Cinnamon Sugar Baked Pumpkin Donuts

Soft and fluffy baked pumpkin donuts tossed in crunchy cinnamon sugar are the perfect sweet way to start fall mornings.

In 2015, I shared these Pumpkin Donuts With Maple Glaze . They were one of my favorite recipes I posted that season, and I loved them so much that I wanted to revisit that pumpkin donut recipe and try something a little different.

So this time around, the donut base is still the same fabulous moist and soft pumpkiny dream of a baked donut, but instead of topping them with maple frosting, they get coated in crunchy cinnamon sugar

And friend, they’re real good.

My mom was my donut taste tester for the original maple version, and she loved those. She took one bite of these cinnamon sugar donuts and was immediately like, “ These are my favorite donuts you have ever made.”

So don’t just take my word for it, my mom thinks you should make them too. 😉

Baked Pumpkin Donut Ingredients

Baking staples: This recipe uses a handful of pantry baking staples: all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt, brown sugar, an egg, and milk. Butter: You’re going to use butter both in the donut base and to coat the donuts after baking so the cinnamon sugar sticks. I call for unsalted butter in the recipe, but if all you have is salted, it will work fine. Just cut the added salt in the recipe by half. Pumpkin puree: Not to be confused with pumpkin pie filling, pumpkin puree is just pure, pureed pumpkin. You can usually find it in the baking aisle near the premade pie fillings. This recipe won’t use a whole can, so check out my post on Leftover Pumpkin Puree for storage tips and recipe ideas for the leftovers. Pumpkin pie spices: These donuts are made with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and ground cloves to really boost that fall pumpkin flavor. If you have premixed pumpkin pie spice , you can replace the spices with 3/4 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice. Cinnamon sugar: While I normally think the perfect cinnamon sugar ratio is 1 part cinnamon to 4 parts sugar, this recipe uses much less cinnamon. This is because you’re already getting a ton of cinnamon flavor from the donuts themselves and too much cinnamon in the cinnamon sugar mixture will make the coating dark and splotchy.

How to Make Pumpkin Donuts

1. Whisk together dry ingredients in one bowl and wet ingredients in a second bowl. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Overmixing can create tough donuts, so mix just until there are no longer any streaks of flour at the bottom of your bowl and them move on.
2. Fill the donut pan using a piping bag or gallon plastic storage bag with a hole snipped off of one corner. You can fill your donut pan with a spoon, but trust me, piping the donut batter is so much faster, cleaner, and easier than trying to spoon it.
3. Bake the donuts until they’re springy. Instead of whipping out a cake tester, the super easy way to tell if these donuts are done is to press a finger gently into the top of one of the donuts, and if it springs back or almost completely springs back, it’s done.
4. Let donuts sit until cool enough to handle. You don’t need to completely cool the donuts before coating. As soon as they’re cool enough to handle you can start rolling them in butter and cinnamon sugar.

More Pumpkin Donut Toppings

If you’d like some other topping options for your pumpkin donuts, try:

• Maple Glaze
• Cream Cheese Glaze
• Streusel Coffee Cake Topping

Do I need a donut pan to make these donuts?

Yes, you’ll definitely need one if you want that classic donut shape. I’m a fan of this Wilton model . I’ve owned it for years and use it for all of my donut recipes.

But can I make these without a donut pan?

If you don’t own a donut pan, you can also make donut muffins in a regular muffin pan. This will make about 6 muffins. Bake at the temperature called for in the recipe for about 14 minutes.

Can I make these into pumpkin donut holes?

Yes! This will make about 20-ish donut holes using a mini muffin pan. Bake at the temperature called for in the recipe for 7 to 10 minutes.

How to store pumpkin donuts?

Baked donuts are best on the first day, but if you’d like to store them, keep them at room temperature laid out in a single layer in an airtight container (stacked donuts will stick and pull cinnamon sugar off each other).

More Pumpkin Recipes

• Mini Pumpkin Cake
• Small-batch Pumpkin Cookies With Cream Cheese Frosting
• Mini Pumpkin Pie
• The Best Pumpkin Pancakes
• Small-batch Pumpkin Cupcakes

Ingredients

Special Equipment

• ▢ Donut Pan or mini muffin tin

Pumpkin Donuts

• ▢ 1 cup ( 120g ) all-purpose flour
• ▢ 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon *
• ▢ 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
• ▢ 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ▢ Pinch ground cloves
• ▢ 1/4 teaspoon salt
• ▢ 1/3 cup ( 81g ) pumpkin puree
• ▢ 1/3 cup ( 66g ) brown sugar
• ▢ 1 large egg
• ▢ 1/4 cup milk any percentage
• ▢ 2 tablespoons ( 1oz ) unsalted butter melted and cooled

