I love Autumn, don't you? It's my favorite time of year. The colors are just fantastic. I love the oranges, reds, yellows, and even browns. The other day I went exploring downtown Salt Lake City and took my camera along with me. I had so much fun being by myself. Ya, I'm a nerd. I enjoy being by myself--experiencing the quiet and reverence of nature without kids saying "mom, mom, MOM!" or arguing or just gabbing. I enjoy the quiet. The sounds of birds. The flapping of their wings. Their squawks as I approach warning me to leave them alone. I love hearing the wind roar and feel my hair fly across my face tickling my cheeks. I get satisfaction out of small, yet great, things.
Here are a few pics I took today at the Brigham Young Historic Park in downtown Salt Lake City. These statues reminded me of my childhood playing in the nearby pond and catching polliwogs with my older brother. Ah, such fond memories.
Another fond memory is coming out of the chilled outdoors and sipping hot chocolate and eating pumpkin chocolate chip bread or muffins. I love the combination of pumpkin and chocolate. Today, I made pumpkin chocolate chip cake donuts. And they are wonderful. I might have eaten half a batch before everyone got home from work and school. But I'm not saying. No, you can't make me confess. Okay, I will give you a hint: I will be tipping the scale come tomorrow morning! Oy!
These pumpkin chocolate chip cake donuts are moist, tender, and full of flavor! Enjoy a bite before autumn ends.
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 cups pure pumpkin purée (not pie purée)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (or 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon plus 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg and 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 3/4 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Confectioners sugar, sprinkled (optional)
- 3 tablespoons cinnamon-sugar mixture (optional)
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease two standard donut pans. [i]If you don't have a donut pan, you can make these into muffins. See notes below.[/i]
- With a wire whisk, mix all ingredients minus the chocolate chips.
- Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Pour into prepared donut pans about 3/4 full and bake for 15-20 minutes or until springy to touch.
- Let cool for 5 minutes, loosen their edges, and turn out onto a wire rack to cool. Sprinkle with powdered sugar or with a cinnamon-sugar mixture
- Don't wrap leftover donuts in plastic or they'll become soggy. Either place on a plate and top with a cake cover, or place in a plastic baggy leaving the bag unfastened.
Recipe adapted from KingArthurFlour.com
Thank you Debbie, Sherri, and Tracy for allowing me to share your space today with you and your readers! I'd love it if you all stopped by Bakerette.com to see what else is cooking! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
If you like this recipe, you might also like these other items at Bakerette. Click on the photos for the recipes:
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