Pumpkin Spice Donuts
Fall wouldn’t be complete without pumpkin spice somewhere now would it!? These literal pillows from heaven are tossed in pumpkin spiced sugar and filled with a creamy and dreamy pumpkin filling. My pumpkin spice donuts are sure to hit your classic fall pumpkin cravings and a unique dessert to serve at Thanksgiving.
About This Pumpkin Spice Donuts Recipe
Why have a regular donut when you can have a filled donut! If you’re new here, I love a good dessert filling, and these pumpkin spice donuts are filled with all of your fall hopes and dreams. I personally believe that anything labeled pumpkin spice must have both pumpkin and spice so they are filled with both. These donuts are probably the fluffiest donuts I have ever had in my entire life, but use an overnight preferment which helps create the fluffiness and enhances the flavor.
The Origin of Donuts
Fried dough in some version or another has always been around, but where it come from and why is there a hole in the middle? While many fried dough things existed, grandfather donut was born in Manhattan with a Dutch name of “oil cakes.” Later on in the 19th century, a New England ship captain’s mother started making fried dough for her son’s voyages since they kept longer. She would use spices, zests, and nuts in the dough’s center since it did not cook as well as the outside. She called them doughnuts in a very literal way. The son, then thought of a better idea to have the doughnuts cook better in the middle: remove the middle all together.
Although there is some debate as to the captain’s rationale for removing the center, the fried ring of heaven was born here. Donuts did not become wildly popular until WWI when homesick soldiers were fed doughnuts to help remind them of home. When they came back from the war, they craved those delicious rings of heaven and wanted more doughnuts causing the popularity to increase and cause the first doughnut machine to be made in Manhattan in 1920! Read all about the fascinating history here!
Pumpkin Spice Donuts Ingredients
- Pumpkin puree: Canned pumpkin is perfectly fine. You can also make your own pumpkin puree by roasting and pureeing pumpkin.
- Pumpkin pie spice: Supermarkets have made it easy by combining all the needed spices together. However, you can make your own by mixing together 4 parts cinnamon, 1 part allspice, 1 part cloves, 2 parts nutmeg and 2 parts ginger.
- Frying oil: Instead of baking, these donuts are fried in oil. Canola oil, grapeseed oil, or avodaco oil work well for frying. You’ll need a thermometer to make sure it doesn’t get above 375*F.
- Egg yolks: Pastry cream uses up a lot of egg yolks leaving behind plenty of egg whites. Check out these recipes so those whites won’t go to waste.
Major Allergens Present: Gluten, dairy, eggs
Equipment Needed
- Hand or stand mixer: Needed for the donut dough and whipped cream for the filling. For the dough, you will need the hook attachment for both the hand and stand mixer. For the whipped cream, you will need the beaters for a hand mixer and whip attachment for the stand mixer.
- Frying pan: You will want a wide, shallow pot or a pan with right angle corners. If you have a fryer, then use that.
- Ring cutters: Really anything that can cut circles in dough. You can buy online or in a specialty cooking store.
- Thermometer: Used to temp the fry oil. The temperature range should be between 350-375*F.
- Piping bag and straight tip: Used to fill the donuts with. Alternatively, you can use a ziplock bag.
How to Make Pumpkin Spice Donuts:
What Are Pumpkin Spice Donuts Made Out Of?
These pumpkin spice donuts are fried and not baked so they’re made with a sweetened and enriched bread dough. They also come with a pumpkin custard filling made with pastry cream, pumpkin puree, baking spices, and whipped cream. Finally, they’re dredged in pumpkin spice sugar and pair really well with a cup of coffee. This challenging recipe entails an overnight preferment, waiting for bread to proof and pastry cream to cool, and dealing with hot oil!
Make the Pumpkin Custard Filling
Pastry cream is a fundamental product, and I use it in several recipes. Boil the milk with the vanilla bean and pod, temper the egg mixture, bring everything together to a boil, whisk in the butter, cool. Tempering in baking is bringing two liquids you plan to combine to a similar temperature before mixing all together. The cornstarch, primary, and the yolks, secondary, are the thickening agents here. When boiling it all together, whisk constantly to prevent the bottom from burning, and let it boil for 1-2 minutes to cook out the cornstarch taste and texture.
