Pumpkin Pie Donut Holes (Paleo & AIP)
Who doesn’t love pumpkin pie at the holidays? It’s one of those things that you just can’t get any other time of year, and absolutely screams holidays! I’ve never gone a single Thanksgiving without some sort of pumpkin themed dessert. But I have to be honest… I’m not always in the mood to make my own pie crust after I’ve already made everything from scratch for the holidays! That’s why I made these paleo pumpkin pie donut holes!
These pumpkin pie donut holes still give you all of the things you love about that pumpkin pie flavor, all while being much easier to make. Plus, unique dessert is always welcome in my house!
They’re paleo, AIP, and nut free put still are easy to share with others!
What You’ll Need For These Pumpkin Pie Donut Holes
Tigernut flour
I really love baking with tigernut flour because it’s a grain free, nut-free way to get really great baked goods. Tigernuts are a tuber, not a nut, and they taste great in these donut holes.
Coconut flour
This helps to off set the moisture from the pumpkin. I haven’t tried subbing this out.
Tapioca Starch
These help bind and make the donut holes more “doughy”. You can so sub arrowroot in it’s place, and possibly even cassava flour.
Maple Syrup
Gotta sweeten donuts 😉 You can also sub honey.
Palm Shortening
Palm shortening makes these super cake-y! I typically work with coconut oil, but I love the texture that palm shortening gives these donut holes.
Pumpkin Puree & cinnamon
These ingredients give it the pumpkin pie element.
Gelatin
Gelatin helps to bind the donut holes, however, you can add it in without blooming it like a gelatin egg for this recipe. Just scoop it in dry 🙂
Coconut butter
Also known as coconut mana or coconut cream concentrate. This acts as a glaze over top the donut holes. You can leave this out if you don’t have any on hand.
Just look at that yummy, cake-y texture! So, so good! Here’s how you make them…
PrintPumpkin Pie Donut Holes (Paleo & AIP)
- Yield: 6-7 donut holes 1x
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup tigernut flour
- 1/4 cup coconut flour
- 1/4 cup tapioca starch
- 1/4 cup palm shortening
- 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1 tbsp gelatin
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- Pinch of sea salt
- FOR THE GLAZE (optional)
- 2 tbsp melted coconut butter
- 1 tsp coconut sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper
- Sift together the flours and set aside in a separate bowl
- Cream together the palm shortening and maple syrup until thoroughly combined
- Combine the palm shortening, maple syrup, and flours and stir. Then add in the pumpkin, dry gelatin, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda and mix to combine.
- Roll the dough into donut holes (you’ll have 6-7) and place on the parchment paper
- Bake for 15 minutes or until browned
- For the glaze, top with melted coconut butter and a sprinkle of coconut sugar
- Serve warm
Notes
All nutritional information are estimations and will vary. Estimations do not include optional ingredients.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 donut hole
- Calories: 165
- Fat: 9.2g
- Carbohydrates: 15.5g
- Fiber: 1.9g
- Protein: 2.6g
These are the perfect extra little dessert to serve during the holidays, or to just keep around if you have a sweet tooth!
I hope you love them as much as I do!
AIP
Low Carb
Paleo
Whole30
Yum!!!
Thanks girl!! ????
This looks great! Can I use collagen powder instead of gelatin here?
Thanks!! Collagen won’t swap for gelatin here, but you can use an egg in its place if you can tolerate it
Hi! Would cassava flour or extra coconut flour work instead of tigernut flour? 🙂
I haven’t tried the swap, but let me know if you do!
Just made these!! Can’t wait to eat them for dessert for Thanksgiving!!
These are delicious! With or without the glaze I love them as does my family! Thank you, absolutely loving them!!
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Can I use coconut oil instead of the palm?
Palm shortening has a different texture than coconut oil and gives these more body. Coconut oil wouldn’t give it the same cakey texture.
These are amazing! They have the taste and texture of traditional baked goods! Such a yummy treat!
★★★★★
Thank you so much Nicole!! So happy you like them 🙂
This is counter-intuitive to your recipe, but I’m mostly Paleo (about 1/3 AIP)… don’t have Tigernut flour, is there something I can sub?
Thx
If you tolerate almonds, you can try it.
