Pumpkin Donuts

Ohhhhh how good these were! This is one of my new favorite recipes and I have to say it was so simple and easy :)

I took a recipe for Pumpkin Yeast Bread from King Arthur Flour and instead of shaping it into 2 loaves of bread I cut out donuts! I can see why they say this bread is delicious to use as sandwich bread for turkey sandwiches, it is so moist, flavorful and delicious. You better bet that I'll be making some more of this in time for Thanksgiving leftovers. Yum, yum.

Some of these I just made as donuts and donut holes.....and the other ones I made and filled with bavarian cream. Those were OMGoodness unbelievably divine  but you don't have to take my word for it. You can make these yourself and in just under 3 hours be eating hot, fresh pumpkin donuts. Heaven help me.

Pumpkin Yeast Bread
recipe adapted only for the shaping of dough from King Arthur Flour, as linked above

1/2 cup warm water
2 Tablespoons yeast (2 packages)
2/3 cup warm milk
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups pureed pumpkin
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
6 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom ( I omitted this, we just aren't fans)

In the bowl of a stand mixer, pour the yeast over the warm water to proof. When it's proven that the yeast is still in fact alive, add in the milk, eggs, pumpkin, oil, 4 cups of the flour, sugar, salt, ginger and cardamom (if using). Beat for 2 minutes. Change over to the dough hook and incorporate enough flour to make a nice ball. Turn it out onto a well floured counter and knead until smooth and elastic.

Place the dough into a greased bowl and loosely cover with plastic wrap. Let raise for 1 hour, or until double.

Roll it out to a little over 1/4 inch thick and cut your donuts. I use a wide mouth canning jar and the cap off of my bottle of homemade vanilla (so, the cap of of a half gallon of vodka :)). The ones I was going to fill with cream, I just cut with a widemouth jar and didn't cut the hole out of the center. Place the cut out donuts onto a greased cookie sheet and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let raise for 45 minutes, or until almost double.

Heat oil in a large, heavy pot. I use the bottom of a 12 inch, cast iron dutch oven to fry my donuts. Heat oil to 325 degrees and fry until donuts are golden brown on the outside and completely cooked through on the middle. For me, this means medium heat on my electric stove. It's going to be a little different for everyone though.

Let drain on a cooling rack over a cookie sheet and roll in cinnamon/sugar while still warm. For the regular donuts, that's it. You're done. For the donuts with filling, we have one more step.

Fit a pastry bag with a medium sized round tip. Fill the bag with bavarian cream (I can buy it at the grocery store I shop at. I can also buy all the fruit fillings that you can use in cakes and pastries there. Ask at your bakery counter if you don't see it. Often they will sell it to you :)) and poke the tip through the end of one donut. Gently squeeze the bag and fill the donut with cream. Not too much, or it will explode! After just a couple you;ll know how much to pipe in.

And that is it folks. Now, you're going to make some soon right??!!