After you’ve made the pastry cream, have it chill in a bowl in the fridge. Place some plastic wrap directly on top of the pastry cream to prevent any skins from forming. Once the pastry cream has chilled you simply whisk in the pumpkin, then whip up the heavy cream and fold into the pastry cream. This part should be done just prior to filling. Before folding everything together, massage the pastry cream a bit with your spatula to make it easier.
Make the Donut Dough
This fried pumpkin spice donut recipe uses a preferment (also known as a starter) which you make the night before. A preferment is like making a small portion of the dough ahead of time to allow it to age. This aging gives a better flavor, strength to the flours, and a jumpstart to the proofing process. Once it sits overnight, you add it to the dough as a regular ingredient.
This dough is a sweetened and enriched dough which means it contains both fat (milk, eggs, & butter) and sweetener (granulated sugar). However, what’s really important here warming the milk for the yeast, since active dry yeast needs to be activated with warmth to work. Also, it can’t be too hot or else you will kill the yeast which occurs at 120*F. Use a mixer to make kneading the dough much easier than hand kneading, and mix until it passes the windowpane test. The windowpane test demonstrates the gluten development in dough (explained more below). Cover, and allow to proof until tripled.
Why we knead bread:
Flour is composed of starch and protein, and the proteins are called glutenin and gliadin which are long and tangled. Together, glutenin and gliadin form gluten. Kneading rubs these “subproteins” together to stretch them out, line them up, and cross-link themselves to create a net that helps retain gasses during the proofing stage. Kneading also incorporates oxygen in the dough which helps yeast breath and produce carbon dioxide. The windowpane test proves if you have developed enough gluten strands for proper structure to help retain those gasses for the final rise.
Test for the windowpane by taking a small portion of dough and roll into a ball. Stretch it out gently starting in the middle. Stretch it into a square and until the center is a thin film. If your dough easily stretches thinly without tearing, then the dough is strong enough and enough gas can be retained in the network of gluten strands. If it rips easily, then you need to develop more gluten strands by more kneading/mixing. You should also see the network of gluten strands. It’s called the windowpane test because light should be able to pass through like through a window.
why we proof bread dough:
Proofing dough leads to light and fluffy bread instead of a dense brick. After all that work of mixing and providing a GREAT net of gluten strands, the dough needs a break. During that break the yeast activates, eats the carbohydrates, and releases carbon dioxide which leads to rising. That net you just weaved kneading is now doing its job. The amount of time it takes to proof will depend on your environment. The warmer it is, the faster it will proof; the colder, the longer. See my tips for speeding up proofing times if your environment is not ideal. Allow this dough to proof until tripled in size.
Roll, Cut, and Fry the Donuts
Using a well floured surface, roll the dough to half an inch thick. Since dough is elastic, you’ll want to run your arm under the dough to encourage it to contract and continue rolling until it’s the right thickness and no longer contracting. Punch out with your three-inch cutter and transfer to a pan covered with plastic wrap. You can knead the scraps and reroll if you’d like, however, the more you work the dough, the tougher it gets and the more warped the rounds will be. Once done, allow to rest covered for 30-60 minutes (warmer = 30 and cooler = 60). In the meantime, warm up your oil.
Your oil should be between 350*F and 375*F. Anything lower and they will not brown. Anything higher and the outside will burn before the inside cooks. Make sure to ready your station prior to frying with a cooling rack on top of some paper towels and a pair of tongs. Carefully drop them in, and flip once a golden brown; about 3 minutes per side. Remove with the tongs and toss in your spiced sugar. Set aside until ready to fill.
Fill the Pumpkin Spice Donuts
Start with poking a hole in the side of these pumpkin spice donuts. Next, fill your pastry bag (or ziplock bag) two-thirds full with filling. If you fill it too much, the cream may fall out right out of the back! When filling, insert the bag as far as it can go. Squeeze while slowly removing the piping bag. You will feel it get heavier and will also feel it expand. Look out for areas where it may be splitting from too much filling.
