pumpkin spice baked doughnut holes

It's been awhile since I pulled out my babycakes cake pops maker, so I figured Thanksgiving would be a great time to try another recipe. We had two Thanksgiving dinners to hit, so I wanted something that featured pumpkin, but that was easy to make.

These aren't the traditional cake pops (the ones that are a mash of cake and frosting) but are more of a mix between a cake pop and a doughnut hole (since doughnuts are traditionally fried, I wasn't sure if they were real doughnut holes either). To make these baked doughnut holes, I modified a pumpkin spice muffin recipe that I love so they ended up fluffy and moist.

I know it's never a good idea to make a new recipe for a large getogether, but hey, I like living dangerously (haha, not really), but I figured that since no one knew I was bringing a dessert, if this turned into a massive fail, I could just leave the entire mess at home.

Turned out that I didn't have anything to worry about - these turned out really good. My brother-in-law, Mike, doesn't like pumpkin anything, but even he enjoyed these, since the pumpkin flavour is really subtle. I coated the first batch in cream cheese frosting, but they're just as good without frosting, if you prefer something a little less sweet.

pumpkin spice baked doughnut holes
source: adapted from Annie's Eats
printer-friendly version

ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup vegetable oil

directions:

Preheat the babycakes cake pop maker.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, pumpkin pie spice, salt and baking soda; whisk to blend.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the eggs, sugar, pumpkin puree and oil. Mix on medium-low speed until blended. With the mixer on low speed, add in the dry ingredients and mix just until incorporated (be careful not to overmix).

Fill a piping bag with the batter and using the piping bag, fill each bottom of the cooking wells with the batter until almost full.

Bake 5 to 7 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a cake ball comes out clean. Do not open the cake pop maker until at least 4 minutes have passed, otherwise you may break some of the cake balls in half.

Gently take the cake balls out of the maker and place on a tray to cool. Allow the cake balls to cool completely.

Optional: If you prefer something sweeter, you can coat the cake balls with some frosting. I used a cream cheese, but we ate most of these without any frosting - they're great for dessert or breakfast!

yields: 50 cake balls