Cinnamon Sugar Topping

• ▢ 1/4 cup ( 2oz ) unsalted butter
• ▢ 1/2 cup ( 100g ) granulated sugar
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions

• Preheat your oven to 350°F and lightly grease your donut pan (or muffin tin).
• In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and salt.
• In a medium bowl, combine pumpkin puree, brown sugar, egg, milk, and melted butter. Whisk together until smooth. Add flour mixture and stir until just combined.
• Place a large disposable plastic bag over a cup and transfer batter to the bag. Snip off one of the corners and “pipe” the batter into your prepared donut pan, filling about 3/4 of the way full. This will make exactly 6 donuts.
• Bake for 9 to 11 minutes, until the donut tops spring back when lightly pressed with your finger. When pan is cool enough to handle, turn donuts out on a cooling rack.

To Coat

• Add melted butter to a small bowl large enough for dipping. In a second bowl of the same size, stir together sugar and cinnamon. Dip a donut first in the butter, letting any excess drip off and then dip in the cinnamon sugar, tossing to coat.
• Repeat with remaining donuts and enjoy!

Notes

Donuts Adapted From Live Well Bake Often

Quick and easy Chicken in White Wine Lemon Butter Sauce is a restaurant-quality meal you can have on your table in 20 minutes.

After I posted my Chicken Francaise recipe , I got a little addicted to the buttery, lemony chicken pasta, but I wanted a quicker, easier version for weeknights. So this Chicken in White Wine Lemon Butter Sauce was born.

This recipe takes next to zero prep time, cooks from start to finish in just 20 minutes, and is a perfect midweek meal when you’re craving some comfort food but don’t feel like putting a ton of effort into cooking.

Chicken in White Wine Lemon Butter Sauce Ingredients

• Small chicken breasts: I call for small, 6-to-8-ounce chicken breasts for this recipe so that you can fit them all in your pan at once and so that they cook quickly while your pan sauce simmers. If you want to use larger chicken breasts here, use just two and cut them in half horizontally (place one hand on top of each chicken breast and slice the top and bottom into two even pieces).
• Butter and garlic: Garlic browned in butter until golden gives the sauce a delicious buttery, garlic-y flavor base.
• Low-sodium chicken broth: Regular chicken broth will work okay, but if you have it, go with low-sodium since the chicken broth will be reduced down in the pan sauce and full-sodium broth can make things a little too salty. Feel free to use Homemade Chicken Stock if you have it.
• Dry white wine: Use your favorite dry white wine (or whatever you have on hand) here. Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Grigio are great options.
• Fresh lemon juice: I call for 2 to 4 tablespoons of lemon juice in the recipe (the juice from about 1 to 1 1/2 lemons). 4 tablespoons gives you a very intense lemon flavor and 2 a more mild brightness. If making for kids, I’d go with 2 tablespoons the first time and see how it goes.
• Pasta: Egg noodles are my preferred pasta for this dish, but almost any pasta shape will work. Fettuccine and farfalle would be particularly good alternative options.

How to Make Chicken in White Wine Lemon Butter Sauce (Tips and Tricks)

1. Brown the chicken well. Browning the chicken in a little oil at the start of the recipe adds a ton of flavor to the chicken breasts and creates a delicious fond in the pan that will help flavor the pan sauce.
2. Cool the pan slightly before cooking the butter and garlic. Once your chicken is browned, transfer it to a plate and give the pan just a minute to cool down before you add the butter and garlic. If your pan is too hot, the butter and garlic can burn. After the pan is cooled, you can melt the butter and toast the garlic until it is golden and smells delicious.
3. Immediately add liquid ingredients once the garlic is golden . Garlic can go from golden to burned quite quickly. Have your liquid ingredients ready to add to the pan as soon as the garlic is ready to go.
4. Return chicken to the pan and simmer until chicken is cooked through and pan sauce reduced. Then give the chicken a quick rest before slicing and serving over pasta with pan sauce drizzled over the top.

Recipe Variations

To make White Wine Lemon Butter Sauce on its own to serve over fish, seafood, or rotisserie chicken: Just skip browning the chicken and follow the rest of the recipe as written. Simmer until the sauce is reduced by about half and then spoon over whatever you desire.

For Creamy Lemon Butter Sauce: Add 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of whipping cream to the sauce after you’ve removed the cooked chicken breasts for slicing. If needed, gently heat the sauce over medium heat until re-warmed. Be sure to adjust the salt and pepper as needed.