These pumpkin spice donuts are best the day of. By the next day they will harden and become denser. They still taste great but the texture is not as good anymore. I will usually flash in the microwave for about 10-15 seconds since these do need to be refrigerated from the cream filling. Enjoy with a cup of coffee.
Getting hung up or lost on all the baking terminology? Study up here.
Help Making Pumpkin Spice Donuts
How to Fry Donuts
- The key to frying donut is to have your station set up and ready to go with a pan or pot for frying close to your donuts (I use a fry pan with right angle edges) with 2 inches of oil, metal tongs, and a cooling rack over some paper towels.
- Heat the oil to 350-375*F. When your oil is heating keep an eye on the temperature using a thermometer. Once you add your donuts the oil’s temperature will reduce so keep the heat at medium.
- Flip your donuts using the metal tongs when they turn a golden brown on one side, then remove once golden brown on the other.
- You can check for doneness without ripping one open or by using a thermometer. It should be at least 190*F. If it’s warmer because you needed more time for color that’s fine.
- Make sure your oil temperature gets back up to 350-375*F. If it goes too high you can some more oil to the pan to bring it back down or turn off the heat, and wait for it reduce.
- If your donuts get too brown and crispy too fast it means your oil is too hot!
How to Use a Piping Bag
- Insert the piping tip and cut a hole accordingly. Push some of the bag into the tip to prevent any leakage.
- Fold the the top quarter to third of the bag over and hold the bag there. Spatula the whipped cream into the bag, and wipe the spatula off with your hands through the bag.
- Fold the top back over and hold the top of the bag with your non-dominant hand. With large piping bags I will actually twist the end and put under my arm pit for safe keeping.
- Squeeze the center of the bag and twist, as this your pressure point and your control point of the bag. The further from the tip, the more strenuous and less control you have over the bag.
- Use the meat your hand to then squeeze out the contents, then release to stop.
Enhancing This Pumpkin Spice Donuts Recipe:
- Mix two packets of instant coffee in the milk of the pastry cream to make a pumpkin spice latte donut!
- Melt some chocolate and mix into the pastry for a little chocolate component.
- Try something completely different by substituting the pumpkin puree for pureed butternut squash!
How to Store and Freeze Pumpkin Spice Donuts:
- Eat same day to have best taste and texture.
- Store covered in the fridge for up to 5 days.
- Do not freeze any part of this.
- Pastry cream with pumpkin can be made 1-2 days in advanced and kept in the fridge. Any earlier, and the pastry cream may spoil while inside the donut. Make sure to fold in the whipped cream day of.
Troubleshooting:
- My dough isn’t rising! You have a yeast problem, it’s too cold, or you did not knead enough. For now, trying creating a makeshift proofbox in your oven by filling a pan with boiling water and placing in the oven with your donut dough. If that isn’t working then it has something to do with either the kneading or the yeast. If you passed the windowpane test then it’s your yeast and you need to start over with fresh yeast. Make sure you activate the yeast in warm milk but not too wam milk where you would kill it (120*F).
- My donut are shrinking and warping when I punch them! This is completely normal. To help reduce shrinkage, run your arm under the dough and allow it to contract. Let it rest for about 60 seconds, then punch. If it’s still contracting a lot, let the dough rest for 30 – 60 minutes, then roll out.
- My donuts are crisp on the outside but raw on the inside! Your oil is too hot. You can’t fix your current batch, but you can save the next one by either adding more oil to cool it down or turning off the heat. The oil should be between 350*F-375*F.
Something else going wrong? Reach out and we will troubleshoot together!
