Pumpkin Pie Balls

I'm not sure if it's because I have a job that can at times waste food or if it's the miser in me, but either way, when I'm faced with the option to throw out or re-purpose, I'm always going to go for the latter. I recently made a birthday cake for a friend that required a couple of cake donuts. I'm not sure if I was tired or desperate, but I settled on the only thing I could find in the store at that moment - a "value pack" sized container of old-fashioned glazed cake donuts. After making the cake, I ended up with ten leftover donuts. My family loves a donut once in a while, but getting rid of ten was a little harder than you would think. When it came time to decide if I wanted to throw them out or re-purpose, it wasn't hard to decide.

I had a half a can of pumpkin in the fridge and since this is the pumpkin pie season, I decided to create a little cake ball pie ball out of my extra donuts. I was surprised that when the dough was all mixed together, the consistency came out just like pumpkin pie filling. These pie balls are pretty sweet with the candy shell, but the shell holds the filling together. I think another option would be to roll the chilled balls in graham cracker crumbs and freeze if you wanted to do a frozen pie ball. Give it a try and tell me what you think.

Pumpkin Pie Holes

What you will need:

1 Dozen Old-Fashioned Glazed Donuts
1/2 Can Pumpkin Puree
2 Tsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice
4 Tbs. Melted Butter
1/3 C. Cream Cheese (softened)
1 Pkg. of White Coating Almond Bark
1/2 Cup of Pumpkin Spice flavored Candy melts
Additional Pumpkin Spice for garnish


In a food Processor, pulverize all of the donuts (may take several batches) until they are a fine crumb texture (like sand). Place in a large bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and work into a soft dough. It should be a cookie dough texture that will hold a ball shape. With your cookie scoop, make balls of dough (I used a 1-inch scoop but if I did them again I would use a smaller scoop) and place them on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Chill in a fridge for 3 hours or over night.

Melt the almond bark. Slowly dip each ball and shake off extra bark. Place each dipped ball on another parchment-lined cookie sheet. When all the balls have been dipped, melt the pumpkin spice flavored melts and drizzle over the white almond bark. Sprinkle with pumpkin pie spice. Keep in fridge until ready to eat or give away. Should last for 3 weeks in an air-tight container in the fridge.