Caramel Frosted M&M's® Pecan Pie Doughnuts

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #BakeInTheFun #CollectiveBiasCaramel Frosted M&M's® Pecan Pie Doughnuts, a homemade fry cake smothered in a caramel frosting and topped off with M&M's® Pecan Pie, salted roasted pecan pieces, and some fall sprinkles! When fall gets here I always think doughnuts. When I was a young girl, I remember having a "fall festival" where we would get together for hay rides, apple dunking, and homemade fry cakes. We would enjoy our goodies around a nice big ole bonfire. I sure do miss those days!

I decided to try and recreate some of those fun times and make my own doughnuts in anticipation for the fall coming upon us. Have you seen the gourmet doughnuts in stores recently? Every time I walk by them I'm so tempted! They are usually buried under good stuff like caramel, coconut, and chocolate. Rather than buy the doughnut in the store, I decided to grab some ingredients and make my own gourmet Caramel Frosted M&M's® Pecan Pie Doughnuts!

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Walking through Wal-mart I saw a few items that I thought would work perfectly for my recipe. I grabbed a jar of Mott's® Applesauce Original, some Pillsbury™ Creamy Supreme® Cream Cheese Icing, and M&M's® Pecan Pie. Then for good measure I grabbed a Snapple® Peach Tea to drink on my way home!

My dad, the tractor driver for our hay rides, and I love my mom's homemade doughnuts. Unfortunately, I have not perfected her ability to make her recipe but I seem pretty successful with my own. I guess in my eyes I am never going to match my Momma's doughnuts because they are the absolute best. With my mom not around though I had no trouble scarfing down these doughnuts that I made!

Thinking about my dad and how willing he was to make us kids happy with our fall gathering, I wanted to make a gourmet doughnut worthy of him. Dad's birthday is coming up in the next month also and I think these would make a nice treat to make when I visit to wish him a happy birthday! I decided to make an applesauce fry cake (doughnut), a caramel icing and to cover that baby in M&M's® Pecan Pie along with lightly salted and roasted pecan pieces. I may not think my doughnut making skills are the most amazing, but oh my goodness, these doughnuts were absolutely amazing!

I realize many people may not have the talent or skill to make their own doughnuts. So, while I am not the expert, I thought I would at least show you that I do know a little bit about making doughnuts! Just follow my photos below to see my roll and cut out process. I'll share some tips about what I do along the way. If you already know what you are doing, you can scroll to the end of this post and just grab the recipe!

After my dough is coming together I turn it out onto a floured board. At this point in time the dough is still really soft. I use my scraper and fold some more flour into the dough until its not too sticky and I can roll it out easily.

I use enough flour to keep the dough from sticking to my board and rolling pin, then roll the dough out to about ¾ to 1 inch thick. I then cut the dough out into rounds with my biscuit cutter. I don't have a doughnut cutter so I just take one of my big Wilton decorating tips and cut the hole out with the round end of the tip. (Sorry, I forgot to get a photo of the tip!)

You want your oil to be hot, but not too hot. This can be the tricky part when making cake doughnuts especially. Try to keep it at around 375 degrees. I use a candy thermometer to watch my temperature. If your oil gets too hot your inside of your doughnut will not be cooked all the way through before the doughnut is browned. If your oil is not hot enough, your doughnut will be heavy and greasy. I always use a brown paper bag to drain my doughnuts on. Its what my mom used and this has carried over into what I use. I believe it really works best because it soaks up any grease from the doughnut without letting it soak into the doughnut and making it soggy.

If your leery about making your own doughnuts, you can always buy plain fry cakes in your store and proceed with making the topping. Then, you can enjoy your gourmet doughnut as seen below :).

Feeling inspired to make your own fall treats? Be sure to check out more recipes here!

Caramel Frosted M&M's® Pecan Pie Doughnuts

Author: Grumpy's Honeybunch

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 5 mins

Total time: 25 mins

Serves: 2 dozen

Ingredients

For the doughnuts:
2 quarts oil for deep frying
¾ cup white sugar
2 tablespoons butter, softened
2 eggs
¾ cup Mott's® Apple Sauce Original
4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon butter flavor extract (may sub vanilla extract)
½ cup buttermilk
For the Topping:
1 cup Pillsbury™ Creamy Supreme® Cream Cheese Icing
⅓ cup caramel ice cream topping
M&M's® Pecan Pie 9.9oz
½ cup roasted, salted pecan pieces
fall colored sprinkles

Instructions

Heat oil in deep-fryer to 375 degrees F. You can test this by dropping a small piece of dough into the hot oil. If it bubbles all around quickly, it is up to temperature
In a large bowl, beat together sugar, butter, eggs, butter flavored extract, and applesauce. In a separate bowl, stir together flour baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Stir flour mixture into the egg mixture alternately with the buttermilk. Mix until a stiff dough is formed.
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll into a ¾ to 1 inch thick sheet. Make sure to roll the dough to an even thickness. Cut out doughnuts with a doughnut cutter.
Carefully slide doughnuts into hot oil. Turn doughnuts as soon as they rise to the surface. Fry until golden brown on both sides. Drain and cool prior to icing.
To decorate doughnuts: Mix together Pillsbury™ Creamy Supreme® Cream Cheese Icing and caramel ice cream topping until combined. Spread icing over top of doughnut and decorate with M&M's® Pecan Pie, pecan pieces, and fall sprinkles if desired.