Pumpkin Cake Donuts

TWO spontaneous recipes this weekend!  One was the pumpkin no-bakes, and this was the other one.  Another faithful blog reader posted this recipe on my wall after she said the was making them and I said they sounded good.  This is such a yummy time of year with all these pumpkin recipes.  Says me, and only me, at my house.  But I figured that even if nobody liked them, I could share them.  So I brought some to church last night for my friend Autumn.  We both like the Baked Apple Donuts recipe that is on here, and I did something similar at the end with these pumpkin donuts.  Also I don't have a donut pan, so I made these in muffin tins, then rolled them in butter and cinnamon sugar.  Yum.  This is a King Arthur Flour recipe.

Pumpkin Cake Donuts
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice, or 3/4 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 tsp each nutmeg and ginger (I used 1 3/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice because my friend that gave me the recipe, as well as several commenters on the King Arthur website, said the donuts seemed like they needed more spice)
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp all purpose flour (of course they suggest King Arthur)
Coating:
3 tbsp cinnamon-sugar
(I use 1 stick of butter melted, in one bowl, and 1 cup of sugar + 2 tsp cinnamon in another)

1) Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease two standard donut pans. If you don't have doughnut pans, you can bake these in a standard muffin tin; they just won't be doughnuts (yes they will, they'll just be a different shape).

2) Beat together the oil, eggs, sugar, pumpkin, spices, salt, and baking powder until smooth.

3) Add the flour, stirring just until smooth.

4) Fill the wells of the doughnut pans about 3/4 full; use a scant 1/4 cup of batter in each well. If you're making muffins, fill each well about 3/4 full; the recipe makes about 15 (mine made 18), so you'll need to bake in two batches (unless you have two muffin pans)(which I do).

6) Bake the doughnuts for 15 to 18 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of one comes out clean. If you're making muffins, they'll need to bake for 23 to 25 minutes.

7) Remove the doughnuts from the oven, and after about 5 minutes, loosen their edges, and transfer them to a rack to cool.

8) While the doughnuts are still warm (but no longer fragile), gently shake them in a bag with the cinnamon-sugar. If you've made muffins, sprinkle their tops heavily with cinnamon-sugar.  (here is where I roll them in melted butter and then the cinnamon sugar)

9) Cool completely, and wrap airtight; store at room temperature for several days.

Of course these were great.  They smelled great too.  They were much easier to make than baked apple donuts, which require you to peel and grate apples.  The kids and the hubs liked these, although they will not replace the apple ones in their hearts.  Nathan took one bite and said "why did you have to put pumpkin in them??"  Poor kid.  He just licked all the cinnamon sugar from his and threw away the rest, practically intact but for the one small bite missing.  I hope Autumn liked them, too, although she hasn't let me know.  I gave two to our tenant and she texted me this morning and said she really liked them, and was I aware that pumpkins are actually vegetables?  Ha.  I told her I try not to think about that.  It is quite inconsistent with my normal pattern.  Keeping this recipe for sure.