these are baked rather than fried and they look great too!
I wish I could grab those right off the screen. I am totally loving these donuts.
I love that you made these little donut holes in a mini cupcake pan. So much easier than fried. Such a fun recipe for fall!
Since they’re baked and not fried, I can eat more than usual right 😉
These are so cute! And I love that they’re baked, which makes things so much easier. Thanks so much for participating! xoxo
Thank you for hosting! They were really fun to make 🙂 xoxo
Is there another way of you don’t have a mini cupcake tin?
Good question, Stacy! You should be able to make them in a regular muffin/cupcake tin too, though they might not look quite as round.
I thought the donut holes were good but a little too sweet dipped in cinnamon sugar. Next time I’m gonna dip them in icing made of powdered sugar and milk.
I just made a batch and they are very easy to make but they do not have enough pumpkin flavor. I followed the recipe. Any suggestions? I used pure pumpkin.
I had planned to make multiple batches and pass them out to neighbors in the spirit Turkey Day.
Hi Kay! If you want to increase the pumpkin flavor, increase the pumpkin spice. Strange as it sounds, adding more pumpkin won’t increase the “pumpkin spice” flavor.
I’d go up to 1 and 1/2 teaspoons and taste the batter. If it tastes pumpkin-y enough, bake. If not, add another 1/2 tsp. (2 total teaspoons. of pumpkin spice.) If that’s still not enough, go up enough 1/2 tsp…. but that feels like it would be too much. Hope that helps.
Thank you, Rebecca. I will try that and I think that would make a difference for sure. 🙂
These look great! Just wondering if the milk can be substituted for non-dairy milk? Thanks.
Hi Renee – Thank you very much! we haven’t tried making the pumpkin donuts with non-dairy milk, so we can’t say how it would affect the flavor or the texture.
If making these to give out later, should they still be dipped in butter?
You can. The butter sticks better when they are warm, but it will absorb some of the cinnamon sugar.
Easy to make but definitely needs more pumpkin flavor. I will inccrease pumpkin spice next time. How long can you store them in a tightly sealed container?
Thanks