Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake Donuts
Fluffy, soft spiced pumpkin donuts tossed in a graham cracker sugar and filled with pumpkin cream cheese. Pumpkin puree also just happens to work perfectly as an egg replacement in this fall dessert, so this is great for any plant based friends!
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Makes 8 mid-size donuts (best eaten day of)
Total time: 3 hr 30 min (*easier to make this across 2 days, see footer notes)
What you’ll need
Donut dough
1 tsp pumpkin spice (ground cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, & allspice)
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
2 tsp sugar for yeast
1 1/2 tbsp sugar for donut dough (lightly sweet doughnut - add more sugar for a sweeter donut)
1/2 cup warm milk of choice (110 F, I used soy milk)
3 tbsp melted butter of choice (Miyoko’s vegan butter used here)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
Neutral oil for frying
Cinnamon sticks or apple fruit leather strips for the pumpkin stems
Pumpkin cheesecake filling
8 oz cream cheese, room temp *see notes for veg recommendations
1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tbsp pumpkin puree
1/4 tsp pumpkin spice
Graham cracker “cheesecake crust” sugar
1/4 cup finely ground graham crackers
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp pumpkin spice
Prepare the donut dough
In a large bowl, whisk together warm milk, yeast, sugar and let sit 5-10 minutes until bubbly and foaming.
Add in the rest of the sugar, pumpkin puree, vanilla, cooled butter, pumpkin spice, and salt. Gradually add the flour, mixing until evenly combined. Move the dough to a clean lightly floured surface, and knead the dough: by hand, about 10 minutes by hand, or about 5 minutes in a stand mixer with a dough hook. The dough is ready to rest when it is slightly sticky and bounces back slowly when poked. If the dough is too wet, you can add a bit of additional flour, and if it is too floury and dry, add a bit more pumpkin puree.
Let the dough rise in a large bowl covered with a dish towel or saran wrap in a warm spot for at least 2 hours. The dough should about double in size if done correctly.
*If making this across 2 days, you can prepare the dough the night before. Cover the dough and let it rest overnight in the fridge. I wouldn’t recommend have it rest longer than 12 hours in the fridge.
Prepare the cheesecake filling
In a large bowl or stand mixer with whisk attachment, whisk together cream cheese, vanilla bean paste, powdered sugar, pumpkin puree, and pumpkin spice until fluffy and evenly combined. Spoon mixture into a piping bag and let chill in fridge.
*Making across 2 days? You can prepare this the day before and let it chill in the fridge. Just make sure to let it come to room temp before piping so it’s easy to squeeze.
*Vegan? I recommend Tofutti’s cream cheese. I’ve used several others like Violife in baking, and they never hold up very well when whipping, mixing, or baking something.
Assemble and finishing steps
Punch dough down to release air, and roll out onto floured surface.
Roll the dough into 8 equally sized balls. Flatten them slightly with a clean palm. Cover dough and let rest again for 30 more minutes.
Take a very long piece of food-safe twine and wrap it around the ball VERY loosely, knotting it in alternating directions. You’ll want to make sure the string is tied extremely loose as the donut will not cook and expand fully if tied tight, leaving you with a dense and raw donut. Tie, and cut off extra twine with scissors. Cut out squares of heat-safe parchment paper about the size of the donut and place one wrapped donut on each square (you can skip this step if you have a frying spoon/skimmer, you just need to not have the dough touch the bottom of the pot directly when you first put it into the frying oil as it will stick)
In a large, deep pot, heat at least 2 inches of oil until 350 F. Keep a careful eye on the temp to make sure it doesn’t go much higher than that. Gently drop a few donuts at a time into the pot, making sure not to crowd them. After a minute, remove the parchment paper from the pot. Fry for about 3 min on each side. If the oil gets too hot, you may end up with a burnt exterior and raw, doughy inside.
Toss the hot donuts in the graham cracker sugar mixture while hot.
Poke a hole in either the top of the donut or between the cracks of the pumpkin with a chopstick or other narrow utensil. Insert piping bag with cream cheese, and pipe as much cheesecake filling as you would like.
Top pumpkins with stems. Edible alternatives for the *cinnamon stick I used for decoration are pretzels, chocolate Pocky sticks, or strips of fruit leather. Enjoy! These are best consumed fresh, day they are made. I don’t recommend making these ahead of time and refrigerating as they can get hard and the cream cheese can make the donuts soggy.
*Cinnamon sticks can be reused about 4 times. Just rinse, let fully air dry, and store them in a sealed container.