Weekly Recipe: Pumpkin Spice Donuts

How is it already Monday?  Our first weekend since school started absolutely flew by!  Colin enjoyed getting to sleep in a little both morning, but would have gladly slept longer if not for his loud brother.  Being woken before you're really ready to get up is never a good thing.  Unfortunately, all of our moods were affected because of it.  Such is the life with a I'll-make-up-my-own-schedule toddler! Had I been in the right frame of mind, these pumpkin donuts I made a month or so ago, sure would have tasted great hot from the oven this fall-ish weekend!  Instead, we settled on pancakes but I still dream about these donuts (:  They are soft and tender, they have just the right amount of pumpkin (or sweet potato in my case) flavor, and the buttery cinnamon sugar topping gives them that extra decadence and a little crunch.  Seriously addictive and loved by even non-pumpkin fans (Wes!).   I did make a few minor adjustments to the recipe but not enough to call it my own.  I did indicate my attempt at a few healthy(er) changes in red.

Pumpkin Spice Donuts from:  Jam Hands 1¾ cups flour
1½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (I used 1 tsp cinnamon and 1/2 tsp nutmeg)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
⅓ cup vegetable oil (I used canola)
½ cup brown sugar (I used slightly less)
1 egg
1½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup pumpkin (canned) (I used sweet potato.)
½ cup milk

For Topping:
½ cup melted butter (I used 1/4 cup)
⅔ cup sugar (I used about 1/3 cup)
3 tablespoons cinnamon (I used about 1 T.)
1. In a small bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, salt, pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon.  Set aside.

2. In a large mixing bowl, with an electric mixer at medium-high speed, mix together oil, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, pumpkin and milk until combined.

3. Pour dry ingredients into liquid ingredients and mix on low speed until moistened.  Do not over mix.  Fill each donut reservoir with about 2 tablespoons of batter.

4. Bake about 4 to 5 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into donut comes out clean.

5. Melt butter in a small bowl and combine the sugar and cinnamon in a paper bag.  While donuts are still hot, dip each one in melted butter, then shake in the cinnamon-sugar mixture to add topping.