Baked Pumpkin Donut Holes

Today was one of those days where I felt fat. All day. The problem with me on days like this is that I actually tend to be LESS motivated to get off my lazy butt and do something, and more inclined to eat things that are loaded with carbs and sugar. Are you with me, ladies? Anyway, Pinterest doesn't help with that. Yes, there are many random pictures of fitness motivation, lists of foods with "negative calories" and pictures of really attractive skinny people jogging. But that isn't what really draws my attention. I see yummy food and gooey cake and chewy cookies. Oh, and sparkly things, but that isn't really relevant to this post.

At any rate, today I found this recipe for Baked Pumpkin Donut holes. I knew I had some canned pumpkin leftover in the fridge that needed to be used, like, right now. So of course that must have been a sign that I needed to bake these!

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
Yield: 24+ donut holes
Serving Size: 2 donut holes (Hahahaha, yeah, right.)
Source: Pennies on a Platter

Ingredients

For the donuts:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (I used half whole-wheat flour)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoons nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoons ground cloves
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup canned plain pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1/2 cup low-fat milk

For the Coating:
1 stick of unsalted butter, melted
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease a 24-cup mini muffin tin with nonstick spray.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and cloves.





In a separate large bowl, combine the oil, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, pumpkin and milk until smooth.





Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Be careful not to overmix the batter.





Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until passes the toothpick test.



Remove the muffins from the oven and allow to cool for 2 minutes, or until just cool enough to handle. With the melted butter in one bowl and the sugar and cinnamon combined in another, dip each muffin into the butter then roll in the cinnamon sugar to coat. Serve immediately.




Enjoy this yummy fall treat! :D