Pumpkin Spice Baked Donuts (Pet friendly)

I'm basically a little obsessed with baked donuts these days. It's possibly a phase, but I'm pretty sure its a new personality trait. Not mad about it....

I've steered clear of donuts for the most part of my life, due to the fact they are basically a deep fried vessel for mass sugar and dairy consumption, and that they usually leave me feeling full of remorse and with a belly ache. These babies are gluten free, dairy free, and refined sugar free. And obviously I needed to make mini ones for Piña because I'm out of control.

I definitely recommend buying a donut pan for these. However, you can use a piping bag or a ziplock bag to pipe circles onto a sheet pan. Because these donuts have such clean ingredients you can definitely share them with your favorite pet!

Ingredients:

For the donuts:

Dry Ingredients

1 1/2 cups gluten free flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Wet Ingredients

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup coconut sugar

1/2 cup almond milk

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

2 tbs coconut oil

2 tbs ground flax seed (for flax egg)

5 tbs water

For the frosting:

1 cup soaked cashews

1/8 cup coconut oil

1/8 cup maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/8 cup almond milk

Directions:

Make the Donuts

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

-Combine flax seed and water and set aside to make your "flax egg"

-spray donut pan with avocado oil

-In a large bowl combine all dry ingredients and whisk together

-In a separate bowl combine all wet ingredients and whisk together

-Slowly fold wet into dry with a spatula, being careful to not over mix. (batter will be thick)

-Use a piping bag or cut off the tip of a ziplock bag to pipe batter into donut molds. Should make 9 donuts.

-Bake for 10-12 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

-Make sure donuts cool all the way before frosting.

Make the Frosting

-In a high speed blender combine all frosting ingredients and blend on high until smooth

-Transfer to a bowl

Assemble

-Dip donuts one at a time into frosting

-Top with chopped nuts and cacao nibs (optional)

-Enjoy!