Make it a Meal

Serve the Chicken in White Wine Lemon Butter Sauce with a loaf of crusty bread or rolls and simple sides like Roasted Broccoli , Roasted Zucchini or Roasted Green Beans . Maybe make a Small Batch of Chocolate Chip Cookies for dessert. 😉

More Easy Chicken Recipes

• Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup
• Pesto Chicken Pasta
• Salsa Chicken
• Easy Chicken Parm Soup

Equipment

• Instant-read thermometer

Ingredients

• ▢ 8 ounces egg noodles or pasta of choice
• ▢ 4 small boneless, skinless chicken breasts *
• ▢ Salt and pepper
• ▢ Cooking spray or olive oil
• ▢ 1/4 cup ( 57g ) butter salted or unsalted is fine
• ▢ 2 large garlic cloves pressed or minced
• ▢ 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• ▢ 1 cup dry white wine *
• ▢ 2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice *
• ▢ Minced parsley optional for garnish

Instructions

Pasta

• Bring a medium pot of generously salted water to a boil and cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain and set aside.

Chicken and Pan Sauce

• While your pasta water boils, generously salt and pepper both sides of your chicken breasts.
• Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and lightly grease with cooking spray or a drizzle of olive oil.
• Add chicken breasts to the pan and cook until the first side is well-browned, 2 to 3 minutes. Flip and repeat with the second side. Remove skillet from heat and transfer chicken to a plate.
• Give the skillet a minute to cool down slightly and then return it to the burner and heat over medium heat. Add butter and once butter has melted, add garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, until garlic is golden and aromatic, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Be careful not to allow the garlic to burn.
• Immediately stir in chicken broth, white wine, and lemon juice and bring to a low simmer. Return chicken breasts to the pan and simmer, flipping once, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of the chicken breasts reads 165°F, about 3 to 5 minutes per side.
• Transfer chicken breasts to a cutting board and allow them to rest for 5 minutes before slicing into strips.
• Add salt and pepper to the pan sauce to taste. Serve sliced chicken breasts over cooked pasta and spoon pan sauce over the top.
• Garnish with chopped parsley if desired and enjoy!

Notes

This small-batch Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting is silky smooth, deeply chocolatey, and incredibly decadent. It’s pretty much the best thing you’ll ever spread onto a cupcake.

I have another small-batch frosting recipe for you today, and this one is one of my favorites. This Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting is SO creamy and SO spectacularly good, good luck not just sitting there and eating it with a spoon (that’s what I like to do 😉).

And the best part is that it’s just as easy to make as a classic American chocolate buttercream but with the added smoothness and tang of cream cheese.

Recipe Yield

This recipe will make about 1 cup of frosting depending on how much air you whip into it. It will frost (about):

• 4 to 6 cupcakes with a piping bag
• 8 cookies
• 1 single-layer 6-inch or 7×5-inch cake or brownies (top and sides)
• 1 8-inch cake (thin layer over top only)

*If you want to use this frosting to frost a 6-inch 2-layer cake, double the recipe.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients

• Cream cheese: You’ll want to use full-fat cream cheese here for the best results. Philadelphia cream cheese is my go-to cream cheese for desserts.
• Butter: I call for salted butter here since it’s what most people have on hand, but if you have unsalted, you can use that and just add a generous pinch of salt.
• Vanilla extract: Even though this is a chocolate frosting, a little vanilla extract helps add depth to the chocolate flavor.
• Powdered sugar: Powdered sugar adds sweetness AND structure to this frosting. If you’re someone who likes to cut the sugar in recipes, don’t try and cut too much sugar from this frosting or it will be too runny.
• Unsweetened cocoa powder: Even though we’re using just 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder, it gives the frosting a deep and dreamy chocolate flavor.
• Milk: If you need a thinner, smoother frosting, you can add just a bit of milk after everything has been mixed.

How to Make the Best Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting (Tips & Tricks)

1. Start with softened (but not warm and greasy) cream cheese and butter. Starting with fats that are the correct temperature (about 65°-70°) is essential to this frosting recipe. Too cold and you’re going to end up with little lumps of cream cheese and butter in your frosting. Too warm and the frosting will be greasy. You want your cream cheese to be easily spreadable and you should be able to press an indentation into the butter with your finger while the butter around it holds its shape.
2. Beat the cream cheese and butter together until there are no individual streaks or lumps of either remaining. If the cream cheese and butter aren’t mixing together nicely, they’re too cold. Let them sit at room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes more and then try again. If you mix the rest of the ingredients in while the fats still have lumps, you’ll have lumps in your final frosting that you won’t be able to get rid of.
3. Beat in vanilla and then your sifted powdered sugar and cocoa powder. You can mix this frosting by hand, but it’s a lot of work. I recommend a handheld electric mixer. Be sure to start on low and work your way up to medium-high so you don’t end up with a cloud of sugar and cocoa powder when you start.
4. Adjust for desired texture. Once your frosting is smooth and creamy and looks like frosting, you can adjust the texture depending on what you need. For a stiffer frosting, add a bit more powdered sugar. For a thinner more spreadable frosting, add just a bit of milk, 1/2 teaspoon at a time.

