Method (doughnuts)

1. Pour the warm dairy-free milk into a bowl and sprinkle over the yeast and sugar, stir, cover with a tea towel then put into a warm place for around 10-15 minutes until frothy. TIP: To heat the milk, add it into a small saucepan and simmer until it’s warm. If the milk is too hot it can kill the yeast, so make sure its just warm.
2. In a separate bowl, sift in the flour and pumpkin spice.
3. In another separate bowl, add in the flaxseed, melted butter and water, stir to combine and set aside for 10 minutes to thicken. This creates your vegan egg substitute.
4. Combine everything into the flour, along with the pumpkin puree.
5. Mix with a hand whisk or attach a dough hook to your stand mixer and begin to knead on medium until nice and smooth. If kneading on a worktop, make sure it’s floured so nothing sticks.
6. Pop the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a tea towel and place into a warm area (I place mine in my conservatory) and allow to prove for around 2-3 hours or until double in size.
7. Once doubled, turn the dough out onto a floured surface, roll out (not too thin) around 1 + 1/2 inch – 2 inch thick , you want the doughnuts to be puffed up. 
8. Use a flower shaped cookie cutter to chomp out the shapes. Optional: Use some string to help create the pumpkin shape (watch my video tutorial for directions). Repeat for the entire batch of doughnuts.
9. Place the doughnuts back into a warm area covered with a tea towel for around 30 minutes until they have doubled in size.
10. Add oil into a deep pan until half – 3/4 full and bring to the boil. Allow it to come up to 180 degrees. You can also use a deep fat fryer. Another way to check the oil is ready is by dunking the handle of a wooden spoon into the middle of the pan. The oil will bubble up around the wooden handle if ready. If not, it’s not reached temperature for frying yet. 
11. Once the doughnuts have risen, gently lower them into the hot oil and fry for about 2-3 minutes on each side or until puffed and golden brown in colour.
12. Carefully take them out of the hot oil and place them onto kitchen paper to drain any excess oil.
13. If you have used the strong, use some scissors to cut the string off, being careful not to break the doughnut shapes.

Method (pumpkin spice sugar)

1. In a small bowl, combine the sugar and pumpkin spice. Coat each doughnut in the pumpkin sugar and set aside for filling.

Method (pumpkin cheese filling)

1. In a large mixing bowl, add in the cream cheese, whip until light and creamy. I use a stand mixer with a balloon whisk attachment, a hand mixer will work great too.
2. Sift in the icing sugar and pumpkin puree and pumpkin spice. Whip on high speed for around 5 minutes to incorporate it. If it’s too thick, add some more chilled cream cheese. If it’s too soft, add more icing sugar. You want it smooth, creamy and airy.
3. Transfer the filling into a piping bag and snip off the tip.
4. Poke a hole in the side or down the middle of the doughnut and pipe in some of the filling. Don’t overfill.
5. To finish the pumpkin design, break a cinnamon stick in half and poke into the top / middle of the doughnut (cinnamon stick is only for decoration, DO NOT EAT). 
6. Serve and enjoy!!