I subbed the tigernut flour for almond flour and arrowroot starch for the tapioca and they came out wonderfully! I also didn’t have any palm shortening on hand so I used half coconut oil and half red palm oil and they turned out great! The orange of the red palm oil doesn’t change anything because the pumpkin already makes it nice and orange. 🙂
★★★★★
Yum! Thanks for sharing those subs, Samantha!! 🙂 Glad you enjoyed it!
Oh. My. Word. These are AMAZING. Every recipe I try of yours…you totally hit it out of the park. These were quick and easy and taste like those cake pops you get at Starbucks. I’m in heaven.
The pumpkin pie donut holes are amazing! I did not have Tigernut flour so I substituted almond meal. Turned out great, though they spread more than in your photo, which doesn’t bother me. I didn’t have Coconut Manna so we skipped the glaze. They don’t really need it. I’m ordering Tigernut flour to make them again. This recipe will be made often! Thank you, thank you, thank you.
★★★★★
Great recipe!! Thanks so much!!
★★★★★
Thank you so much Nathalie!!!
I like be reading your recipes. I have to follow an AIP diet and I am unable to digest Tigernut flour or Cassava flour. Both tigernut flour and cassava flour produce a beautiful end product, but unfortunately I cannot tolerate either. However I just purchased sweet potato flour and green banana flour as alternatives to almond, coconut, cassava and tigernut flours. I only mention this to you because you are so creative in the kitchen and maybe someday you’ll create recipes with these flours. In the meantime I’m experimenting, even tho I lack your expertise. Thank you for all the inspiration and hard work you put into your recipes, I really appreciate your passion.
Thank you so much, Elaine! I haven’t played with those flours much, but I will totally add it to my wishlist 🙂
Ridiculously good!! I subbed arrowroot for tapioca starch ‘cause that’s what I had. Turned out great! Made 10. You are my hero! Keep turning out those recipes!
Thank you so much Lori!! I’m so happy you liked them!!
These are absolutely fabulous! The only substitution I did was I dusted with an AIP Cinnamon-Sugar mix that I had. It made 11 donut holes for me! Yum!
★★★★★
These were sooooo delicious! The texture of them is amazing, and the taste is awesome. Thanks for a great recipe!
Wow. These are A.MA.ZING! I’m relatively new to AIP but I seriously miss baked goods. I’ve tried so many recipes, only to have them come out gritty, flat, too moist, or with NO flavor. These were none of the above. So soft, so flavorful, so yummy. The palm oil really does make all the difference. So glad I happened upon this recipe and decided to give it one more try. Thank you for making this recipe real!
★★★★★
Thank you SO much Meagen! I’m so happy you enjoyed them! The palm shortening really does make a huge difference 🙂
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Made these tonight. I substituted cassava for the tigernut because that’s what I had on hand and it turned out great! My husband said you can’t tell the difference from a normal bakery food and these. Thanks for the recipe!
★★★★★
YAY! So happy you liked it, Julie!! 🙂
I can’t get my coconut butter to melt. It’s either solid or burnt…is their a secret?
Using a homemade double boiler method is my favorite way to melt coconut butter 🙂
These are delicious! I only used one TBS of maple syrup and no glaze because I’m trying to consume very little sugar. They are still so yummy, especially warmed up with some ghee! Perfect healthy Fall treat!
★★★★★
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These are soooo good!! And they were really easy to make!!
★★★★★
Thank you so much, Shalayne!!
Love these! Such a treat on AIP. Easy and fun to make, too. Thanks so much! I make these probably bi-monthly!
★★★★★
So good. I don’t know why I’m just now trying these. They would be great to make a double batch to share with family before thanksgiving dinner or friends at brunch.
★★★★★
Thanks so much, Sara!
Just made these and they taste delicious, but I must have done something wrong because they did not keep their shape and turned out more like cookies than donut holes. I followed the recipe to the letter and did not substitute anything. I wonder if I made them too large even though it yielded seven? Any suggestions?
★★★★★
Absolutely delicious even after subbing Almond Flour for Tigernut, and Coconut Oil for Palm Shortening. I added a tablespoon more of all flours since I knew I was using liquid coconut oil. I did use an immersion blender to mix the liquid coconut oil and maple syrup, which seemed to thicken it up very well! Then dipped one side of the raw dough balls into coconut sugar. Nothing more needed!
★★★★★
I’ve made this recipe twice and followed it to the letter. Both times they came out more flattened. Any reason why this could be happening? I’d really prefer them to be round like donut holes.