Spiced Pumpkin Poppers
These little Spiced Pumpkin Poppers are everything I love, rolled into one little mini bite! I LOVE breakfast food, especially breakfast pastries. Anything from muffins to donuts, sign me up. Then there is the pumpkin, yep, it’s that time of year again, and I have no shame in my game of adding pumpkin AND pumpkin pie spice to everything I possibly can.
Donuts are definitely a crowd favorite, and I have tackled making them at home before, but it is a process. Between the rising, and then the rising again, and then the frying, then what do I do with the oil?? It can definitely be worth it on a special occasion, but for a perfect fall weekend when all you want is the sugared donut, pumpkin, spice flavor, baking is the way to go. Plus, anything that is bite-sized is fun! I like using mini muffins as a replacement for “donut holes,” because these have a lot of the same flavors as a cakey donut, but remain light, fluffy, and oil-free.
A couple things to keep in mind:
*Make sure all of your ingredients are room temperature
*Don’t over-mix once the flour is added
*Careful not to over-bake; check the poppers a minute or two early just to be sure; every oven is different and if it is the first time you are making a recipe, it’s always better to under-bake than over-bake
*You can check to see if they are done by inserting a toothpick into one of the mini muffins, and if it comes out pretty clean (without wet dough on it), then it’s done!
Spiced Pumpkin Poppers
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour, unbleached all-purpose
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter; room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 eggs; room temperature
- 1/2 cup canned, or fresh pumpkin puree
- 1/2 cup sour cream; room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
Coating:
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 3/4 cup sugar, plus more if needed
- 1 heaping teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degree
- Mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, and salt in a bowl
- In another bowl combine the sour cream and pumpkin puree
- Mix together the butter and sugar in a stand-mixer, or using a hand-mixer, until light and fluffy
- Add the eggs to the butter and sugar mixture one at a time and mix until well combined
- Mix in the vanilla
- Make sure to scrape down the sides if needed
- Add in the flour mixture alternating with adding in the sour cream/pumpkin; starting and ending with the flour
- Combine until just mixed (being careful NOT to over mix)
- Spray two mini muffin tins with cooking spray or brush with oil
- Scoop the batter into the muffin tins; only fill about 2/3 of the way to make sure these don’t overflow
- Bake for about 8-11 minutes or until the batter has puffed up and is set; careful not to over bake to avoid a dry popper
- Mix together the sugar and pumpkin pie spice in a bowl
- Pour the melted and cooled butter into another bowl
- Allow the poppers to cool enough to be handled
- Using a pastry brush to brush the melted butter all over the popper and then roll it in the sugar mixture; if you don’t have a pastry brush you can simply dip them in the butter then roll them in the spiced sugar. Either way your hands are going to get messy… enjoy it!
- If the sugar starts to get clumpy from the butter, add in a bit more sugar and spice
- Place on a cooling rack
Din’t make them yet, but it would be fun to put in a little pumpkin cream cheese filling into the middle too! 😛
Yes! Great idea!
Do you convert recipes into gluten free?