Pumpkin Spice Donuts & Feeling Like Fall

Why hello! Somewhere in the last month or so fall took us by storm. The days are slowly cooling off in Monterey, but it is still beautiful sticking at around 70 degrees. Supposedly fall is one of the best seasons around these parts, so we shall see if El Nino kicks in early or not! At work I am organizing a pumpkin decorating contest, we have a Halloween themed employee bowling night coming up for which I of course do not yet have a costume...

In the kitchen I have embraced fall by baking pumpkin spiced donuts in my donut pan and some pumpkin pancakes (those pancakes didn't quite turn out as advertised - feel like they just wouldn't cook!). I have heard rumors of a pumpkin shortage this year due to the drought, so we stocked up on lots of cans of pumpkin at Trader Joe's just to be safe. More tests with pumpkin pancakes will therefore be forthcoming.

 These are my donuts just before they were dunked in a butter and sugar mixture. Yumm.

This past weekend we went kayaking at Elkhorn Slough at Moss Landing and saw SO matter otters and seals up close and personal! It was a great little protected place where they like to hang out. The kayak rental guy even said that sometimes the otters will jump up onto the front of your kayak and you have to splash them off! Then on Sunday, the power was out all day. That meant no hot showers, no breakfast, no coffee shops open, no grocery stores, no restaurants...luckily we took a nice long walk and discovered that the Aquarium still had power and were able to get lunch there. Whew!

This Wednesday is my birthday!! I am already feeling the love from family and am excited to be turning another year older and wiser. I was also secretly excited at work the other day when a coworker expressed shock when I said I was married - she thought I had just graduated from college. Nope nope nope, but thanks! On Friday Stuart and I will be trying out the Italian restaurant Il Vecchio for a belated birthday dinner. Saturday we are heading over to Santa Cruz for the day (I have a whole list of foodie places I want to try and look forward to reporting back), and Sunday we are doing the Carmel Wine Walk with a couple friends. Life is good!! I hope you too are stocking up on pumpkin (canned or otherwise) and enjoying these gorgeous fall days.

Pumpkin Spice Baked Donuts

(Makes 10 regular size donuts)

For Donuts:
1 3/4 cups flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 ½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup milk

For Coating: (approximate measurements)
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup white sugar
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon 

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter a donut pan and set aside.

1. In a bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt and spices together and set aside.

1. In a large bowl (or the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment) whisk together oil, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, pumpkin and milk until combined. Slowly add the dry ingredients into the mixture and stir until just combined, careful not to over mix.

1. Fill each donut cup with batter. The cups should be fairly full, but not overflowing. Bake for 15 minutes or until donuts spring back when gently pressed. Turn donuts out onto a wire rack and allow to cool for a few minutes.

1. While the donuts are cooling, melt butter in one bowl and combine the sugar and cinnamon in another.  When donuts are still hot but cool enough to touch, quickly dip each donut lightly in melted butter, then coat in the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Serve immediately.

*Note: If you're not going to serve the donuts immediately, you can bake them up to a day in advance and store them in an airtight container. Do not coat them in the butter/cinnamon-sugar mixture until just before serving or they may get soggy.