A note on sifting: Both powdered sugar and cocoa powder tend to be lumpy ingredients. Sifting removes all those lumps and ensures that you end up with a completely silky smooth, lump-free frosting.

If you have a large flexible plastic cutting board ( like these ), using one can speed up your sifting time and create less mess. Sift your powdered sugar and cocoa powder over the larger cutting board surface and then pick up the cutting board and funnel the sugar/cocoa powder into your bowl.

When using this frosting to frost a 2-layer 6-inch cake, double the recipe.

Where to Use This Frosting

Chocolate cream cheese frosting is delicious on almost anything, but here are a few recipes to get you started:

• Small-batch Vanilla Cupcakes
• Small-batch Chocolate Cupcakes
• Frosted Sugar Cookies
• Small-batch Brownies
• Small Banana Layer Cake (double the frosting recipe)

Does cream cheese frosting need to be refrigerated?

Yes. Cream cheese frostings and desserts topped with them should be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container.

Can you freeze chocolate frosting?

Yes! American buttercreams like this freeze really well. Store your frosting in a freezer bag and it will keep for up to 2 months in the freezer. Allow to come to room temperature on the counter before using.

Can you make this frosting in advance and store it in the refrigerator?

Yes. You can store this frosting covered in the refrigerator for about 48 hours, but the frosting is extremely firm cold, so you’ll need to let it come to room temperature on the counter before using.

More Small-batch Frosting Recipes

• Van illa Frosting
• Chocolate Frosting
• Cream Cheese Frosting
• Cookie Dough Frosting
• Strawberry Frosting
• Oreo Frosting

To double or triple the frosting recipe, hover over the serving size or click if you’re on mobile, and slide the slider.

Equipment

• Handheld electric mixer

Ingredients

• ▢ 2 ounces cream cheese softened
• ▢ 4 tablespoons (57g) salted butter softened
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢ 1 1/4 cups ( 150g ) powdered sugar sifted
• ▢ 2 tablespoons ( 10g ) unsweetened cocoa powder sifted
• ▢ 2 teaspoons milk as needed

Instructions

• In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese and butter. Using a handheld electric mixer, beat until well-combined and there are no individual streaks of cream cheese or butter remaining.
• Add vanilla and mix well.
• Add sifted powdered sugar and cocoa powder and beat, starting on low, working up to medium-high, until frosting is smooth and creamy.
• If necessary, add a little milk by the half teaspoon until frosting reaches your desired consistency.

Notes

Cinnamon Sugar Baked Pumpkin Donuts

Ingredients

Special Equipment

• Donut Pan or mini muffin tin

Pumpkin Donuts

• 1 cup ( 120g ) all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon *
• 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• Pinch ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup ( 81g ) pumpkin puree
• 1/3 cup ( 66g ) brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup milk any percentage
• 2 tablespoons ( 1oz ) unsalted butter melted and cooled

Cinnamon Sugar Topping

• 1/4 cup ( 2oz ) unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup ( 100g ) granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions

• Preheat your oven to 350°F and lightly grease your donut pan (or muffin tin).
• In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and salt.
• In a medium bowl, combine pumpkin puree, brown sugar, egg, milk, and melted butter. Whisk together until smooth. Add flour mixture and stir until just combined.
• Place a large disposable plastic bag over a cup and transfer batter to the bag. Snip off one of the corners and “pipe” the batter into your prepared donut pan, filling about 3/4 of the way full. This will make exactly 6 donuts.
• Bake for 9 to 11 minutes, until the donut tops spring back when lightly pressed with your finger. When pan is cool enough to handle, turn donuts out on a cooling rack.

To Coat

• Add melted butter to a small bowl large enough for dipping. In a second bowl of the same size, stir together sugar and cinnamon. Dip a donut first in the butter, letting any excess drip off and then dip in the cinnamon sugar, tossing to coat.
• Repeat with remaining donuts and enjoy!

Notes

Nutrition