Oh you know what ? I totally don’t get all the pumpkin spice memes out there, and all those addiction and crazy things people do for pumpkin spice. but you know what ? Whenever people get over serious for pumpkin spice and all things pumpkin-y, you know Fall is here.
Although, really pumpkin is available all year round here, why limit it to just the last few months of the year ? So while pumpkin spice latte is NOT my thing, I’ve decided to make a pumpkin spiced doughnut in celebration of fall. In case you don’t know, fall doesn’t happen in Malaysia. All we get at this time of the year is either haze, rain or worse, flood. But you know what ? Nothing like a fried (ahem, deep fried), slightly spicy and comforting doughnut to warm things up.
These doughnuts are not those that are super light and fluffy in the center. The texture is more cake-like and if you want to bake it, you can too. It also does not contain YEAST, hence the texture unlike regular doughnuts. Since the dough had pumpkin puree, it made the doughnut quite dense as to using just regular water to mix the dough. But it gives it a nice sweetness and earthy flavour from the pumpkin. They also tend to be quite soft and hard to handle, so, handle with care?
Pumpkin spice is really, just a mixture of some spices. You can easily mix it up as you may already have some of the spices at home. If you want to make your own pumpkin spice latte, get your regular favourite coffee and add a sprinkle or two of pumpkin spice!
Pumpkin Spice Mix (1 tsp)
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground all spice or ground cloves
1/8 ground nutmeg
The process may take some time as you would need to steam the pumpkin till it softens, cooled, then mixed into the dough. As the dough can be rather soft, I also left it in the freezer for 30 minutes. It doesn’t require any proofing time, as it doesnt have any yeast. So you can say that the proofing time has replaced to resting time. Original recipe from Serious Eats.
- 2 cups (300g) all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (refer recipe above for homemade mix)
- 1 large eggs
- ½ cup (90g) sugar, divided
- ¼ cup (45g) light brown sugar, firmly packed
- ½ cup (130ml) buttermilk
- 1 tbsp melted butter
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup (120g) pumpkin puree
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 cup (190g) caster sugar
- canola oil, for frying
- Peel a approx 200-250g pumpkin, remove seeds and cut to smaller cubes. Place on a plate and steam for about 15 mins or till the pumpkin is soft. Test with a fork, it should insert easily. Remove and mash till fine.
- In a large bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice.
- In the mixing bowl with a beater attached, combine eggs, sugar, and brown sugar beating until combined and slightly foamy. Add buttermilk, melted butter, vanilla, and pumpkin puree. Stir until smooth.
- Slowly add flour mixture and stir until just incorporated. Lay out two large sheets of plastic wrap. Spritz plastic wrap with canola oil. Divide dough into two balls. Wrap in plastic wrap then flatten into discs. Refrigerate for at least two hours or up to overnight.
- Generously flour a large work surface. Take one of the discs and turn out the dough to coat with flour, sprinkling the surface of the dough with flour to lessen stickiness. (Note the dough is EXTREMELY sticky, don't be shy about adding flour until it's workable). Gently pat the dough to about ½ an inch thick. Use a floured 3 inch doughnut cutter to cut out doughnuts and place cut doughnuts on a well floured sheet of parchment paper. Collect any scraps and roll out dough to cut more doughnuts until all the dough is gone.
- Fill a Dutch oven or deep fryer with 2 inches of oil. Heat oil over medium high heat to 160 C. Using a shallow, heat resistant strainer, drop doughnuts in the oil and fry until a deep golden brown on both sides (about 2 minutes per side, use the color as your guide as the oil temperature can very with time).
- Use wooden chopsticks to turn the doughnuts. Be careful not to crowd the doughnuts in the pan (no more than 2 to 3 doughnuts at a time). Remove doughnuts immediately from the pan using a heat resistant strainer or tongs. Set on paper towel lined baking racks to cool. Once cooled slightly, toss in a paper bag with sugar and cinnamon.
- Or you may drizzle with white chocolate
