These Baked Pumpkin Spice Donut Holes are soft and loaded with fall pumpkin flavor on the inside, while coated with irresistible cinnamon sugar on the outside. Best of all, they're baked and not fried!
Preheat oven to 350F. Butter and flour 48 mini muffin cups.
In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices. In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and pumpkin puree. In the bowl of stand mixer, fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter and brown sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs on eat a time, scraping down bowl as needed. Switch mixer to low speed; add flour mixture in three additions, alternating with two additions of the pumpkin mixture. Finally use a rubber spatula to fold in any remaining flour streaks, but take care not to over-mix.
Divide batter into mini muffin cups (about 1 level Tablespoon each); use oiled or damp hands to smooth out surface of dough balls. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 8-10 minutes. If needed, repeat in batches until all donuts are baked.
Meanwhile, prepare the Coating: In a bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon; whisk to combine well and set aside. In a separate bowl, set aside melted butter.
As donuts are finished baking, let them cool a few minutes until they can easily be removed. Brush warm donut holes with melted butter, toss to coat in cinnamon-sugar mixture, and serve warm.
Notes
Do not dip in butter/roll in cinnamon sugar until just before serving. Otherwise, the coating may lose its crispness. Batter is not very sweet, since cinnamon sugar coating is quite sweet.