These gluten-free pumpkin donuts are paleo, grain-free and dairy-free. Can also be made as regular muffins and are coated in cinnamon sugar. With a video.
I haven’t been feeling the pumpkin love at all this year. I don’t know what happened but I’m just not excited about it.
I’ve been much more into apples and making this paleo apple crisp and these paleo apple muffins.
And it doesn’t help that we don’t have canned pumpkin in Germany. I either have to make homemade pumpkin puree, which I won’t do because moisture content varies too much and I never know how much liquid to drain, or buy imported canned pumpkin from the American section of a department store.
For about $4.50 a can. I typically make a recipe several times before posting it and spending $18 on just the pumpkin for one recipe? Eh. I’ll pass.
So for this recipe, I took a short-cut. I adapted my pumpkin spice latte Nutella muffins and made them into these gluten-free pumpkin donuts. Or actually donut holes. I didn’t have to go through my precious cans of pumpkin and y’all get a pumpkin recipe. It’s a win-win for everyone! :)
If you don’t have a mini muffin pan, these can be made as 16 regular-sized muffins. You can check out the directions in my paleo pumpkin muffins recipe. It doesn’t work quite as well in bread form. I tried! It rises nice and high and then kerplunks. It’s pretty sad.
I’ve seen a lot of recipes where you dip the donut holes in butter first before dipping them in the cinnamon sugar, but when I tried this, the donut holes sucked up so much butter and were so wet that I had to use a ton of sugar to get them properly rolled.
It tasted amazing so feel free to do that if you don’t mind a ton of extra sugar. :) I’m thinking it’s perhaps a grain-free thing. I never had that issue with whole wheat goodies!
I have two more cans of pumpkin left and am very carefully planning what to do with them! What’s your favorite pumpkin recipe? If you don’t already have a favorite, check out the reviews in the comments below – people seem to love this gluten-free pumpkin donuts recipe!
And I can highly recommend this paleo vegan pumpkin pie. I’m not vegan but this pie is even creamier and more delicious than a traditional pie! SO good. :D
Not into grain-free baking? Try these whole wheat cinnamon sugar baked donuts from Family Food on the Table! They look so plump and delicious.
Click here to view, comment or share the video on Facebook! Thank you. :)
Gluten-free Pumpkin Donuts (paleo, grain-free, dairy-free)
- Prep Time:
- Cook Time:
- Ready in:
- Yield: 30 donut holes
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (66 grams) coconut flour
- 3/4 cup (75 grams) almond flour
- 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
- 3 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- 7 tablespoons (98 grams) coconut oil or unsalted butter, melted
- 1/2 cup (120 milliliters) maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons coconut sugar or brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (120 grams) canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup (67 grams) coconut sugar or granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
For the donut holes:
For the cinnamon sugar:
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F. Line a mini muffin pan with 24 muffin liners.
- In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients (coconut flour through salt).
- In a separate medium bowl, mix together the wet ingredients (eggs through vanilla).
- Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and stir just until combined.
- Pour the batter evenly into the muffin liners, filling each liner until almost completely full. You'll likely have enough batter for another six donut holes.
- Bake for 11-13 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely. These need to rest for at least an hour before serving, both because of taste and texture.
- When ready to serve, mix the cinnamon with the sugar in a small bowl. Remove the liners and roll the donut holes in the cinnamon sugar. As these donut holes are quite moist, the cinnamon sugar tends to liquify overnight, which is why it's recommended to roll the donuts in the sugar no more than 8 hours before serving.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 2 days.
Notes
- For paleo, use coconut sugar and coconut oil.
- For dairy-free, use coconut oil.
Source: My post on My Baking Addiction – Gluten-free Pumpkin Donut Holes
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215 comments on “Gluten-free Pumpkin Donuts (paleo, grain-free, dairy-free)” — Add one!
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I love donut holes. We have a donut store/coffee shop here in Canada called Tim Hortons. They sell donut holes in every conceivable flavour, but call them Timbits. I went in one day to order one for my dog (she loves the plain ones) and said “I’ll take one plain donut hole please”. She was so confused and had no clue what I meant. Um, Timbits are donut holes. Funniest thing ever. There’s a whole generation of youngsters in Canada that have no clue Timbits are actually donut holes. Cracks me right up for some reason.
