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These pumpkin donuts are quick, easy, moist, and an incredibly delicious sweet treat for fall! They’re able to be entirely refined sugar-free with the ability to be frozen & reheated in an air-fryer. The pumpkin dessert season is upon us and we’re loving these cake-like pumpkin donut holes for fall. What I love most about these fall gluten-free donuts is that you can make them in advance, mainly as a suggestion for those with mast cell activation syndrome. Also, if you’re not a fan of plantains or pumpkin, try these donuts!



Why These Pumpkin Donuts A Lazy Baker’s Favorite & An Easy Pumpkin Dessert!
- They require only a knife, food processor, spatula, spoon, & donut tray!
- They are ready in less than 25 minutes!
- They have a cake-like texture while still being gluten-free & allergy-friendly.
- There is zero frying that takes place, reducing the oil needed in traditional donuts!
- They’re able to be frozen & reheated in less than 5 minutes!



How To Elevate These Pumpkin Donuts:
If powdered sugar isn’t enough of a pizzazz for you, try adding in the below ingredients to create the perfect fall pumpkin donut!
- Top with your favorite icing. If using vanilla mix in a touch of pumpkin pie spice and fresh ginger!
- Make them more vibrant with a small amount of natural orange food coloring to your vanilla icing and top with edible flowers!
- Eat like a waffle & enjoy with a drizzle of maple or lavender honey!
- Use small piping of icing and add candied ginger, fried sage, or even served with vanilla ice cream, greek yogurt & honey, or simply leave as-is.
How To Enjoy This Recipe With Mast Cell Activation Syndrome
These donuts are higher in histamine content due to the plantains being a naturally high histamine food and a histamine liberator, meaning they help to release histamine from the foods you’ve consumed with histamine. Due to this, the below suggestions are what I practice as a mast cell patient who absolutely loves food, and rarely restricts myself.
- When making these healthy pumpkin donut holes, allow the plantains to have smaller browning spots/bruising. Stay away from choosing “extremely ripe” or nearly brown plantains. This helps to reduce the histamine content by having a fresher product where histamine has not had time to fully produce more.
- Plan your histamine bucket. What many mast cell studies show with histamine intolerence, it is all about this being a stacking allergy syndrome. When we pour or stack too many forms of histamine into our bucket , this results in a anaphalaxis attack. While some high histamine foods may be tolerated, I suggest avoiding stacking too many if wanting to enjoy these donuts.
- Freeze immediately after cooling and reheat in an air fryer for a few minutes at 350.
- Enjoy anti histamine foods like tulsi tea, high vitamin c foods, stinging needle, and foods high in quercetin such as garlic, onion, parsley, sage, and many more.
- Remove the pumpkin pie spice due to the cinnamon if it is a known trigger. Try fresh ginger, allspice, nutmeg, and cloves. Fresh nutmeg is most desirable! However, the above spices are poorly researched and may be safe for low histamine diets.
- Give yourself grace. Mast cell activation syndrome is a difficult journey especially for someone who loves food, therefore do your best with planning your relationship with food.



Pumpkin Donuts (Gluten & Dairy-Free)
Ingredients
- 2 large ripe plantains
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 packed cup almond flour
- 1 1/3 cup gluten free flour
- 2 tbsp coconut sugar or dark brown sugar
- 1/3 cup full fat coconut milk
- 1/2 cup pumpkin or apple sauce I recommend pumpkin!
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 inch freshly grated ginger if desired
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2-1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1 tbsp butter or vegan butter (for greasing pans)
- 1/4 tsp salt
Powdered Sugar Topping:
- 1/4-2/3 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
Instructions
- Set your oven to 350F.
- Start off by peeling along your very ripe plantains on 4 sides to peel off fully.
- Slice into your food processor and follow with the rest of your ingredients.
- Grease your donut pan with butter or vegan butter and neatly add in your batter, wiping the areas that need to be cleaned.
- Bake for 15 minutes and let cool. Do not try to pop the donuts out until they have properly cooled unless you are able to pop them out by gently patting down the pan upside down. If you are, follow the below steps.
- If you would like to powder the donuts fully (not the way they are pictured above) be sure to powder them immediately upon removing from the pan by patting down the powdered sugar into them. If you'd like less, simply dust sugar over them once finished.
Video
More great sweet treats to try:
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