Pumpkin Spice Donuts
Equipment
- Stand mixer
- Thermometer
- Piping bag & straight tip
- Ring cutter- 3"
Ingredients
Overnight preferment
- 114 g All purpose flour
- ½ tsp Active dry yeast
- 100 g Water
Pumpkin spice cream filling
- 160 g Whole milk
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
- ½ Tbs Pumpkin pie spice
- 60 g Granulated sugar
- 1 Tbs Cornstarch
- 40 g Whole milk
- 3 ea Egg yolks
- ½ Tbs Butter, unsalted
- 120 g Pumpkin puree
- 120 g Heavy cream
Donut dough
- ½ Tbs Active dry yeast
- 142 g Whole milk warmed
- 315 g All purpose flour
- 1½ Tbs Granulated sugar
- ¼ tsp Kosher salt
- ½ stick Butter, unsalted softened
- 1 ea Egg yolks
- ½ tsp Vanilla extract
- 4 Cups Frying oil Use canola, grapeseed, or avocado oil for frying. May need more depending on pan size
Donut coating
- 1 Tbs Pumpkin pie spice
- 1 cup Granulated sugar whisk with the pumpkin spice above and set aside
Instructions
To prepare the preferment:
- Mix all three ingredients of the overnight sponge together until a dough forms. Cover and sit overnight.
To prepare the pumpkin cream and fill:
- In a small pot, combine the first measurement of whole milk, vanilla extract, pumpkin pie spice, and half the sugar. In a separate bowl whisk together the cornstarch with the other half of the sugar first then whisk in the second measurement of milk with the egg yolks.
- Bring the spiced milk to a boil. Whisk a small portion into the cornstarch egg mixture and pour it all back into the pot.
- Cook on medium high heat whisking constantly until it starts to thicken and boils.
- Remove from heat immediately and whisk in the butter. Pour into a heat safe bowl. Cover the top with plastic wrap and allow to cool in the fridge until cold.
- Once the pastry cream is cold, and you're ready to fill the donuts, whip the heavy cream to stiff peaks.
- Mix the pastry cream until smooth and whisk in the pumpkin puree then fold in the whipped cream.
To prepare the donut dough and fry:
- Lightly warm the milk then whisk together with the active dry yeast in the bowl of your mixer. Make sure the milk is no hotter than 120℉ before adding the yeast.
- Add in the rest of your ingredients to the mixer bowl except the second measurement of sugar. With the paddle of your stand mixer or dough attachment for your hand mixer, mix on low speed until a dough comes together and it scrapes the sides of the bowl.
- If using a stand mixer, switch to the dough hook and increase speed (for both hand and stand mixer) to medium low. Mix until you pass the windowpane test.
- Cover and allow to proof until tripled in size.
- Roll out the dough to half an inch thick and use a 3" ring cutter to cut. Place the rounds on a lightly sprayed sheet pan. Knead together any scraps, reroll, and cut again. Repeat until you do not have enough dough for a final donut.
- Spray the tops of the rounds and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rise for another 30-60 minutes. When you have 15 minutes left, prepare your frying station (see tips above), turn on the heat, and make sure it hits 350-375°F.
- Carefully remove the donuts from the pan (you don't want them to deflate!), and carefully add to the frying pan. I use my hands but if you don't feel comfortable, you can use a metal spatula, slotted spoon/spider, or a pair of tongs. Depending on the size of the pot depends how many you can fit in. I will usually squeeze them in with a little wiggle room.
- Allow to fry for 2-3 minutes per side and flip once when it turns golden brown. You can check their internal temperature for doneness; it should read at least 190℉.
- Remove from the oil, let the oil drip off and toss in the sugar coating.
- Allow the oil to get back to the 350-375° temperature range and repeat until you have fried all the donuts. Allow to cool before filling.
To fill the donuts:
- Poke a hole in the donuts, and fill your pastry bag half way with the filling. Insert the bag into the donut and squeeze while slowly removing the pastry bag. Stop squeezing when you fully remove the bag.
- Serve within 1-4 hours at room temperature and store in the fridge overnight.
Notes
Nutrition
Frequently Asked Questions:
- What is the closest flavor to pumpkin spice? If I had to pick one, definitely cinnamon!
- Is pumpkin spice just cinnamon and nutmeg? Those are two of the five spices! Pumpkin spice is made with 4 parts cinnamon, 1 part allspice, 1 part cloves, 2 parts nutmeg and 2 parts ginger.
Have another question? Reach out and I’ll try to answer it for you!
