I’ve mentioned it about a half dozen or more times but I love fall & pumpkin treats! One of my favorite treats lately has been pumpkin donuts… crisp on the outside, soft and warm on the inside, a little spicy, and a sweet from the cream cheese frosting that is spread over the top… the downside is that those delicious deep friend treats are pretty high in calories and it can get expensive to buy them every day.

So what did I do? I baked some up cider glazed pumpkin donuts this weekend to have for breakfast with some fresh cider that we picked up at the the local farmers market. Baked donuts can be just as delicious as their deep fried siblings but are a little healthier and a lot easier since you don’t have to deal with a vat of super hot grease.

    To try and keep the calories down a little more I substituted fresh applesauce for the oil and egg substitute for the regular eggs. The only downside is that the donuts tend to be a little more dense but the flavor is exactly the same and they are very moist, full of pumpkin & spice flavor.

   As these baked the house filled with the smell of spices and pumpkin. It was such a warm, inviting smell that I couldn’t wait to eat one… or two.

I think that the cider glaze gives them a little extra flavor… and it’s better than just a regular glaze made with water. The flavor is delicious but subtle enough that it doesn’t overpower the pumpkin, which is the star of these tasty donuts. You also leave them plain for dipping in coffee, rolled in powdered sugar, cinnamon sugar, or topped with a bit of cream cheese frosting.

These might just become a weekend staple around here this fall and winter.

Adapted from Can You Stay for Dinner’s recipe.