Fall Beginnings

Colorful leaves. Cool air. College football. My birthday. Smells of pumpkin spice. Jeans and sweaters. Boots. Sunflowers. These are all things I LOVE about fall, but my ultimate favorite would have to be...fall food! I love anything involving pumpkin, apple, or cinnamon. Or a combination of them all! Because of this, I decided to make pumpkin doughnuts this morning to celebrate the first weekend of fall. To make my time of baking even better, the house was decorated in colors of orange, yellow, brown, and green, the windows were wide open, letting the cool air blow in, and the fall Yankee candle was burning. It was a glorious morning. Anyway, here's the finished product and recipe...

Pumpkin Doughnuts 

Pumpkin Donuts


3 1/2 cups all purpose flour


4 teaspoons baking powder


1 teaspoon salt


2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice


1 cup sugar


2 tablespoons butter


2 eggs 


2 teaspoons vanilla


1/2 cup buttermilk


1 cup pumpkin puree


Canola oil for frying


In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, spice and sugar. Whisk together all of the remaining ingredients (except for the canola oil) in a

second, medium bowl. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, and stir them around the bowl until the mixture is well combined. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface, rolling the donut dough to approximately1/4-1/2″ thick.  (I know this will seem quite thin, but the donuts puff up immensley while frying).  Cut with a donut cutter.

Heat 2 inches of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  When the oil is hot, gently slide the donuts into the oil, frying on the first side until the edges of the donut are lightly browned, flip carefully and allow to cook on the other side until lightly browned.  Remove and dunk immediately into buttermilk glaze.  Allow to air dry on a cooling rack before serving.

Buttermilk Glaze


3 cups powdered sugar


1/2 cup buttermilk


1/2 teaspoon vanilla


Whisk together in a small bowl until smooth. Dip hot donuts in the glazed, then allow to air dry on a cooling rack

My sweet friend Mari's birthday is today, and we're celebrating with PF Chang's and time with friends tonight. I'm so excited to see them all after being away from them for almost a month! Mari LOVES my Milky Way cupcakes, so upon special request, I made them for tonight. 

Milky Way Cupcakes 

Wish Mari a happy birthday if you see her! She's 19 today :) By the way...GO DAWGS! I'm in the process of watching the UGA vs. Ole Miss game right now, so let's hope the Dawgs pull through for me. 

Look for more fall foods soon to come. I add about 3 recipes to my recipe wish-list per day. Looks like I've got a lot of baking to do!