Happy Halloween Donuts!
October 31, 2011
Well, this was all kinds of fun!
A batch of freshly baked pumpkin donuts, glazed and adorned with a few "tricks and treats!"
Donuts are a traditional autumn food - they're soft, sweet and SUCH a treat! My favorites are freshly baked cider donuts - they are simply a must at the farm in the fall! Dunkin Donuts always does fun holiday-themed donuts, but Earlybird - though enthralled by those ads and what he sees in the shop windows - can't have commercially prepared donuts. He asks for them, of course - he's a child after all, and they look good! - but I explain that he can't eat those particular donuts. I tell him that they're made with things that would make him feel crummy. I always have a plan though - something to take the sting out of missing out - so I suggested a homemade alternative ... delicious donuts made at home, with good things he can eat!
Now we've baked donuts before (remember these pretty things last Christmas?), but for this time of year I wanted a pumpkin spice donut. So I just googled "baked pumpkin donut" and found lots of options. The recipe I found here sounded awesome, so I decided to try it out.
One really neat trick I learned from this recipe was to pipe the donut batter into the pan using a ziploc bag (with the corner snipped off). This made it so easy!
I will also mention that I used squash puree instead of pumpkin since I had it on hand (despite what the kids think, squash really is no different from pumpkin!). Also, I did not make a maple-cinnamon glaze as the recipe suggests - though it sounded lovely, I wanted something plainer. So I just used vanilla instead of maple extract and left out the cinnamon.
After baking (for about 14 minutes - we made ours dense), I set them to cool in the front window ...
And while the donuts were cooling, I made the vanilla glaze ...
Doesn't that early morning sunshine look pretty? :)
We raided the holiday candy stash for embellishments - but I left one plain for EB. (Funnily enough, though he loves the look of the decorated donuts, he'd rather eat something less textured.)
Crackerjack helped me with the garnishing:
You can see our final designs in the top picture - notice the one in the upper left corner? That's our homage to the "frost snow on the punkin" this year! ;)
Now obviously these donuts would be a real treat even without all the candy and sprinkles, etc. That was just in the spirit of the holiday at hand. ;)
But considering the donuts are baked, and made with minimal fats, they're really not all that bad for you! In fact, I was thinking that these spiced "squash" donuts would be lovely on Thanksgiving morning ... Munching on spicy, warm donuts while watching the Macy's parade? Sounds like a plan to me!
Well my friends, I wish you all a good Monday, and a Happy Halloween as well! I hope you all have a nice day (and night). Be safe and have fun!
I'll be back again sometime soon ...
:)