Pumpkin Donuts

another good thing that comes in the fall

I, like almost every other white, American female, adore pretty much every pumpkin-flavored thing.

I’ve sipped gallons of pumpkin-flavored tea, enjoyed vats of pumpkin soup, and even (rather more warily) eaten and loved pumpkin-flavored yogurt.

I love pumpkin.

Perhaps my love for pumpkins comes partly from the years I spent in Virginia. From ages five to seven, I felt like I was constantly surrounded by the damp scent of leaves, mulled wine boiling merrily on the stovetop (which I was allowed to dip just my pinky finger in to taste), and thick-knit sweaters and boots.

My mom and I raked leaves into gigantic piles and fell backwards into them giggling. My dad made a miniature “race track” for me through the tall oak trees in our back yard through which I spent hours riding my bike. We drank steaming apple cider and walked down the street to the barn at the end of the road to pet the horses and breathe deep the smell of damp dirt and the horses’ hot, alfalfa-scented breath. We paddled our canoe through hidden rivers filled with geese and ducks and a hundred other beautiful things.

Have you seen “Gilmore Girls?” In those three years, I lived in the title sequence — all that warm, golden light, laughter, and coziness.

I’ve always loved “Gilmore Girls.” I remember when I was that age, living in Virginia, several people asked my mom if she had ever seen the show. They told her she was a lot like Lorelai. And if you knew my mom, you’d know that this was true.

She has all of the strength and wit and ferocity of Lorelai at her best. And, to top it all off, she makes infinitely better life choices.

My dad has always reminded us of Luke. That steady loving nature, quick to help and fix whatever needs fixing, a caretaker and provider to his core.

I have been sworn to secrecy as to whether or not my dad has watched “Gilmore Girls” start to finish, on the edge of his seat, requesting that we watch it every night so that he could find out what happened next.

So I will not say.

But “Gilmore Girls” has always, in many ways, felt like home to me. There are episodes that I can’t watch. I have not seen the episode where Rory goes off to college since the night before my parents moved me in to my freshman year apartment. We watched it that night and all cried together, huddled on the couch.

“Gilmore Girls” is, without a doubt, my all time favorite show.

I think that’s because a lot of who I have grown up to be comes from this show. A person who is not afraid to say of my mom and my dad “Yes, they’re my best friends.” And a person who, as evidenced by the fact that you are currently reading my newsletter, has a deep and unavoidable attachment to words.

Maybe that’s the real reason that I love pumpkin things so much. Because they arrive in the fall, just like all good things do for me. Like my dad coming home from deployment, and my mom and I starting our school year, and cooler days, and autumn leaves, and my wedding, and every episode of “Gilmore Girls” as the title scrolls across a scene of eternally golden-orange trees.

Good things come in the fall.

And these pumpkin donuts are one of those good things. They are best enjoyed with a cup of piping hot coffee and a very dear friend. I hope that they bring you as much of a sense of home as they do to me.

Pumpkin Donuts

You will need:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

One 15-ounce can pumpkin puree

1 1 /4 cup sugar

1/3 cup coconut oil, melted

4 Tablespoons butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 large eggs

For the topping:

1/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

3 Tablespoons butter, melted (if needed)

What to do:

For this recipe, you will need a special baking pan made specifically for donuts. I highly recommend this one.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Whisk together the flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. In a separate, larger bowl, stir the pumpkin, sugar, melted coconut oil, melted butter, vanilla, and eggs together until a smooth batter forms. Add the dry ingredient mixture to the wet mixture and mix until just combined.

Using two spoons (or a piping bag with a large nozzle), fill the donut baking pans. Then wet your finger and use it to smooth the tops so that you get smooth, donut-shaped circles of dough.

Bake the donuts until a toothpick inserted into the centers of the batter comes out clean (15-20 minutes). Flip the donuts upside down out of the pans onto a cooling rack. A fork inserted gently under the donuts helps loosen them from the pan.

Stir together the cinnamon and sugar. Dip the tops of the donuts into the mixture. If the mixture isn’t sticking to the donut-tops, you can coat them with a bit of melted butter before dipping them.

That’s all for this week. Paying subscribers can tune in next week for another delicious, autumnal dessert featuring a vegetable not often associated with sweets — parsnips.

Thanks for reading!

Juliana Nicewarner