Healthy pumpkin spice donut holes

It’s been so nice to finally get back into the swing of baking all the time! Now that we have more of a routine with baby izzy, I have more freedom to spend time in the kitchen again. This month, I wanted to try and work with pumpkin puree – something I’ve never baked with before – and so far, it has given me some super yummy recipes! Last week, I made these skinny pumpkin muffins (if you haven’t tried them yourself, stop right now and go bake em…you will love them!) and this week I decided to try some healthy pumpkin spice donut holes. Next week and just in time for Halloween, I’ll be posting a recipe for easy Pumpkin Spice Snickerdoodles! Make sure to enter your email under “follow” on the sidebar to get the recipe straight to your inbox 🙂

The great thing about these donut holes is that they’re healthy (healthy donuts?! YES.) and a serving size is three donut holes which is more than enough to satisfy your sweet tooth. Although I will admit I ate like 5 the night I made them….you know, just to do a really thorough taste test. John ate several too, and I’m glad there were some leftover for me to take photos of today 😉 So try these out at home, they don’t take long at all to make (10 mins prep, and 13 minutes to bake once in the oven) and I promise they’ll be a new fall favorite in your house for the holidays <3

• 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour (I subbed this instead of almond meal because almond meal costs $10-12 bucks for a small sack…I never cook with almond meal, and subbing wheat flour makes the consistency more cake-like and moist)
• 1/2 cup protein powder (I used a vanilla flavor)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup almond milk (mine was sweetened)
• 1 Tbsp coconut oil, melted
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• Basting brush
• Small bowl of water

  CINNAMON SUGAR TOPPING: 1 Tbsp cinnamon + 1 Tbsp coconut sugar, whisked together in a small bowl. Set aside until donut holes are out of the oven.

1. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. Whisk all dry ingredients together in a medium bowl.
3. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients, fold together until fully combined.
4. Spray a cake pop mold or donut hole mold with non-stick cooking spray.
5. Lightly flour your hands/workspace.
6. With palms of hands covered in a thin layer of flour, roll dough between palms to create a ball shape and place into each mold (I forgot to do this part, and my donut holes looked like they were missing one half 😀 They still tasted amazing though!)
7. Bake at 350 for 12-14 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
8. Let cool for a couple minutes, then remove donut holes from mold and place onto a plate.
9. Working with one donut hole at a time: dip basting brush into small bowl of water and lightly “paint” the donut hole all over.
10. Roll the donut hole in the cinnamon sugar topping making sure it’s fully coated, then place aside. Repeat for all donut holes.
11. Enjoy warm or cold, with a tall glass of milk or in the morning with your coffee.