vegan and gluten-free pumpkin and sun-butter baked donuts

today, i craved fall. i wanted pumpkin, i wanted sunflower seeds, i wanted cinnamon tea, i wanted long-sleeve shirts. so... i did all of those things!

i have spent the past two days over-indulging on my "party cookies" and my body has felt absolutely WRECKED. i have been craving sugar like crazy, and these were the compromise between my desire for sweets and my rational mind saying that i needed something with NUTRITIONAL VALUE instead.

these are back to my typical recipe type-- healthy, hearty, only lightly sweetened, full of healthy fruits and healthy fats. a perfect breakfast, snack, or dessert!

i hope you all enjoy these as much as i did (i already ate three of them. oops??)!

INGREDIENTS (makes 10 baked donuts)-

• 3/4 cup gluten free flour mix

• 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon

• 1 tsp ground nutmeg

• 1 tsp ground ginger

• pinch sea salt

• 1/4 tsp baking soda

• 3/4 cup pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie filling)

• 1/4 cup pure sunflower butter (no added salt, sugar, oils, etc)

• 1/4 cup applesauce

• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract

• 2 tsp apple cider vinegar

OPTIONAL "caramel" topping-

• 2 tsp raw sugar

• pumpkin seeds

instructions-

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees F. spray a donut baking pan with non-stick cooking spray. to each donut-hole of the pan, add a sprinkling of raw sugar and pumpkin seeds, to taste. when baking, the sugar will melt and caramelize with the seeds, creating a lightly crunchy top to your donuts!

2. in a bowl, whisk all wet ingredients until completely homogeneous. add dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon until just combined. the batter will be thick. scoop batter into a small plastic baggie. trim off the corner of the bag and use as if it is a piping bag to pipe the batter into your donut pan.

3. bake for about 18 minutes, or until the donuts feel springy to the touch. cool in pan at least 15 minutes before removing.