I dig them covered in cinnamon sugar. I make apple ones but I think hubs would like your pumpkin ones better.
Haha. I love that you order your dog donut holes. :D And that’s so funny that she had no idea what a donut hole was! Crazy.
These look delicious! I’ve been looking for a gluten-free pumpkin donut to share with my blog readers, so I’m excited to find this one. Sharing!
Thank you so much for sharing! :)
I love this grain free recipe for using pumpkin. It is my new favorite and I think you have outdone yourself. Love it!
Thanks so much! :)
Your cinnamon sugar pumpkin donuts have me licking my lips. That outside coating is making me crave these donut holes!
I’m so happy to hear that! :D
Holy buckets these look incredible! Would love to try them.
Haha. I’ve never heard holy buckets before but I like it! :D
When I was a kid, we would go to an annual fair in Vancouver and that is where I first fell in love with donut holes. These pumpkin ones are making me crave them all over again!
Funny that you mention Vancouver! That’d be my dream city to live in. That they have a fair with donut holes is another point for Vancouver. :D
these look incredible! I don’t know if id be able to stop myself from eating the whole batch!
Thanks! And I’m pretty sure they’d freeze well (just saying in case you’re like me and have portion-control issues ;))
I feel the same exact way, this year i am just not feeling the pumpkin.I am glad you pulled through & brought us this awesome recipe though:)
Haha. I’m happy I got over my feelings for pumpkin and made these, too! It was totally worth it. :)
I love these! I have to bust out my mimi muffin pan and whip these up. I love the ingredients to!
Thank you! I hope you’ll enjoy them. :)
Yay, I have a mini muffin pan so I can get going on these! The texture of these donut holes looks so moist and tender!
Woohoo! I hope you’ll love them. :)
So cute that you made donut holes in a mini muffin pan – great idea! Cinnamon-sugar muffins are my favorite on Christmas morning (yes, dipped in butter first)…but I may have to make this version instead this year. They look so tempting!
I hope you’ll get a chance to try them out! They’d be great for Christmas morning. :)
I have been thinking about these nonstop since I saw them earlier today! I need to make these! I’m not usually much of a baker, but this yumminess is calling my name! And I’m pretty sure I’d be mom of the year (well, day anyway) if I made these for the kids (and didn’t eat them all before they got home…did I just say that out loud? LOL).
Haha. I bet your kids would be so happy if you could save them just a few! ;) I hope you’ll all love them as much as I did!
I just got into the pumpkin kick yesterday. Made pancakes and they were so good. Now I want to pumpkin everything! And these donut holes look so good! Wish I had them right now!
Haha. I think you and I are the very last ones to get around to pumpkin. ;)
These look so yummy and so good for you! Can’t wait to try these out!
I hope you’ll enjoy them!
I would eat the entire batch of these!
Nothing wrong with that! ;)
We don’t have canned pumpkin in Australia either so i make my own by roasting pumpkin pieces. I find it removes more moisture than steaming or boiling the pumpkin pieces.
My favourite pumpkin recipe is Pumpkin Bread
I remember you saying that last year! It seems like it only exists in North America. So strange! Thanks for the tip. :)
I have a mini muffin pan and these are definitely happening in my kitchen soon! I also wasn’t feeling the pumpkin but it slowly grows on me each year :)
I hope you’ll enjoy them! :)
These sound delicious! Love the cinnamon sugar topping to finish it off in the best way possible!
Agreed! They’re yummy on their own but so much better with the cinnamon sugar. :)
These look amazing – and I never mind extra butter and sugar, haha!
It’s hard to resist! ;)
I need to try these for the ones that eat GF. Look delicious. I have never wanted to make anything and dip it in better then sugar. I just can’t handle the butter taste or greasy feeling in my mouth.
Haha. That’s good that you don’t like dipping stuff in sugar and butter. It’s certainly not a healthy habit. ;) And totally not necessary with these!