This recipe was adapted from: Craving Chronicles Baked Pumpkin Spice Donut Holes which was adapted from: Tasty Kitchen Pumpkin Spice Donut Muffins.
Something about the weather cooling down brings out the pumpkin [affiliate link] lover in me. In my twenties when my children were very little, we always roasted a big Jack-o-Lantern pumpkin, usually after we’d carved it earlier in the day. However, when I started gardening seriously in my 30s I learned that the big pumpkins are apparently not actually meant for human consumption, and to make the best pumpkin pie you should use the special (expensive) little pie pumpkins. Purportedly the big pumpkins are less sweet and can have a grainy texture, and are mostly fed to livestock.
I was shopping at one of the local discount food stores and they had a large supply of Jack-o-Lantern pumpkins for $1.99, and they were all larger than a basketball. We had been invited to a potluck and I called to ask the hostess if she would like me to buy a couple for her to use as decorations. And then I bought two for myself.
We never did carve the pumpkins, and I got to thinking that less sweetness is probably a good thing for those of us on GAPS. And winter squash has been so expensive so far this year. I decided that I was going to try roasting one of the big pumpkins and I was happy with the result. I did find that the pumpkin texture had a slight bit of crunch, but that was not enough of a deterrent to finding ways to use them.
I was browsing around the Internet and I found these cute little pumpkin bites (see attribution links above) which were made with regular white flour, sugar and other non-GAPS allowed ingredients, so I decided to test my coconut flour [affiliate link] conversion skills.
I brought these to work with me on Halloween to share with my coworkers and my boss liked them so much that she requested that I bring them to our Christmas potluck.
These remind me of cake doughnut holes… they are moist and delicious with a hot cup of tea or GAPS Friendly Hot Chocolate. They also freeze perfectly well so you can make ahead of time – just remember to thaw to room temperature which will take about two hours. You will find a printable version of this recipe at the bottom of the post.
Oh, and one more thing: These are dairy-free, but of course butter is legal on GAPS. If you do not have to avoid butter, you may want to substitute the cinnamon [affiliate link] topping mixture with butter instead of coconut oil [affiliate link]. It is quite delicious.
Yields: 18
Pumpkin Poppers
- 1/2 cup coconut flour, firmly packed
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt [affiliate link]
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice [affiliate link]
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves [affiliate link]
- 1/2 teaspoonground ginger [affiliate link], optional
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 cupcooked pumpkin and 1/2 cup carrots[/easyazon_link] (you may use all pumpkin or winter squash – I used 1/2 carrots for more orange color since my pumpkin was not orange enough for my liking – canned pumpkin will work also)
- 1/3 cup coconut oil (I used Tropical Traditions Gold Label Organic Virgin Coconut Oil
- 1/4 cup honey (I used Tropical Traditions certified organic, raw honey)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Be sure to get an exact 1/2 cup of coconut flour by using the back of a straight edged knife to level off the flour even with the top edge of the measuring cup. Measure all dry ingredients (coconut flour down to ginger) in a large mixing bowl. If you freeze your coconut flour (like I do with mine to keep it moist and fresh), you may sift after measuring to make sure there are no little hard clumps.
Mix together.
Place 3 eggs into your Magic Bullet [affiliate link], blender or food processor with 1/2 cup of cooked carrots and 1/2 cup pumpkin. Feel free to use any kind of winter squash or any combination of pumpkin, winter squash or carrots.
Blend until completely smooth.
Place melted coconut oil, honey and vanilla [affiliate link] into a small bowl. Add the winter squash and eggs mixture into the bowl and whisk.
Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Using a hand mixer, blend for 1-2 minutes until completely mixed. As the coconut flour absorbs the liquids the mixture will go from a very runny consistency to a thicker consistency.
Allow the batter to sit for 5 minutes so that the coconut flour can absorb the liquids.
Preheat oven to 325°F.
Use coconut oil to grease a mini muffin tin.
Lightly sprinkle coconut flour into the bottom of each muffin cup.
Measure out two tablespoons of batter for each popper. It would be awesome to have one of these:Norpro 703 Grip-EZ 2-Tablespoon Stainless Scoop
The batter should be of the consistency where you can pick it up in your hands and form into a little ball. If you have to use a tablespoon measurement like me, be sure that you completely meld the two parts together, otherwise when they bake you will end up with little splits and fissures where you placed them together. If by chance your batter is not thick enough, add in coconut flour by the teaspoon waiting a minute or two in between adding more. If your batter is too thick, you could try adding more pumpkin.
Drop into the muffin tins. I don’t advise using cupcake papers for this recipe – in the last step you will drizzle a liquid cinnamon topping which will make a sticky mess of the papers so it is best to just put them bare naked into the muffin tin.
Bake for 20 minutes.
For the topping mix 1 tablespoon melted coconut oil (or butter) with 1 tablespoon honey and 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon.
When the poppers are done, as soon as you remove them from the oven using a 1/4 teaspoon measuring spoon drizzle 1/4 teaspoon of the topping mixture on each popper.
The topping will melt into the popper and will also spill down and soak into the bottom.
Carefully remove each popper, they should not stick because of the coconut flour placed under each one but I had a couple that were still a little stubborn and didn’t want to come loose.
Click here to discover how to Mastering the Art of Baking with Coconut Flour
And if you love pumpkin… you need to get my e-book Pumpkin Treats!
Happy baking!
- ½ cup coconut flour, firmly packed (I used Tropical Traditions)
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon + ½ teaspoon cinnamon, divided use
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon allspice
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger (optional)
- 3 large eggs
- ½ cup cooked pumpkin and ½ cup carrots (canned pumpkin will work also)
- ⅓ cup virgin coconut oil, melted + 1 Tablespoon coconut oil (or butter), divided use
- ¼ cup raw honey + 1 Tablespoon honey, divided use
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Be sure to get an exact ½ cup of coconut flour by using the back of a straight edged knife to level off the flour even with the top edge of the measuring cup. Measure all dry ingredients (coconut flour down to ginger) in a large mixing bowl. If you freeze your coconut flour (like I do with mine to keep it moist and fresh), you may sift after measuring to make sure there are no little hard clumps.
- Mix together.
- Place 3 eggs into your Magic Bullet, blender or food processor with the 1 cup of winter squash.
- Blend until completely smooth.
- Place melted coconut oil, honey and vanilla into a small bowl. Add the winter squash and eggs mixture into the bowl and whisk.
- Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients.
- Using a hand mixer, blend for 1-2 minutes until completely mixed. As the coconut flour absorbs the liquids the mixture will go from a very runny consistency to a thicker consistency.
- Allow the batter to sit for 5 minutes so that the coconut flour can absorb the liquids.
- Preheat oven to 325°F.
- Use coconut oil to grease a mini muffin tin.
- Lightly sprinkle coconut flour into the bottom of each muffin cup.
- Measure out two tablespoons of batter for each popper.
- The batter should be of the consistency where you can pick it up in your hands and form into a little ball.
- Drop into the muffin tins. I don’t advise using cupcake papers for this recipe.
- Bake for 20 minutes.
- For the topping mix 1 tablespoon melted coconut oil with 1 tablespoon honey and ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon.
- When the poppers are done, as soon as you remove them from the oven using a ¼ teaspoon measuring spoon drizzle ¼ teaspoon of the topping mixture on each popper. The topping will melt into the popper and will also spill down and soak into the bottom.
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