Round two from our slumber party: Doughnuts and Homemade Breakfast Crunchwraps!

(Did you read Round One yet? You might wanna.)

I should do a post sometime on our favorite fast food knock-off: Taco Bell’s Crunchwraps, but for now I’ll just win over your hearts and minds with these delicious doughnuts.

Considering we didn’t go to bed until Sunday morning, this quickly turned into brunch. But more lunch than breakfast. So….blunch?

The crunchwraps take some time to prepare, assemble and make, so thank goodness I had made these killers the day before. It was like a blunch appetizer, quickly filling our stomachs with something other than cookie bars, jalapeno poppers, and Tums. That was important. It was needed.

I love anything pumpkin. I even have an entire Pinterest board dedicated to my obsession. And as soon as I had my doughnut pans, these were pretty high on my to-make list.

Fall seems like the perfect time to enjoy anything pumpkin flavored, but I could eat it any time. And I do.

The craggily top side of baked doughnuts gets me every time. It’s character!

If you want your doughnuts to look more rounded and perfect, you can follow the directions and only fill up the pan wells ¾ of the way. But I go almost to the top, because that’s how I live my life. Kidding …kinda.

There are so many pumpkin cake doughnut recipes out there, but I chose King Arthur Flour’s version. My only complaint was that the cinnamon and sugar mixture didn’t magically stay on the doughnuts, like it seemingly does in their pictures.

Mine were hit or miss. Some barely had any on them and others looked like a snowstorm had hit.

In the future, I’d brush the tops with some melted butter and dip that part in the mixture. Much like my favorite Doughnut Muffins. That way you get a little layer of sparkle and crunch on an otherwise spongy, delicate cake.

“Spongy”…that’s how Joe described these. He couldn’t be more right.

Like any cakes, I had to make a few high-altitude adjustments like using less leavening (in this case, baking powder) and upping the oven temp a bit. Works like a charm. Every time.

I’ll definitely be making these again come football season, which is like tomorrow right? They scream for scarves and boots and leaves. But I can now attest they also pair well with sleepy friends, cuddly dogs….and Tums.

Enjoy!

Baked Pumpkin Doughnuts

Adapted from King Arthur Flour

1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 ½ c. granulated sugar
1 ½ c. pumpkin purée (about 1 cans worth – NOT pumpkin pie filling!)
1 ½ tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 ½ tsp. salt
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
1 ¾ c. + 2 Tbs. all-purpose flour
about 3 Tbs. cinnamon-sugar mixture
2-3 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly grease two standard doughnut pans.

Combine the oil, eggs, sugar, pumpkin, spices, salt, and baking powder in a large bowl. Whisk until smooth and well combined. Add the flour, stirring just until smooth. Do not over mix!

Fill the wells of the doughnut pans about 3/4 full and smooth top with a knife or small spatula.

Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of one comes out clean.

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

While the doughnuts are still warm (but no longer fragile), brush melted butter over the tops and dip them into the cinnamon-sugar.

Cool completely, and store (not wrapped tight) at room temperature for several days.

(Filling the wells to near the top produced 16 doughnuts for me.)