Baked Pumpkin Buttermilk Donuts with Butterscotch Frosting

This weekend was…heavenly. I had nothing to do other than play hockey last night (and I scored a goal!).

Mr. Prevention arrived Saturday night and we ate chili (entry #6 – delicious!) and watched Illinois lose. Again. But I guess that was predicted so the blow was less painful.

I studied after the game. Nothing like some light advanced diabetes management studying on a Saturday night.

Sunday we slept in…some more than others. I got up after…10 hours of sleep. And Mr. Prevention after THIRTEEN hours.

I made donuts while nursing an entire (small) pot of coffee with Pumpkin Spice coffee creamer while wearing my fluffy pink robe. I don’t know how others would describe a perfect weekend morning, but it was a perfect Sunday…especially after the insanity of last week.

I haven’t made donuts since August and that is far too long. I’ve been looking for the perfect donut recipe and not so shockingly, Pinterest turned up a winner. I tweaked it, of course. I used whole wheat flour, less oil, halved the sugar, and made one heck of a butterscotch frosting that is a prefect compliment to the pumpkin donut.

The best thing about this recipe is that these keep very well. This may be the first baked donut recipe that tastes good the next day. And it’s a good thing since the recipe made 17!

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Baked Pumpkin Buttermilk Donuts with Butterscotch Frosting adapted from The Craving Chronicles and Carla’s Confections, originally from Tasty Kitchen

Donuts:
1 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour or white wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup lowfat buttermilk
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp vanilla

Frosting:
1/2 cup butterscotch chips
1 Tbsp unsalted butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F and spray a donut pan with cooking spray or olive oil.

In a medium bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, salt and pumpkin pie spice. In a separate medium bowl, combine the oil, buttermilk, brown sugar, egg, pumpkin puree, and vanilla; whisk to combine.

Stir the dry ingredient mixture into the wet ingredient mixture, being careful not to over mix. Fill the donut pan with the batter, filling 2/3rds full.

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool on the cooling rack while you prepare the sugar coating.

In a small, microwave-safe bowl, microwave the butterscotch chips for about 2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds. Once hot and smooth, stir in butter.

Once donuts are cooled, ice each donut by hand and allow to set on a cooling rack.

Yield: 17 donuts (~3 inch diameter)

Nutrition Information (per donut): 134 calories; 6.5 g. fat; 11 mg. cholesterol; 119 mg. sodium; 17.4 g. carbohydrate; 1.7 g. fiber; 0.8 g. protein

Result: I reduced the oil and halved the sugar in the donuts and added this delicious butterscotch frosting. The donuts are incredibly moist and unlike most of the donut recipes I’ve made, these actually taste good the next day. I haven’t made baked donuts in quite some time, so these were quite the treat…especially since they turned out so, so well!

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  Another busy week…wee! At least I’m well rested! 😀

Be well,