Donuts anyone? Pumpkin Buttermilk Donuts....and yes, they are gluten free!

Donuts, do you miss them? Those wonderful buttermilk cake donuts that the local bakery makes? YUMMY! Makes my mouth just water thinking about it. We have a bakery in a town near my home that makes the best buttermilk donuts I have ever eaten. They were a favorite of mine before gluten became a problem for me. OH how I have missed them!

Not anymore! Last week, in the spirit of the season, I made a batch of pumpkin buttermilk donuts. The recipe was one that I played with a bit, altering a recipe I had listed here on Gling, but never tried before. The recipe was for gluten-free buttermilk donuts and I decided to just add some pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice to the dough.

What an amazing dough this was to work with! I never dreamed that a gluten-free dough could be so easy to work with, so light and fluffy. I used TanyaG's flour mixture and it worked beautifully!

Cutting these yummy treats is a breeze and using a "donut cutter" is not necessary. I simply used an English muffin ring to cut out large disks and then a smaller circle cutter for the center. It worked wonderfully. I would suggest cutting the center out, cooking them through to the center may be hard without it. The donuts may not cook all the way to the middle before they burn, otherwise.

If you do not want holes in your donuts, maybe cutting them in a smaller size or in a long rectangular shape would work, but I have not tried this.

These cook up pretty quickly and you end up with around 20 donuts plus the "holes" in no time at all. I spent about an hour in my kitchen making these. Not bad for a yummy treat fitting the season! If you want more donuts, combine all of the "holes" together and pat out the dough again. This will give you more donuts for your party.

With Halloween just days away, there are parties happening everywhere. These would make the perfect treat for your kids class party and no one would know they are gluten free. When I made these, my husband came home from work and tried one. He told me that they tasted just like they were made with wheat flour! What high praise coming from a man that does not have to avoid gluten.

The glaze I made for these was a simple one of powdered sugar, water, vanilla and pumpkin pie spice. After eating one of the donuts, my kids and I decided that they would be just as good, if not better with a maple flavored glaze. Adding a bit of maple syrup or just some maple extract would give this glaze a wonderful flavor!

If you are making these for a kids party, you could cut out small "holes" so that there are more to go around. You could then coat these "holes" with different kinds of glazes or roll them in sugar. Cinnamon sugar, or a sugar and pumpkin pie spice would work nicely. Powdered sugar with a bit of pumpkin pie spice added to it would also be a fun option.

Play with it, make it a fun activity with your kids. Just be careful around the hot oil. Having them help you pat out the dough and cutting out the donuts would be a fun project for them. Letting them sprinkle the freshly glazed donuts with Halloween sprinkles would also be a fun activity.

Enjoy your time in the kitchen making yummy party goodies! These donuts are sure to be a hit at any party. Try replacing the pumpkin with applesauce and apple pie spice. YUMMY! Make up your own flavor combination and SHARE what you try and how it turned out. So much we can do with the wonderful flavors of fall. Enjoy it!